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As an animator and coming up as an animator at the studio, we would often sit there and break down like music videos of Michael Jackson and how Michael Jackson is moving.
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We would go to malls and study how people are just moving through the mall and applying those principles to how we animated our characters.
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But with animation, you want to take it like that next step further, right?
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You want to just really uh emphasize those those moments of impact.
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And so I took all that into my work in photography, and especially with athletes, where is that that peak motion?
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Where is that moment where it's like it's super interesting?
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It's the body position is almost an art form in itself, or it is an art form in itself in whatever it's doing.
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You know, whether it's wing foiling or surfing or skateboarding or swinging the baseball bat, there's always this peak moment.
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This photography podcast is brought to you by Frames, quarterly printed photography magazine.
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Here is your today's host, W.
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Scott Olson, with another fascinating conversation.
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Well, hello everyone, and welcome to another podcast from Frames Magazine.
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My name is Scott Olson.
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And you know what, folks?
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Every now and then in the photography world, you come upon somebody's work and you're searching for the term, you're searching for the way to describe this stuff, and you come up with a really kind of esoteric, vague, not used very often term.
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And it's just cool.
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Uh you look at this stuff and you think, I want to be this guy or this woman.
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I want to do the work that they are doing because every image is just leaping off the page and it is somehow conveying, whether it's product photography or portraits or adventure or sports or whatever, there's just something about it that is larger than life that is really sort of compelling.
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And you look at it and you think, damn it, that that's just really, really cool work.
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And today, this is who we're talking to.
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Today we're talking with Justin Myers.
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Justin is uh a product photographer, automotive, adventure, all sorts of stuff.
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His clients are Fujifilm, Campbellback, Adidas, Converse, damn.
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This list just goes on.
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Columbia, Keene, Sorel, Domestic, Big Green Egg, one of my favorites there.
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Uh everything from the Oregon lottery to Merrill Lynch to the Portland Monthly, Condi Nast.
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And you look at his work and you just think, this stuff pops.
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And then you start trying to figure out why.
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And I mean, if you're like me, you stare at the image for a long time, trying to you know deconstruct it, and you and you finally figure out no, you know, it's no setting, it's no insight, it's just magic.
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It's it's just a way to to come think of light, to think of composition in ways that are original and fresh.
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And I gotta tell you, I am really looking forward to today's conversation.
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Justin, welcome to the podcast.
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How are you doing this morning?
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I'm great, Scott.
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Man, I need to hire you as my hype man.
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That was uh that's one half of an introduction.
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Thank you.
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Well, no, it it's true.
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I mean, th there are a thousand and one product photographers, there's a thousand and one, you know, uh environmental, outdoor photographers.
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And you you know, you go through a bunch of this stuff, then you come upon the special work, the stuff that simply, for whatever reason, leaps off the page and says, this is not only very good, it's excellent.
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It's got that last little kick in it.
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And your work certainly has that.
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So I'm really looking forward to digging in and getting at this.
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And you know, uh in a lot of these podcasts, we you know, we start off with origin stories.
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You know, when did you first hold a camera?
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When did you do uh this kind of stuff?
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You've got a a different take on how this all comes into your life.
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In the 1990s, in the 2000s, you were an animator for TV shows.
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Um so tell me how in the world you got into animation, uh, and then how that morphed into photography and and how the whole idea of the visual image came into your life.
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Yeah, no, no, it's uh it's kind of an interesting uh evolution um over the last you know 25 years or so.
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Um I was I was so let's see here, late in the late 90s, or actually probably mid-90s.
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I was in junior high.
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Uh, I happened to meet an artist who was an animator at Wolvinton or Wilvinton Studios.
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Uh, they are the ones that created the uh the California Raisins.
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Um I don't know if you guys remember them, but the Noy and all that fun stuff.
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Um also the MMs.
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I think the MMs are still red and yellow are still out there today.
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I think they had a hand in all that work.
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Anyway.
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Oh my.
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Uh so I'm just I here I am as a junior high student, uh, loved art, and I met this uh animator, and he kind of took me under his wing, and I got to start uh going to the studio and interning and seeing what that life was all about.
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Um, fast forward through uh high school, I had an opportunity to go kind of go to a uh what a public art high school.
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Uh and so through that, and then after that was working at the studio and I was doing everything.
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I um I think my first official job was erasing tapes.
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Um you're sitting there with this giant, giant magnet and these old VHS tapes, and I was there and I was erasing.
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And then I then you take the you know the um the citrus cleaner to get all the goo off the labels and then you recycle them and put it back.
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I loved it because there I was sitting in this just highly creative environment with all these amazing people soaking in so much information.
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Um and and everyone was so kind, and they were all teaching me different things about lighting, about cameras, you know, everything was on uh uh highly modified um 35 millimeter Mitchell motion picture cameras back then.
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Um so loading film cameras, rushing them to the overnight lab so we could have dailies the next day.
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Uh and then ultimately, yeah, like you'll um studying the human form and how to animate.
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If you if you're in junior high in the 90s, though, you're growing up with Dragon Ball Z and that kind of stuff.
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Um, so I mean, did you have an interest in animation in in art at all?
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For sure.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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I was, I mean, I still have actually I've been trying to figure out what to do with it.
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I still have uh a big comic book collection.
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I was drawing all the time.
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Like it was a pretty it was a pretty easy um, you know, uh, you know, next step for me, I think, you with that opportunity in front of me.
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Could you draw?
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I mean, you know, I was okay.
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MMs are vaguely round, so okay, you get you got that shaved down.
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Yeah, you know, and the and the thing with with Vinton, though, it was a stop motion.
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So it's so the the process over there then became um you had your sculptors and and your character uh you know creators, I guess there was a different term, I can't remember, but um, you know, they they created the models for you.
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And then as an animator, you you took those and and gave them life on set.
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So I uh and then and then also, you know, with um with uh working school with cameras and stuff like that, I I really took to that work.
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And and we should tell everybody that you're connected with Fujifilm.
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Um on their website, they say, you know, the the skills that you got from that provided an in-depth education on body movement.
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So, I mean, tell me what what that means.
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What is an in-depth education on body movement and how does that translate into your understanding of photography?
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Yeah.
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So uh as an animator and coming up as an animator at the studio, we would often sit there and break down like music videos of Michael Jackson and how Michael Jackson is moving.
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We would uh go to malls and study how people are just moving through the mall and applying those principles to how we animated our characters.
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But with animation, you want to take it like that next step further, right?
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You want to just really uh emphasize those those moments of um of impact.
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And so I took all that in into my work with photography and especially with athletes and whatnot, and and you know, really honed in like, where is that that peak motion?
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Where is that moment where it's like it's super interesting?
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It's the body position is you know almost an art form in itself, or it is an art form in itself in whatever it's doing, you know, whether it's wing foiling or surfing or skateboarding or or swinging a bait or swinging a baseball bat, like there's always this peak moment.
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And it's not just maximum extension and you know, arm is farthest out or above your head or something?
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I don't think so.
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I mean, I mean, sometimes, sure.
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But you know, there's I think there's moments where there's uh there's beauty where maybe it's not full extension, maybe it's full compression, right?
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Like if you're dropping into a wave and you're like on this big bottom turn and you're just compressing down into that, things like that.
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And and and even small things like how people are interacting with everyday objects.
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You know, if if I'm working with a technology company, let's say and we're photographing, I don't know, like the latest computer, like there's just subtleties on how people are moving that we're working with their mouse or or you know, typing on their keyboard that you you try to capture that aren't stiff, that have a little motion, a little more life, something that feels more natural.
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So I think going back to that that education I had at Vinton Studios, like and studying all that human form we did back then, like that informed me how people move, and I was really able to bring that forward.
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Does that lead in in your work then to a better sense of anticipation?
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Absolutely, absolutely.
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And and anticipation is actually probably one of the best terms for animation.
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Like you want to you have to have anticipation when you're animating characters.
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And so, yes, you spot on, that's exactly what it is.
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You you you got this career going on, you're doing the animation, but then at some point you you make a change and you move over into still photography.
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Tell me that's tell me that story.
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So, I mean, a camera was always in my hand.
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My my uncle Bob, you know, gave put a camera in my hand.
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Gosh, probably freshman year of high school.
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I think I took a uh black and white photography class.
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And um, you know, the classic story.
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Someone, someone gives you a camera and you're like, whoa, this is this is amazing.
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Especially back in the days of of you know uh film and black and white film where you in high school you had access to sit there and mix the chemicals and see whatever funny photograph you made just kind of you know come to life in front of you.
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So that was always there.
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Uh through the studio, I was always taking pictures.
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Um, the studio was, you know, uh kind of expanding and and and whatnot.
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And so uh through that, you know, uh some of us kind of you know parted ways, and I was I was one of those people.
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So there I was around maybe 20, 21, maybe.
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And uh had this had this lovely little short career in animation already.
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And I was like, okay, well, that was fun.
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So kind of what's next?
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So I got a job at a ski shop, uh, tuning skis, tuning snowboards, selling snowboards, uh jackets, you know, what name you.
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Um and kind of got stuck there for, no, I shouldn't say stuck there.
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I had a really good time there for three years.
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You know, learned learned a snowboard, learned to surf, learned a mountain bike, and and through that was then like was exposed to all these wonderful magazines like outside and alpinist and and stuff like that, and was just just enamored with the photography in there, you know, like these big mountains and these big mountain skiers and snowboarders uh charging down them and drawing these really beautiful lines down, down uh down these mountains and then surf photography in the surf magazine.
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So and I was always kind of uh skateboarding with friends, so like the action sports were not totally out of my uh every day, but this was just kind of some next level exposure.
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So uh yeah, worked there for three years, um, did a lot of did a lot of that stuff.
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And then finally it's like, okay, well, what's you know, had had the thoughts like what's next?
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Where where am I going?
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What am I doing?
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And uh decided to give the photography thing a try and went back to school.
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Okay.
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And and to university, to where?
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Yeah, so I went back to school to uh Brooks Institute of Photography down in uh Santa Barbara.
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Um they're no longer around, but but at the time they're one of the larger photo schools to go to.
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And they taught you composition, they taught you lightweight, tell me so many people are self-taught.
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So many people have a kind of university approach to it.
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Uh tell me what they offered you.
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So it was an extremely uh you know focused program in in commercial photography.
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And that's kind of was kind of you know uh calm and I guess.
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Um back in the Binton days as well, to kind of you know flashback to that for a second, uh, I was exposed to advertising, you know, like at a at the thousand percent.
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Like I was, you know, the studio was working on MMs, Nissan, uh, oh boy, Chili's restaurant, like just so much.
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And then we had an ad agency here in town in Portland called uh Wyden Kennedy, still here, huge ad ad agency.
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And they were always coming over.
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And uh every once in a while we would get to go over there and kind of experience um the ad world.
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And so I still kind of had that in my mind.
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I was like, okay, that's that's a fun world.
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That's a kind of a world I want to be in.
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And so when I was looking to go back to school, I and I found that commercial uh photography program at Brooks.
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I was like, okay, I think I think this is it.
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And it's also extremely technical, which you know, I I I try to be.
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And so I went there for a year and a half.
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I met a lot of amazing people, uh, really just um re reinforced my my photobat photographic uh you know education there, lighting education, composition, all that type of stuff.
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Uh, and then came back and started assisting.
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Okay.
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You know, one of the things that always strikes me about uh commercial photography is I I have in imagination, you know, some art directors sitting at their desk and they they've got to do a campaign for let's, you know, a thumbtack, let's say.
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Um and and they're going, they're going through a thousand portfolios.
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They're they're going through a thousand shooters, you know, trying to figure out which one to hire.
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How do you establish a voice?
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How do you establish a presence when when you're just starting out in commercial photography to sort of differentiate you from the 573 other people who are trying to set up a voice and a style and that kind of stuff?
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Man, I I if you find that magic answer, let me know.
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Okay.
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Um, I'm I'm I'm slightly kidding.
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Um, I do think it's about your lived experiences, right?
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I do think it's about who you are as a person.
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So uh, you know, for me, I've got this animation background, and then then I'm then I'm diving in headfirst to snowboarding, mountain biking, surfing.
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Uh with that comes, you know, we're sleeping in the back of our trucks to get first chair on the lift.
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Uh so there's some automotive uh influence in there.
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And so I just think it's your you're building all those layers you're building upon it informs how you're how you're shooting and also like where you are in the environments that you that you're spending time in, right?
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So okay, you are in the Pacific Northwest, one of the most beautiful, dramatic parts of North America.
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How does your environment influence when you press the shutter release?
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I I think a lot.
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You know, I think um, not to compare myself to the Seattle grunge scene, but you know, like if Seattle has a sound, right?
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And so I think being from the Northwest, we have, you know, largely you have a kind of a visual style.
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It's a little grittier, it's uh maybe a little more dramatic.
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Like I'm looking out my window right now and it's dark, big dark clouds, but then there's a uh a ray of light raking across these fir trees.
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So it's like this this contrasty, gritty, gritty area that that I love and spend a lot of time recreating in and bring that into my photography.
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Okay.
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You you say, and again, this is again from the uh Fujifilm website.
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Yeah.
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It says just Justin believes a stunning location is the foundation for creating imagery, and everything else is a process built on collaboration.
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Why does location, why does setting come first for you?
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For me, there's there's spots that I can walk into and and there's just like this magic.
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You're like, okay, boom, this is this is the spot.
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And and if it's not the spot, you know, a a good photographer or well-trained photographer will turn around and see what look what it looks like from the other angle.
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So there's just a there's there's an electricity or a feeling on on certain locations, and I try to go find those spots and and bring my clients to those those spaces.
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Let's take just a quick break.
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We hope very much that you are enjoying today's episode.
00:15:18.879 --> 00:15:24.399
The very fact that you are listening to this podcast suggests that photography means a lot to you.
00:15:24.480 --> 00:15:30.879
And if that's the case, you might want to have a look at Frames, quarterly printed photography magazine.
00:15:31.039 --> 00:15:34.879
We truly believe that excellent photography belongs on paper.
00:15:35.120 --> 00:15:46.399
Visit readframes.com to find out more about our publication and use the coupon code podcast to receive a recurring 10% discount on your new frames magazine subscription.
00:15:46.559 --> 00:15:49.679
And now, back to today's conversation.
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Okay, so if I call you up and and I and we're gonna do a campaign about filling in the blank, you your your first question to yourself is where am I gonna set this?
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A little bit, yeah.
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I mean, it kind of depends on creative, right?
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So that sometimes or or often I should say is is creative um will dictate where we're photographing.
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The art director probably has their own idea of of where they want this campaign to set.
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And so sometimes it's it's it's uh depicted for me, and then sometimes I get to choose or or help choose as well.
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So it kind of depends on the project.
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Tell me a story about where you got to pick.
00:16:27.200 --> 00:16:28.240
Let's see here.
00:16:28.399 --> 00:16:40.960
Um, you know what, I think the the the wing foiling project, uh, Fujifilm had reached out and we were kind of bouncing around ideas of of what to do and for for this long lens uh release that they were doing.
00:16:41.120 --> 00:16:53.919
And you know, and and wing foiling came up, and then that was an easy answer because we've got Hood River right down the road, um hour and a half, but uh, which is you know one of the windiest and the epicenter for any wind sports.
00:16:54.159 --> 00:16:54.320
Right.
00:16:54.480 --> 00:16:56.159
And then the light is stunning there.
00:16:56.240 --> 00:16:59.360
Uh the the backgrounds are stunning, like the whole place is just magic.
00:16:59.519 --> 00:17:03.519
So that might have been a maybe of a more of a process of collaboration.
00:17:03.600 --> 00:17:06.079
But um, yeah, that that's a kind of a good example.
00:17:06.400 --> 00:17:15.279
You've got a lot of adventure in in your background here, a lot of things that that people uh would say, you know, that that that's you know beyond my normal experience.
00:17:15.599 --> 00:17:19.440
And your comfort outside, is that important?
00:17:19.759 --> 00:17:21.440
I think so, because you can't fake it, right?
00:17:21.519 --> 00:17:26.000
So I think like if if if you if you put me in a kitchen and wanted to do food photography, I would flail.
00:17:26.160 --> 00:17:27.759
Um I would I would not know what to do.
00:17:27.839 --> 00:17:28.640
I can't cook.
00:17:28.880 --> 00:17:31.279
I don't, I don't, my my knives are dull.
00:17:31.440 --> 00:17:36.640
Um yeah, so so I think absolutely like these are the places I'm more comfortable and the most comfortable in.
00:17:36.720 --> 00:17:38.640
Like put me put me in the extremes.
00:17:38.799 --> 00:17:39.599
Um it's it's funny.
00:17:39.680 --> 00:17:46.240
I was actually snowboarding with a uh a colleague yesterday, um, a taller photographer, um, Bob Martis, he's a he's a great photographer.
00:17:46.400 --> 00:17:54.799
Um and we're and we're sitting there ride in the chair together, and we're talking about how we often prefer riding during a storm cycle than like a than like a bluebird day.
00:17:54.960 --> 00:17:55.759
And he put it really well.
00:17:55.839 --> 00:17:59.920
He's like, it's because you can feel feel the weather, uh, you know, feel your environment.
00:18:00.079 --> 00:18:02.000
And it's true, there's an electricity out there.
00:18:02.079 --> 00:18:08.079
And so, yeah, put me outside, put me someplace, you know, kind of crazy, and I'm most uh most comfortable there.
00:18:08.400 --> 00:18:08.640
Okay.
00:18:08.720 --> 00:18:11.759
I gotta ask about one of the claims you make on your on your own website.
00:18:11.920 --> 00:18:17.599
You say, you know, you you yeah, you you say that you know you've searched for lost cattle, you know, in a snowstorm.
00:18:17.759 --> 00:18:18.880
Okay, you know, got that.
00:18:19.039 --> 00:18:22.720
Uh you say, you know, you photographed Olympic athletes, you know, okay.
00:18:22.880 --> 00:18:27.039
Um, but then you say you've touched the Alaskan floor on a single breath.
00:18:27.119 --> 00:18:27.200
Yeah.
00:18:27.440 --> 00:18:29.119
And I gotta tell you, I've done that too.
00:18:29.279 --> 00:18:31.359
I was about knee deep on a gravel beach.
00:18:31.440 --> 00:18:33.440
Um, I reached down, I picked up a rock.
00:18:33.519 --> 00:18:36.720
Yeah um no, but tell that's gotta be a cool story.
00:18:36.799 --> 00:18:37.359
Tell me that one.
00:18:37.599 --> 00:18:39.119
So that was a family vacation.
00:18:39.200 --> 00:18:42.160
Uh, and and did a little free diving up in uh Alaska.
00:18:42.720 --> 00:18:43.279
Super fun.
00:18:43.359 --> 00:18:45.759
Uh, I got into free diving a few years ago.
00:18:45.920 --> 00:18:49.440
Um, I I do a lot of work with a nonprofit called the Oregon Celp Alliance.
00:18:49.599 --> 00:18:56.480
Um, quick little side story, you know, up and down the West Coast, especially here in Oregon and Northern California.
00:18:56.559 --> 00:18:59.039
Um, we've lost a lot of kelp in our in our oceans.
00:18:59.119 --> 00:19:13.200
And so doing work with them and trying to photograph underwater, I took a free dive class and just fell in love with that whole uh, you know, that whole process of learning how to hold your breath for as as long as you possibly can safely and diving down.
00:19:13.279 --> 00:19:17.039
And um, there's something extremely quiet uh about it.
00:19:17.200 --> 00:19:21.359
You know, there's no bubbles from scuba, it's just you underwater checking things out.
00:19:21.519 --> 00:19:28.799
So yeah, so to go back to your question, uh uh, you know, I was uh up in Alaska on a family fishing trip uh over this summer and did a little free diving.
00:19:29.519 --> 00:19:31.119
And what was the record for you?
00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:32.799
As far as uh depth.
00:19:33.039 --> 00:19:33.519
Yeah.
00:19:33.839 --> 00:19:36.799
Uh it wasn't Alaska, it was I think it was Mexico.
00:19:37.039 --> 00:19:38.960
You know, I'm not that deep of a free diving.
00:19:39.279 --> 00:19:40.240
People go like hundreds of feet.
00:19:40.319 --> 00:19:43.039
I'm you know, I'm probably maxing out around 28, 30 feet.
00:19:43.279 --> 00:19:44.480
So okay, still, man.
00:19:44.559 --> 00:19:46.799
That that that's you know, that that's more than an atmosphere.
00:19:46.880 --> 00:19:47.680
That that's that's true.
00:19:48.079 --> 00:19:48.640
Getting down there.
00:19:48.799 --> 00:19:49.119
Yeah.
00:19:49.440 --> 00:19:58.960
Going back to the commercial stuff for a second, you've you've got a lot of products in there that have long histories, you know, just in you know, automotive stuff, for example.
00:19:59.119 --> 00:19:59.519
Yeah.
00:19:59.839 --> 00:20:04.319
You would think a tire or a Subaru, I gotta call out Subaru, that's what I drive.
00:20:04.559 --> 00:20:12.319
Um that they have been photographed so often there's absolutely nothing new to say.
00:20:12.640 --> 00:20:13.440
Is that true?
00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:16.240
Um Boy, I think.
00:20:17.680 --> 00:20:22.160
I don't, you know, no, I'm gonna say no, because we all have our own places in our in our own adventures.
00:20:22.480 --> 00:20:25.519
Like, um, I yeah, that's a tough question to ask.
00:20:25.599 --> 00:20:27.279
I don't know how to I don't know how to answer that one.
00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:28.319
Yeah.
00:20:28.799 --> 00:20:36.799
Well, I mean, yeah, one of these shots I was I was you know you know admiring, you somebody said we gotta you know do a shot of a shock absorber.
00:20:36.880 --> 00:20:37.039
Okay.
00:20:37.359 --> 00:20:39.440
And I think oh yeah, okay.
00:20:39.599 --> 00:20:46.000
I I I have absolutely no idea how to make a shock absorber interesting.
00:20:46.160 --> 00:20:46.400
Yeah.
00:20:46.640 --> 00:20:48.559
And yet, and then there's your picture.
00:20:48.799 --> 00:20:54.400
Um, so I mean, tell me that campaign, but tell me the creative, tell me how you I mean, and give me the technical stuff.
00:20:54.480 --> 00:20:56.240
How did you actually wind up getting that shot?
00:20:56.480 --> 00:20:58.319
Yeah, so that that that's actually a portfolio shot.
00:20:58.400 --> 00:20:59.839
That was a self-driven project.
00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:01.440
Uh and okay, yep.
00:21:01.519 --> 00:21:10.000
And I was and you know, kind of like working out, working around as I need to do something a little more product focused, maybe get some um, you know, aftermarket companies.
00:21:10.079 --> 00:21:16.480
It was kind of what is kind of the goal, like that, you know, is you're always you're always looking for your uh another client as a you know the commercial photographer.
00:21:16.640 --> 00:21:28.720
And so um I had the idea, I was like, okay, I want to get this perfect, perfectly clean, brand new uh shock absorber amongst this extremely muddy truck or you know, the the the underside of a muddy truck.
00:21:28.880 --> 00:21:33.359
Uh so you put we put the shock absorber on the truck, installed that.
00:21:33.440 --> 00:21:34.240
That was the easy part.
00:21:34.400 --> 00:21:36.880
Well, it took like a day and a half, but that's okay.
00:21:37.119 --> 00:21:40.160
Um truly was the easy part.
00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:46.720
Uh the the next step was was kind of framing it up and working around the tire, or were we gonna take the tire off?
00:21:46.880 --> 00:21:53.279
I kind of like the tire on because the way it was blocking light and casting shadow and actually shaping the the actual shock.
00:21:53.359 --> 00:21:59.759
Um so figuring out how to stuff my my medium format camera into there, you know, to get a you know, uh more of an intimate shock.
00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:01.920
If you will, of that shock absorber.
00:22:02.079 --> 00:22:04.720
And then the next step was how do you get it muddy?
00:22:04.960 --> 00:22:08.720
So we tried, or I tried getting the truck muddy before we installed it.
00:22:08.799 --> 00:22:14.720
By the time we, but then after we installed it, the mud had, you know, just look dried up or flaked off and just didn't look good.
00:22:14.960 --> 00:22:19.359
So I lit it and then uh figured out how to paint with mud.
00:22:19.440 --> 00:22:27.519
And through a process of trial and error, I ended up wrapping the shock and saran wrap and then mixing up a bunch of mud in the bowl.
00:22:27.759 --> 00:22:30.000
And by mixing up, you know, just some dirt and some water.
00:22:30.160 --> 00:22:38.799
And then and then took an air compressor and shot the air into the bowl and let it just spray everywhere because that's what it would do in in real life, right?
00:22:38.880 --> 00:22:41.440
If that's how it would most naturally fit, uh sit there.
00:22:41.519 --> 00:22:43.359
And so I sat there and sprayed it a bunch of times.
00:22:43.680 --> 00:22:46.960
You know, obviously covered my camera too, because I had everything just where I wanted it.
00:22:47.119 --> 00:22:51.599
Sprayed it, shocked, sprayed it, click, sprayed it, click until I found what I needed.
00:22:51.680 --> 00:22:55.839
So how many hours would you say are behind this one image?
00:22:56.160 --> 00:22:58.880
If we don't count the installation installation of a shot.
00:22:59.039 --> 00:22:59.519
No, count it.
00:22:59.839 --> 00:23:01.680
Okay, probably probably three days.
00:23:02.079 --> 00:23:02.559
Wow.
00:23:02.799 --> 00:23:03.440
Yeah.
00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:06.960
And and you did this just on spec.
00:23:07.039 --> 00:23:11.039
You did this for your own sense of I'm looking for new clients.
00:23:11.279 --> 00:23:11.440
Yeah.
00:23:11.519 --> 00:23:12.480
I mean, that's what you have to do.
00:23:12.720 --> 00:23:14.400
Your your portfolio's gotta evolve.
00:23:14.480 --> 00:23:17.680
You've got to, you know, keep keep putting yourself out there with new work.
00:23:17.759 --> 00:23:20.400
And so, yeah, that one was like, okay, here's here's an interesting image.
00:23:20.480 --> 00:23:21.359
I think, I hope.
00:23:21.519 --> 00:23:23.519
Uh, and also a challenge.
00:23:23.599 --> 00:23:24.960
Like, I I love a challenge.
00:23:25.039 --> 00:23:30.480
Um, so uh I love you trying to figure things out from a technical standpoint, and that was that was a good one.
00:23:30.799 --> 00:23:34.799
Wouldn't it have been easier to just simply cut and paste a clean shock into a muddy wheel well?
00:23:35.119 --> 00:23:35.440
100%.
00:23:35.680 --> 00:23:40.000
And we and we've done things like that, maybe not for shocks, but for other products and stuff a thousand times.
00:23:40.240 --> 00:23:44.480
But there's a third a certain authentic authentic authenticity, it's a tough word.
00:23:44.640 --> 00:23:49.279
Uh and um and and like I said, I do enjoy the challenge.
00:23:49.359 --> 00:23:52.480
So so you know, I'm sitting here like and I also love the process, right?
00:23:52.559 --> 00:23:57.920
And so, you know, here's an opportunity uh or an idea where uh I'm I'm not I'm not on the clock.
00:23:58.079 --> 00:24:00.079
I can spend as much time as I want with this.
00:24:00.319 --> 00:24:05.359
Obviously, you know, I don't want to spend a ton of time because you know, you're just how much money and how much time you're from a business standpoint.
00:24:05.519 --> 00:24:16.319
But yeah, and so there was that there was a freedom and then and just also keeping my skills sharp so that when things like this do arise, like I've I've got one more solution to to you know to solve something.
00:24:16.480 --> 00:24:23.119
And maybe I have to paint with mud on something else completely different in you know in life, but there's a process that I've I've put into my bag.
00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:27.200
How do you judge for yourself an image that works?
00:24:28.559 --> 00:24:29.759
That's a good question.
00:24:29.920 --> 00:24:34.480
Um I'm always looking well, okay, I think first it's like composition.
00:24:34.559 --> 00:24:36.319
Uh how's the composition looking?
00:24:36.400 --> 00:24:44.799
Uh is is if if there's a person in it, is what's the connection with the camera or with the with that with the person's environment or with what they're doing?
00:24:44.960 --> 00:24:49.519
Um there's also all the technical stuff, you know, is it in focus, is it exposed well, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
00:24:49.599 --> 00:24:53.039
So but I think largely, yeah, it's composition and and human connection.
00:24:53.119 --> 00:24:56.240
If there, if there, if there isn't a human into it, then it's mostly composition.
00:24:56.319 --> 00:25:03.200
And then uh, you know, if we're shooting product, I'm I'm making sure that there isn't like any tangent lines or you know, anything that's overlapping weirdly.
00:25:03.359 --> 00:25:16.079
Um, if we look at that shock, for example, I was raising the camera up and down, uh, you know, a few millimeters at a time to make sure that that IBOC logo didn't get obscured by the um, I think that's a the tie rod going across the frame.
00:25:16.400 --> 00:25:17.599
So small little things like that.
00:25:17.680 --> 00:25:24.240
So I think it, you know, it's a little image dependent, but it's also, you know, I think there's some basic rules as well.
00:25:24.640 --> 00:25:24.960
Okay.
00:25:25.759 --> 00:25:28.720
The I'm looking at a bunch of your other portfolios.
00:25:28.880 --> 00:25:29.839
Um, shoes.
00:25:30.079 --> 00:25:30.240
Yeah.
00:25:30.559 --> 00:25:30.640
Yeah.
00:25:31.440 --> 00:25:35.279
First of all, I'm surprised you have done work for companies that compete with each other.
00:25:35.359 --> 00:25:36.799
Does that ever get to be a problem?
00:25:37.119 --> 00:25:38.319
Uh I don't think so.
00:25:38.480 --> 00:25:49.839
You know, we we we all have we all are you know sign our NDAs and we don't talk about the projects and you know, you know, working in this in this town, um, you know, you it's it's a shoe town.
00:25:49.920 --> 00:25:54.079
So you're you're you're gonna end up working in some in some respect with I think every single shoe company.
00:25:54.480 --> 00:25:58.400
And and is your client actually uh an ad agency or the shoe company?
00:25:58.640 --> 00:25:58.880
Both.
00:25:58.960 --> 00:26:00.079
Uh it kind of depends on the client.
00:26:00.319 --> 00:26:00.880
So yeah, yeah.
00:26:01.039 --> 00:26:06.720
And my shoe work is very, you know, it's it's not a lot, but because I I live, I do where I live, it's um it is there.
00:26:06.880 --> 00:26:13.279
So well, I'm just saying, you know, in in general, you know, whether or not you're working for the agency or the company, I it doesn't make a big difference.
00:26:13.359 --> 00:26:14.000
I'm just curious.
00:26:14.160 --> 00:26:14.400
Yeah.
00:26:14.480 --> 00:26:15.839
Uh, but yeah, but but it it is both.
00:26:15.920 --> 00:26:18.240
So sometimes it's agency, sometimes it's it's brand direct.
00:26:18.319 --> 00:26:20.720
Um, it kind of just depends on what's going on.
00:26:21.119 --> 00:26:32.160
You know, for for somebody, and I want to get to a bunch of your other pictures here in a second, but I've just done something for somebody that wants to break into uh product photography or this kind of stuff, cold calls with a portfolio, does that ever work?
00:26:32.480 --> 00:26:33.039
Sometimes.
00:26:33.200 --> 00:26:33.519
Yeah.
00:26:33.680 --> 00:26:42.640
You know, it's um there's a really old adage, and I think it's the truest thing to especially today, is it's just it's who you know and putting yourselves in those spaces.
00:26:42.799 --> 00:26:44.559
And I think that is the biggest trick, right?
00:26:44.640 --> 00:26:48.880
Like first you've got to develop your portfolio, and then you just you need to find find your people.
00:26:49.039 --> 00:26:51.279
And I don't think that there's a magic answer to that.
00:26:51.440 --> 00:26:54.160
You just you've gotta what's the old, what's the old quote?
00:26:54.240 --> 00:26:56.240
Um, luck favors the prepared.
00:26:56.480 --> 00:26:56.799
Yeah.
00:26:56.960 --> 00:26:57.200
Yeah.
00:26:57.359 --> 00:26:57.680
Yep.
00:26:58.079 --> 00:27:00.160
Um for better or for worse.
00:27:00.240 --> 00:27:01.519
I think that's a large part of it.
00:27:01.839 --> 00:27:06.319
And and and I think doing the stuff on spec, you know, a lot of people say, I'll do the work if you hire me.
00:27:06.400 --> 00:27:10.000
It's like, no, you do the work, and then you then you say, uh, please hire me.
00:27:10.079 --> 00:27:12.559
You gotta you gotta spend three days on a shock absorber.
00:27:12.799 --> 00:27:13.680
Yeah, I mean that that's right.
00:27:13.759 --> 00:27:21.920
Like if we look at a lot of, I mean, there's definitely a lot of um of my paid work in my portfolio, but there's also a significant amount of not paid work in my portfolio.
00:27:22.079 --> 00:27:23.359
So yeah.
00:27:23.920 --> 00:27:24.240
Okay.
00:27:24.559 --> 00:27:28.079
Um, simply because I'm jealous as hell, tell me about AquaTech.
00:27:28.400 --> 00:27:30.960
AquaTech, uh, they're a great underwater housing company.
00:27:31.039 --> 00:27:32.000
They're fantastic.
00:27:32.160 --> 00:27:32.480
Yeah.
00:27:32.720 --> 00:27:38.480
Well, no, but I mean, tell me about doing this campaign, taking these pictures, using the gear.
00:27:38.559 --> 00:27:38.799
Oh, yeah.
00:27:38.960 --> 00:27:44.240
Because I, you know, I I walk by stores that have underwater housings and stuff.
00:27:44.319 --> 00:27:44.400
Yeah.
00:27:44.559 --> 00:27:46.319
And keep in mind, I live in Minnesota.
00:27:46.400 --> 00:27:51.039
I, you know, yeah, we got 10,000 lakes, but underwater photography is not a big deal around here.
00:27:51.279 --> 00:27:52.880
I just I want to do that someday.
00:27:52.960 --> 00:27:57.839
And that's my fantasy life to have that kind of gear and the reason to have that kind of gear.
00:27:58.400 --> 00:28:03.680
Aquatech is probably one of the best uh companies out there for you know, it's surf housings and water housings.
00:28:03.759 --> 00:28:06.799
Um, they they can you can go underwater to a decent depth.
00:28:06.880 --> 00:28:08.799
Um, they have all these amazing ports.
00:28:08.880 --> 00:28:10.960
Um, they're fan, they're fantastic to work with.
00:28:11.039 --> 00:28:14.160
Uh, I can't say enough good things about about their housings.
00:28:14.720 --> 00:28:19.599
But in in the short film that you've got on your website, that that that it's I mean such a cool experience.
00:28:19.839 --> 00:28:22.400
You're standing in a river, I guess, of some sort or an estuary.
00:28:22.559 --> 00:28:26.000
Um, there's someone with a paddle board's going by.
00:28:26.319 --> 00:28:27.440
Tell me about the shoot.
00:28:27.680 --> 00:28:29.279
Yeah, so that was mid-pandemic.
00:28:29.440 --> 00:28:31.680
Um, that was it was.
00:28:31.839 --> 00:28:34.319
Um, it must have been 22.
00:28:34.720 --> 00:28:35.920
I think it was 22.
00:28:36.079 --> 00:28:42.160
Um, I I I knew the marketing director of Aquatech, I think is what happened.
00:28:42.240 --> 00:28:43.599
It's been a while, so forgive me.
00:28:43.759 --> 00:28:48.480
But um, they uh they had reached out and said, hey, we have this project with Fujifilm.
00:28:48.640 --> 00:28:52.799
Um, you know, could you pitch us an idea and you know and see if it works?
00:28:52.880 --> 00:28:59.599
And so, of course, I you know, I fired up my pitch decks and I think I pitched them three different ideas.
00:28:59.759 --> 00:29:02.960
Um, we the idea that one was a completely different idea.
00:29:03.039 --> 00:29:05.200
I don't quite remember what the initial idea was.
00:29:05.359 --> 00:29:08.160
Uh, but being mid-pandemic, everything was shut down.
00:29:08.240 --> 00:29:10.799
And with that was uh a lot of the ranger stations.
00:29:10.880 --> 00:29:25.920
And so as a commercial photographer and when you're working with commercial commercial clients, uh, you have to make sure that every every place you work in is permitted, uh, whether it be you know the forest service or you know, whoever's running the beaches, um, et cetera, et cetera.
00:29:26.079 --> 00:29:40.880
So uh, and since all the ranger stations were were shut down, uh or or if not shut down, you know, working at a reduced capacity, getting someone on the phone to to approve what we want to do and where we want to do it was just it was a nightmare.
00:29:41.119 --> 00:29:47.519
Um so and I was either getting you know ghosted by everyone or being told no of all these other ideas I had.
00:29:47.680 --> 00:29:54.079
And so I had found this lake out in central Oregon where we filmed that.
00:29:54.240 --> 00:29:58.160
Um it is a it's a it's a what is it, it's a glacier fed?
00:29:58.319 --> 00:30:01.279
No, it's a spring-fed lake, I believe, that goes through volcanic rock.
00:30:01.359 --> 00:30:02.799
So it's crazy clear.
00:30:02.880 --> 00:30:05.680
I think it's 40 or 50 feet clear on a good day.
00:30:05.920 --> 00:30:06.160
Wow.
00:30:06.319 --> 00:30:06.480
Okay.
00:30:06.640 --> 00:30:09.359
And it, but it's cold, it's 37 degrees.
00:30:10.799 --> 00:30:11.440
Yeah.
00:30:11.759 --> 00:30:17.839
But but I actually got a ranger on, I got a ranger on the telephone, and they're like, yeah, if you can come out here, blah, blah, blah.
00:30:18.000 --> 00:30:21.200
So I I drove out there, I I was calling them.
00:30:21.359 --> 00:30:30.160
Um, I I did I did everything you could possibly do, and we finally, and the ranger that was I worked with was super nice and um and I think just took some pity on me.
00:30:30.640 --> 00:30:36.480
And uh, and I we got approved to to photograph uh uh at Clear Lake.
00:30:36.559 --> 00:30:41.920
Um the next step was swimming around in 37 degree water, which was uh an ordeal.
00:30:42.079 --> 00:30:49.839
But um we happened to have at the time a local free dive shop here in town, and I was able to rent uh, I think it was like an eight or 10 mil wetsuit.
00:30:49.920 --> 00:30:53.359
Uh, and we drove out there and and shot that assignment.
00:30:53.680 --> 00:30:54.559
Was it fun?
00:30:54.799 --> 00:30:55.599
It was a blast.
00:30:55.759 --> 00:30:57.519
It was it was a challenge, it was super fun.
00:30:57.680 --> 00:31:01.519
Of course, it had rained like a day or two before, so clarity wasn't wasn't the best.
00:31:01.599 --> 00:31:05.759
So it's so you have all these ideas like, oh, we're gonna have this super clear uh lake.
00:31:05.920 --> 00:31:12.160
I'm gonna dive down a little bit and maybe shoot some shoot from the um the you know, not the bottom, but below, looking back up.
00:31:12.400 --> 00:31:16.400
That really wasn't a whole very good possibility because uh the clarity wasn't the best.
00:31:16.559 --> 00:31:21.519
Um, you know, it's kind of all the struggles, but we make you make it work, and that and that's part of commercial photography.
00:31:21.599 --> 00:31:36.640
Like you roll in with all these all these preconceived ideas, and then and then you know, Mother Nature or something is gonna derail you, and you've got to adapt and you've just got to, you know, solve the problem the best you can, you know, in a semi-fast fashion.
00:31:36.960 --> 00:31:37.279
Okay.
00:31:37.519 --> 00:31:40.640
Um, when you're out in the field, uh, do you bring a lot of gear with you?
00:31:40.720 --> 00:31:44.000
I know you're a fan of medium format, but do you bring 810 lights?
00:31:44.160 --> 00:31:47.359
Do you bring you know reflectors, positive and negative?
00:31:47.519 --> 00:31:49.920
I mean, to tell me what you show up with.
00:31:50.160 --> 00:31:50.559
All of it.
00:31:50.640 --> 00:31:52.720
So it kind of depends um on the project.
00:31:52.880 --> 00:32:02.160
Like if if I think the project is going to warrant it, uh, we will have grip trucks, we'll have, you know, uh a van full of lighting, um, you know, stylus, uh, et cetera, et cetera.
00:32:02.319 --> 00:32:16.079
Um and then if if the project you know either doesn't have the budget or or if it's you know something that maybe doesn't make sense to have all that stuff, then we'll we will pair down and you know, sometimes it's just me and and the and the model and maybe an assistant with with a with a bounce card.
00:32:16.160 --> 00:32:19.440
So it's it's really it varies between project to project.
00:32:19.839 --> 00:32:21.599
Some of your work is in black and white.
00:32:21.759 --> 00:32:22.640
Is that your own work?
00:32:22.799 --> 00:32:24.960
Is is that I mean clients want that?
00:32:25.279 --> 00:32:29.359
Tell me where this is because it's is I mean, I'm a great fan of black and white just from the beginning.
00:32:29.680 --> 00:32:33.680
Um so this is fantastic work, but it's unusual in commercial world these days.
00:32:34.000 --> 00:32:38.079
I am seeing black and white a little bit in commercial in commercial work these days, which is exciting to me.
00:32:38.240 --> 00:32:48.079
Um, but to answer your question, some of that is uh is is client work that I've reprocessed in black and white for my website just because I I loved how they looked in black and white.
00:32:48.240 --> 00:32:54.720
Uh there's there's uh you know, um a softball player with the bat behind her and these just amazing clouds.
00:32:54.799 --> 00:32:57.839
And I as soon as I saw the image, I was like, oh my god, like look at that sky.
00:32:57.920 --> 00:33:02.720
Like, you know, and coming from the film days, like throw a red filter on that and like you know, just make those clouds pop.
00:33:02.880 --> 00:33:10.480
So there's a few moments here and there where I'm like, okay, this is for for my own uh website, kind of building my own vibe, like I I gotta sprinkle some black and white.
00:33:10.559 --> 00:33:15.759
Because I if if I could shoot black and white all the time, I I would I I I love black and white photography.
00:33:15.920 --> 00:33:23.039
So tell me a story where the photography gods just smiled on you and it was much easier than it should have been.
00:33:23.359 --> 00:33:25.759
Oh man, there's been there's been a bunch of those.
00:33:25.920 --> 00:33:28.960
Um because you know what I'm gonna ask next.
00:33:29.200 --> 00:33:30.480
Uh yeah, I do.
00:33:30.559 --> 00:33:32.319
Uh and I'm fearing that question.
00:33:32.559 --> 00:33:38.319
Um honestly, like I've I've got a uh uh a client that I've worked with a long time.
00:33:38.480 --> 00:33:43.680
Um they uh De Marini bats and they make um you know softball bats.
00:33:43.759 --> 00:33:53.279
And I got to work with the uh Olympic softball team, and those women are a amazing, super nice, and so easy to work with.
00:33:53.440 --> 00:33:55.200
Um they made my job so so easy.
00:33:55.359 --> 00:33:59.680
Like it's just like they they knew when to when you know what they know when to hold their their swings.
00:33:59.759 --> 00:34:05.680
They they know, you know the best place to uh or body position for a pitch.
00:34:05.759 --> 00:34:10.880
Like they just all everything that you you could dream of, like there's just it would make my life so easy.
00:34:10.960 --> 00:34:13.280
Um and I just feel super lucky every time I get to work with them.
00:34:13.599 --> 00:34:14.079
Oh, very good.
00:34:14.559 --> 00:34:20.480
Okay, tell tell me a story where the photography god said, nah, not today ain't gonna happen.
00:34:20.800 --> 00:34:26.639
Yeah, well, um, there's an image in my automotive portfolio.
00:34:26.960 --> 00:34:30.480
Uh and it's it's again a self-driven project.
00:34:30.559 --> 00:34:35.039
Um, it is a Toyota Tundra sitting parallel on a beach.
00:34:35.119 --> 00:34:37.519
I actually I'm scrolling through right now to see if it's on there.
00:34:37.599 --> 00:34:39.599
Um, I don't have it on there.
00:34:39.840 --> 00:34:40.960
Oh, nope, I don't.
00:34:41.039 --> 00:34:41.280
Okay.
00:34:41.440 --> 00:34:43.280
So there's there's an image I shot.
00:34:43.360 --> 00:34:48.719
Um I was I was you know working on my automotive portfolio, took a truck down to the beach, was driving down.
00:34:48.800 --> 00:34:52.400
Um I had a full car, like car detail kit in the back seat.
00:34:52.480 --> 00:34:56.079
So wherever I figured out, I was gonna detail the car on location and photograph it.
00:34:56.239 --> 00:35:02.719
Um and I get down there and it is uh, and there's some locations here on the Oregon coast where you can drive on the beach.
00:35:02.800 --> 00:35:03.679
So that's where I went.
00:35:03.760 --> 00:35:03.920
Right.
00:35:04.320 --> 00:35:08.639
So I get down there and I have never been in a rainstorm so bad.
00:35:08.719 --> 00:35:10.239
It's like I can't even see the hood of my truck.
00:35:10.320 --> 00:35:13.920
I'm driving on the beach and I just drive in this middle of this rainstorm.
00:35:14.159 --> 00:35:21.760
I'm driving and I look over and there's four bald eagles on the ground just honkered down because the wind and the rain is so bad.
00:35:21.840 --> 00:35:26.079
And I was like, well, if these guys can't even do anything, what am I supposed to do with this?
00:35:26.159 --> 00:35:30.480
And you know, I'm sitting here, I was like, oh, it's like I'm wasting all this money, time, what am I doing?
00:35:30.800 --> 00:35:41.519
But it was a huge lesson because the minute that storm broke, oh my God, the like then all of a sudden the the photo gods and the weather gods just smiled upon me.
00:35:41.760 --> 00:35:47.760
And uh I got some of the some awesome uh photographs of this truck uh in like this 45-minute window.
00:35:48.079 --> 00:35:51.599
I was gonna say the the entire world would have glimmered and shimmered at that time.
00:35:51.840 --> 00:35:52.239
It did.
00:35:52.400 --> 00:35:53.360
Um yeah, man.
00:35:53.679 --> 00:35:54.000
Okay.
00:35:54.400 --> 00:35:58.000
You also um, you know, it's not just commercial stuff.
00:35:58.239 --> 00:35:59.760
You do advocacy work.
00:35:59.840 --> 00:36:05.360
You you do some really cool stuff uh for Indigenous peoples, for the Oregon Kelp Alliance.
00:36:05.519 --> 00:36:09.760
Um, tell me how you're using photography to make the world a better place.
00:36:09.920 --> 00:36:12.320
As well, I mean, not to say that commercial isn't.
00:36:12.800 --> 00:36:12.960
Sure.
00:36:13.039 --> 00:36:13.519
No, yeah.
00:36:13.599 --> 00:36:18.719
I mean, uh I just have this responsibility to pay it forward.
00:36:18.800 --> 00:36:25.280
And I think a lot of it comes from everyone that you know brought me up, you know, whether it be in the Vinton days or the photo days, like they were so many kind people to help me.
00:36:25.360 --> 00:36:27.360
So I just I want to be able to give back.
00:36:27.519 --> 00:36:38.800
Um and and I think also my you know, my relationship to the outdoors with with all the sports I do, you know, I've been surfing up in the Northwest for over 20 years as well as snowboarding and and and mountain biking.
00:36:38.960 --> 00:36:41.760
And so I've seen the changes of these places.
00:36:41.920 --> 00:36:47.840
Uh and when I met the Oregon Cup Alliance, uh, and you know, they needed some help, I was like, yeah, absolutely.
00:36:47.920 --> 00:36:50.159
Let's like, let's help what can I do?
00:36:50.480 --> 00:36:53.519
So um, and and then the same thing with the Weleuska Foundation.
00:36:53.599 --> 00:36:56.719
They're they're a friend of a friend and they need some help telling some stories.
00:36:56.880 --> 00:36:59.280
I was like, uh Don, you know, um, here you go.
00:36:59.519 --> 00:37:01.119
You know, all these images are yours.
00:37:01.199 --> 00:37:05.119
Like take them and and you know, if I can help again, like please ask.
00:37:05.599 --> 00:37:07.280
They basically call you up.
00:37:07.679 --> 00:37:08.400
Yeah, yeah.
00:37:08.559 --> 00:37:19.440
Uh the the the Oregon Celp one, I had met them on assignment for a uh I'm trying to, it's been a while, so I'm trying to remember my the actual how I actually met them.
00:37:19.519 --> 00:37:23.679
Um I was on assignment with Oregon Coast Visitors Association doing some tourism work.
00:37:23.920 --> 00:37:32.320
And I believe I met the director of the who his name is um Tom Calvinese uh during one of those assignments uh who runs the Oregon Celp Alliance.
00:37:32.400 --> 00:37:42.320
And so he had asked me to help uh, you know, a few times, taking some images and uh uh eventually built a website uh with some friends and it just kind of was an evolutionary process.
00:37:42.559 --> 00:37:47.280
I also work with them now part-time um uh with their communications and marketing as well.
00:37:47.440 --> 00:37:49.599
So oh, very cool.
00:37:49.840 --> 00:37:55.039
Well, you know, like I said before, this work is to use a technical term, just so cool.
00:37:55.280 --> 00:37:58.960
Not only the composition and and the subjects, but I don't know what it is, man.
00:37:59.039 --> 00:38:10.719
Justin, you your work when I look at it, has that extra special kick to it where I I mean, I'm looking at a picture of a truck I have seen my entire life and as if I've never seen it.
00:38:10.960 --> 00:38:15.360
Or I'm looking at the ocean, I'm looking at surfing, I'm looking at the free diving stuff.
00:38:15.599 --> 00:38:17.360
Really, really cool work.
00:38:17.679 --> 00:38:19.440
And I love the insights.
00:38:19.519 --> 00:38:20.159
Thank you very much.
00:38:20.239 --> 00:38:21.440
It's been a great conversation.
00:38:21.760 --> 00:38:22.480
Oh, thank you, Scott.
00:38:22.559 --> 00:38:23.519
I really appreciate it.
00:38:25.840 --> 00:38:31.199
Frames, because excellent photography belongs on paper.
00:38:31.440 --> 00:38:35.760
Visit us at www.readframes.com
00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:07.759
As an animator and coming up as an animator at the studio, we would often sit there and break down like music videos of Michael Jackson and how Michael Jackson is moving.
00:00:07.839 --> 00:00:15.199
We would go to malls and study how people are just moving through the mall and applying those principles to how we animated our characters.
00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:18.239
But with animation, you want to take it like that next step further, right?
00:00:18.320 --> 00:00:22.000
You want to just really uh emphasize those those moments of impact.
00:00:22.160 --> 00:00:28.000
And so I took all that into my work in photography, and especially with athletes, where is that that peak motion?
00:00:28.079 --> 00:00:30.239
Where is that moment where it's like it's super interesting?
00:00:30.320 --> 00:00:35.520
It's the body position is almost an art form in itself, or it is an art form in itself in whatever it's doing.
00:00:35.600 --> 00:00:41.119
You know, whether it's wing foiling or surfing or skateboarding or swinging the baseball bat, there's always this peak moment.
00:00:44.079 --> 00:00:50.479
This photography podcast is brought to you by Frames, quarterly printed photography magazine.
00:00:50.719 --> 00:00:52.640
Here is your today's host, W.
00:00:52.880 --> 00:00:56.960
Scott Olson, with another fascinating conversation.
00:01:01.600 --> 00:01:05.760
Well, hello everyone, and welcome to another podcast from Frames Magazine.
00:01:05.920 --> 00:01:07.359
My name is Scott Olson.
00:01:07.439 --> 00:01:08.719
And you know what, folks?
00:01:08.879 --> 00:01:22.079
Every now and then in the photography world, you come upon somebody's work and you're searching for the term, you're searching for the way to describe this stuff, and you come up with a really kind of esoteric, vague, not used very often term.
00:01:22.159 --> 00:01:23.920
And it's just cool.
00:01:24.079 --> 00:01:28.959
Uh you look at this stuff and you think, I want to be this guy or this woman.
00:01:29.120 --> 00:01:48.400
I want to do the work that they are doing because every image is just leaping off the page and it is somehow conveying, whether it's product photography or portraits or adventure or sports or whatever, there's just something about it that is larger than life that is really sort of compelling.
00:01:48.480 --> 00:01:53.840
And you look at it and you think, damn it, that that's just really, really cool work.
00:01:54.319 --> 00:01:56.640
And today, this is who we're talking to.
00:01:56.719 --> 00:01:58.480
Today we're talking with Justin Myers.
00:01:58.799 --> 00:02:03.760
Justin is uh a product photographer, automotive, adventure, all sorts of stuff.
00:02:03.920 --> 00:02:07.760
His clients are Fujifilm, Campbellback, Adidas, Converse, damn.
00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:09.039
This list just goes on.
00:02:09.280 --> 00:02:13.439
Columbia, Keene, Sorel, Domestic, Big Green Egg, one of my favorites there.
00:02:13.599 --> 00:02:18.960
Uh everything from the Oregon lottery to Merrill Lynch to the Portland Monthly, Condi Nast.
00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:23.919
And you look at his work and you just think, this stuff pops.
00:02:24.240 --> 00:02:26.000
And then you start trying to figure out why.
00:02:26.080 --> 00:02:37.759
And I mean, if you're like me, you stare at the image for a long time, trying to you know deconstruct it, and you and you finally figure out no, you know, it's no setting, it's no insight, it's just magic.
00:02:37.919 --> 00:02:45.039
It's it's just a way to to come think of light, to think of composition in ways that are original and fresh.
00:02:45.360 --> 00:02:49.599
And I gotta tell you, I am really looking forward to today's conversation.
00:02:49.840 --> 00:02:51.280
Justin, welcome to the podcast.
00:02:51.360 --> 00:02:52.240
How are you doing this morning?
00:02:52.479 --> 00:02:53.120
I'm great, Scott.
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Man, I need to hire you as my hype man.
00:02:54.800 --> 00:02:56.879
That was uh that's one half of an introduction.
00:02:56.960 --> 00:02:57.759
Thank you.
00:02:59.280 --> 00:03:00.719
Well, no, it it's true.
00:03:00.800 --> 00:03:09.120
I mean, th there are a thousand and one product photographers, there's a thousand and one, you know, uh environmental, outdoor photographers.
00:03:09.360 --> 00:03:21.039
And you you know, you go through a bunch of this stuff, then you come upon the special work, the stuff that simply, for whatever reason, leaps off the page and says, this is not only very good, it's excellent.
00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:23.280
It's got that last little kick in it.
00:03:23.439 --> 00:03:26.000
And your work certainly has that.
00:03:26.240 --> 00:03:29.199
So I'm really looking forward to digging in and getting at this.
00:03:29.360 --> 00:03:34.080
And you know, uh in a lot of these podcasts, we you know, we start off with origin stories.
00:03:34.159 --> 00:03:35.759
You know, when did you first hold a camera?
00:03:35.919 --> 00:03:37.840
When did you do uh this kind of stuff?
00:03:38.080 --> 00:03:42.800
You've got a a different take on how this all comes into your life.
00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:49.120
In the 1990s, in the 2000s, you were an animator for TV shows.
00:03:49.280 --> 00:03:59.439
Um so tell me how in the world you got into animation, uh, and then how that morphed into photography and and how the whole idea of the visual image came into your life.
00:03:59.680 --> 00:04:06.000
Yeah, no, no, it's uh it's kind of an interesting uh evolution um over the last you know 25 years or so.
00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:10.879
Um I was I was so let's see here, late in the late 90s, or actually probably mid-90s.
00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:11.919
I was in junior high.
00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:16.720
Uh, I happened to meet an artist who was an animator at Wolvinton or Wilvinton Studios.
00:04:16.800 --> 00:04:20.399
Uh, they are the ones that created the uh the California Raisins.
00:04:20.480 --> 00:04:24.079
Um I don't know if you guys remember them, but the Noy and all that fun stuff.
00:04:24.240 --> 00:04:25.600
Um also the MMs.
00:04:25.680 --> 00:04:28.000
I think the MMs are still red and yellow are still out there today.
00:04:28.079 --> 00:04:29.360
I think they had a hand in all that work.
00:04:29.519 --> 00:04:29.920
Anyway.
00:04:30.160 --> 00:04:30.639
Oh my.
00:04:30.800 --> 00:04:44.000
Uh so I'm just I here I am as a junior high student, uh, loved art, and I met this uh animator, and he kind of took me under his wing, and I got to start uh going to the studio and interning and seeing what that life was all about.
00:04:44.160 --> 00:04:51.279
Um, fast forward through uh high school, I had an opportunity to go kind of go to a uh what a public art high school.
00:04:51.439 --> 00:04:56.160
Uh and so through that, and then after that was working at the studio and I was doing everything.
00:04:56.240 --> 00:04:59.759
I um I think my first official job was erasing tapes.
00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:05.680
Um you're sitting there with this giant, giant magnet and these old VHS tapes, and I was there and I was erasing.
00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:13.439
And then I then you take the you know the um the citrus cleaner to get all the goo off the labels and then you recycle them and put it back.
00:05:13.759 --> 00:05:20.160
I loved it because there I was sitting in this just highly creative environment with all these amazing people soaking in so much information.
00:05:20.319 --> 00:05:32.399
Um and and everyone was so kind, and they were all teaching me different things about lighting, about cameras, you know, everything was on uh uh highly modified um 35 millimeter Mitchell motion picture cameras back then.
00:05:32.480 --> 00:05:37.199
Um so loading film cameras, rushing them to the overnight lab so we could have dailies the next day.
00:05:37.360 --> 00:05:41.600
Uh and then ultimately, yeah, like you'll um studying the human form and how to animate.
00:05:41.920 --> 00:05:46.079
If you if you're in junior high in the 90s, though, you're growing up with Dragon Ball Z and that kind of stuff.
00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:52.560
Um, so I mean, did you have an interest in animation in in art at all?
00:05:52.879 --> 00:05:53.199
For sure.
00:05:53.279 --> 00:05:54.079
Yeah, absolutely.
00:05:54.240 --> 00:05:57.439
I was, I mean, I still have actually I've been trying to figure out what to do with it.
00:05:57.519 --> 00:05:59.360
I still have uh a big comic book collection.
00:05:59.439 --> 00:06:00.399
I was drawing all the time.
00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:07.680
Like it was a pretty it was a pretty easy um, you know, uh, you know, next step for me, I think, you with that opportunity in front of me.
00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:09.120
Could you draw?
00:06:09.439 --> 00:06:11.680
I mean, you know, I was okay.
00:06:15.120 --> 00:06:18.240
MMs are vaguely round, so okay, you get you got that shaved down.
00:06:18.399 --> 00:06:21.439
Yeah, you know, and the and the thing with with Vinton, though, it was a stop motion.
00:06:21.519 --> 00:06:32.800
So it's so the the process over there then became um you had your sculptors and and your character uh you know creators, I guess there was a different term, I can't remember, but um, you know, they they created the models for you.
00:06:32.879 --> 00:06:36.800
And then as an animator, you you took those and and gave them life on set.
00:06:36.959 --> 00:06:44.480
So I uh and then and then also, you know, with um with uh working school with cameras and stuff like that, I I really took to that work.
00:06:44.879 --> 00:06:47.839
And and we should tell everybody that you're connected with Fujifilm.
00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:54.319
Um on their website, they say, you know, the the skills that you got from that provided an in-depth education on body movement.
00:06:54.480 --> 00:06:56.560
So, I mean, tell me what what that means.
00:06:56.639 --> 00:07:03.680
What is an in-depth education on body movement and how does that translate into your understanding of photography?
00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:04.240
Yeah.
00:07:04.399 --> 00:07:12.879
So uh as an animator and coming up as an animator at the studio, we would often sit there and break down like music videos of Michael Jackson and how Michael Jackson is moving.
00:07:12.959 --> 00:07:20.319
We would uh go to malls and study how people are just moving through the mall and applying those principles to how we animated our characters.
00:07:20.560 --> 00:07:23.360
But with animation, you want to take it like that next step further, right?
00:07:23.439 --> 00:07:28.480
You want to just really uh emphasize those those moments of um of impact.
00:07:28.560 --> 00:07:37.839
And so I took all that in into my work with photography and especially with athletes and whatnot, and and you know, really honed in like, where is that that peak motion?
00:07:37.920 --> 00:07:40.079
Where is that moment where it's like it's super interesting?
00:07:40.240 --> 00:07:53.279
It's the body position is you know almost an art form in itself, or it is an art form in itself in whatever it's doing, you know, whether it's wing foiling or surfing or skateboarding or or swinging a bait or swinging a baseball bat, like there's always this peak moment.
00:07:53.839 --> 00:07:58.000
And it's not just maximum extension and you know, arm is farthest out or above your head or something?
00:07:58.160 --> 00:07:58.720
I don't think so.
00:07:58.800 --> 00:08:00.399
I mean, I mean, sometimes, sure.
00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:06.800
But you know, there's I think there's moments where there's uh there's beauty where maybe it's not full extension, maybe it's full compression, right?
00:08:06.879 --> 00:08:11.199
Like if you're dropping into a wave and you're like on this big bottom turn and you're just compressing down into that, things like that.
00:08:11.279 --> 00:08:14.399
And and and even small things like how people are interacting with everyday objects.
00:08:14.480 --> 00:08:31.600
You know, if if I'm working with a technology company, let's say and we're photographing, I don't know, like the latest computer, like there's just subtleties on how people are moving that we're working with their mouse or or you know, typing on their keyboard that you you try to capture that aren't stiff, that have a little motion, a little more life, something that feels more natural.
00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:44.480
So I think going back to that that education I had at Vinton Studios, like and studying all that human form we did back then, like that informed me how people move, and I was really able to bring that forward.
00:08:45.120 --> 00:08:49.120
Does that lead in in your work then to a better sense of anticipation?
00:08:49.440 --> 00:08:50.320
Absolutely, absolutely.
00:08:50.559 --> 00:08:54.480
And and anticipation is actually probably one of the best terms for animation.
00:08:54.559 --> 00:08:58.399
Like you want to you have to have anticipation when you're animating characters.
00:08:58.559 --> 00:09:01.120
And so, yes, you spot on, that's exactly what it is.
00:09:01.360 --> 00:09:09.519
You you you got this career going on, you're doing the animation, but then at some point you you make a change and you move over into still photography.
00:09:10.240 --> 00:09:11.440
Tell me that's tell me that story.
00:09:11.679 --> 00:09:13.279
So, I mean, a camera was always in my hand.
00:09:13.440 --> 00:09:16.399
My my uncle Bob, you know, gave put a camera in my hand.
00:09:16.639 --> 00:09:18.399
Gosh, probably freshman year of high school.
00:09:18.559 --> 00:09:20.639
I think I took a uh black and white photography class.
00:09:20.720 --> 00:09:22.480
And um, you know, the classic story.
00:09:22.559 --> 00:09:25.600
Someone, someone gives you a camera and you're like, whoa, this is this is amazing.
00:09:25.919 --> 00:09:37.360
Especially back in the days of of you know uh film and black and white film where you in high school you had access to sit there and mix the chemicals and see whatever funny photograph you made just kind of you know come to life in front of you.
00:09:37.519 --> 00:09:38.720
So that was always there.
00:09:38.799 --> 00:09:41.039
Uh through the studio, I was always taking pictures.
00:09:41.200 --> 00:09:46.080
Um, the studio was, you know, uh kind of expanding and and and whatnot.
00:09:46.159 --> 00:09:51.679
And so uh through that, you know, uh some of us kind of you know parted ways, and I was I was one of those people.
00:09:51.919 --> 00:09:56.240
So there I was around maybe 20, 21, maybe.
00:09:56.559 --> 00:10:00.799
And uh had this had this lovely little short career in animation already.
00:10:00.879 --> 00:10:02.080
And I was like, okay, well, that was fun.
00:10:02.159 --> 00:10:03.519
So kind of what's next?
00:10:03.759 --> 00:10:10.559
So I got a job at a ski shop, uh, tuning skis, tuning snowboards, selling snowboards, uh jackets, you know, what name you.
00:10:10.639 --> 00:10:13.600
Um and kind of got stuck there for, no, I shouldn't say stuck there.
00:10:13.679 --> 00:10:15.919
I had a really good time there for three years.
00:10:17.120 --> 00:10:40.480
You know, learned learned a snowboard, learned to surf, learned a mountain bike, and and through that was then like was exposed to all these wonderful magazines like outside and alpinist and and stuff like that, and was just just enamored with the photography in there, you know, like these big mountains and these big mountain skiers and snowboarders uh charging down them and drawing these really beautiful lines down, down uh down these mountains and then surf photography in the surf magazine.
00:10:40.559 --> 00:10:50.639
So and I was always kind of uh skateboarding with friends, so like the action sports were not totally out of my uh every day, but this was just kind of some next level exposure.
00:10:50.720 --> 00:10:55.919
So uh yeah, worked there for three years, um, did a lot of did a lot of that stuff.
00:10:56.080 --> 00:11:00.159
And then finally it's like, okay, well, what's you know, had had the thoughts like what's next?
00:11:00.240 --> 00:11:01.039
Where where am I going?
00:11:01.120 --> 00:11:02.080
What am I doing?
00:11:02.320 --> 00:11:06.639
And uh decided to give the photography thing a try and went back to school.
00:11:07.039 --> 00:11:07.360
Okay.
00:11:08.080 --> 00:11:10.960
And and to university, to where?
00:11:11.360 --> 00:11:15.200
Yeah, so I went back to school to uh Brooks Institute of Photography down in uh Santa Barbara.
00:11:15.279 --> 00:11:20.240
Um they're no longer around, but but at the time they're one of the larger photo schools to go to.
00:11:21.279 --> 00:11:26.720
And they taught you composition, they taught you lightweight, tell me so many people are self-taught.
00:11:26.799 --> 00:11:29.840
So many people have a kind of university approach to it.
00:11:29.919 --> 00:11:32.320
Uh tell me what they offered you.
00:11:32.639 --> 00:11:38.080
So it was an extremely uh you know focused program in in commercial photography.
00:11:38.159 --> 00:11:41.759
And that's kind of was kind of you know uh calm and I guess.
00:11:41.919 --> 00:11:49.519
Um back in the Binton days as well, to kind of you know flashback to that for a second, uh, I was exposed to advertising, you know, like at a at the thousand percent.
00:11:49.679 --> 00:11:56.240
Like I was, you know, the studio was working on MMs, Nissan, uh, oh boy, Chili's restaurant, like just so much.
00:11:56.399 --> 00:12:02.000
And then we had an ad agency here in town in Portland called uh Wyden Kennedy, still here, huge ad ad agency.
00:12:02.159 --> 00:12:03.519
And they were always coming over.
00:12:03.600 --> 00:12:07.600
And uh every once in a while we would get to go over there and kind of experience um the ad world.
00:12:07.679 --> 00:12:09.600
And so I still kind of had that in my mind.
00:12:09.679 --> 00:12:11.039
I was like, okay, that's that's a fun world.
00:12:11.120 --> 00:12:12.799
That's a kind of a world I want to be in.
00:12:12.879 --> 00:12:17.519
And so when I was looking to go back to school, I and I found that commercial uh photography program at Brooks.
00:12:17.679 --> 00:12:19.440
I was like, okay, I think I think this is it.
00:12:19.600 --> 00:12:23.440
And it's also extremely technical, which you know, I I I try to be.
00:12:23.519 --> 00:12:25.279
And so I went there for a year and a half.
00:12:25.440 --> 00:12:39.600
I met a lot of amazing people, uh, really just um re reinforced my my photobat photographic uh you know education there, lighting education, composition, all that type of stuff.
00:12:39.679 --> 00:12:41.919
Uh, and then came back and started assisting.
00:12:42.720 --> 00:12:43.039
Okay.
00:12:43.440 --> 00:12:54.240
You know, one of the things that always strikes me about uh commercial photography is I I have in imagination, you know, some art directors sitting at their desk and they they've got to do a campaign for let's, you know, a thumbtack, let's say.
00:12:54.399 --> 00:12:57.200
Um and and they're going, they're going through a thousand portfolios.
00:12:57.279 --> 00:13:01.200
They're they're going through a thousand shooters, you know, trying to figure out which one to hire.
00:13:01.360 --> 00:13:02.720
How do you establish a voice?
00:13:02.879 --> 00:13:14.399
How do you establish a presence when when you're just starting out in commercial photography to sort of differentiate you from the 573 other people who are trying to set up a voice and a style and that kind of stuff?
00:13:14.639 --> 00:13:17.279
Man, I I if you find that magic answer, let me know.
00:13:17.519 --> 00:13:17.840
Okay.
00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:20.799
Um, I'm I'm I'm slightly kidding.
00:13:20.960 --> 00:13:23.519
Um, I do think it's about your lived experiences, right?
00:13:23.600 --> 00:13:25.120
I do think it's about who you are as a person.
00:13:25.279 --> 00:13:31.919
So uh, you know, for me, I've got this animation background, and then then I'm then I'm diving in headfirst to snowboarding, mountain biking, surfing.
00:13:32.000 --> 00:13:36.879
Uh with that comes, you know, we're sleeping in the back of our trucks to get first chair on the lift.
00:13:36.960 --> 00:13:39.360
Uh so there's some automotive uh influence in there.
00:13:39.440 --> 00:13:50.240
And so I just think it's your you're building all those layers you're building upon it informs how you're how you're shooting and also like where you are in the environments that you that you're spending time in, right?
00:13:50.639 --> 00:13:56.480
So okay, you are in the Pacific Northwest, one of the most beautiful, dramatic parts of North America.
00:13:57.039 --> 00:14:01.519
How does your environment influence when you press the shutter release?
00:14:01.759 --> 00:14:02.559
I I think a lot.
00:14:02.639 --> 00:14:08.799
You know, I think um, not to compare myself to the Seattle grunge scene, but you know, like if Seattle has a sound, right?
00:14:08.879 --> 00:14:13.279
And so I think being from the Northwest, we have, you know, largely you have a kind of a visual style.
00:14:13.360 --> 00:14:15.759
It's a little grittier, it's uh maybe a little more dramatic.
00:14:15.840 --> 00:14:22.240
Like I'm looking out my window right now and it's dark, big dark clouds, but then there's a uh a ray of light raking across these fir trees.
00:14:22.320 --> 00:14:30.879
So it's like this this contrasty, gritty, gritty area that that I love and spend a lot of time recreating in and bring that into my photography.
00:14:31.440 --> 00:14:31.759
Okay.
00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:36.320
You you say, and again, this is again from the uh Fujifilm website.
00:14:36.399 --> 00:14:36.559
Yeah.
00:14:36.720 --> 00:14:45.600
It says just Justin believes a stunning location is the foundation for creating imagery, and everything else is a process built on collaboration.
00:14:45.919 --> 00:14:49.600
Why does location, why does setting come first for you?
00:14:50.159 --> 00:14:55.360
For me, there's there's spots that I can walk into and and there's just like this magic.
00:14:55.519 --> 00:14:57.440
You're like, okay, boom, this is this is the spot.
00:14:57.600 --> 00:15:03.919
And and if it's not the spot, you know, a a good photographer or well-trained photographer will turn around and see what look what it looks like from the other angle.
00:15:04.080 --> 00:15:12.720
So there's just a there's there's an electricity or a feeling on on certain locations, and I try to go find those spots and and bring my clients to those those spaces.
00:15:13.519 --> 00:15:15.440
Let's take just a quick break.
00:15:15.600 --> 00:15:18.720
We hope very much that you are enjoying today's episode.
00:15:18.879 --> 00:15:24.399
The very fact that you are listening to this podcast suggests that photography means a lot to you.
00:15:24.480 --> 00:15:30.879
And if that's the case, you might want to have a look at Frames, quarterly printed photography magazine.
00:15:31.039 --> 00:15:34.879
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00:15:35.120 --> 00:15:46.399
Visit readframes.com to find out more about our publication and use the coupon code podcast to receive a recurring 10% discount on your new frames magazine subscription.
00:15:46.559 --> 00:15:49.679
And now, back to today's conversation.
00:15:54.080 --> 00:16:03.200
Okay, so if I call you up and and I and we're gonna do a campaign about filling in the blank, you your your first question to yourself is where am I gonna set this?
00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:03.919
A little bit, yeah.
00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:05.600
I mean, it kind of depends on creative, right?
00:16:05.679 --> 00:16:12.080
So that sometimes or or often I should say is is creative um will dictate where we're photographing.
00:16:12.480 --> 00:16:16.159
The art director probably has their own idea of of where they want this campaign to set.
00:16:16.240 --> 00:16:21.360
And so sometimes it's it's it's uh depicted for me, and then sometimes I get to choose or or help choose as well.
00:16:21.519 --> 00:16:23.600
So it kind of depends on the project.
00:16:24.559 --> 00:16:26.720
Tell me a story about where you got to pick.
00:16:27.200 --> 00:16:28.240
Let's see here.
00:16:28.399 --> 00:16:40.960
Um, you know what, I think the the the wing foiling project, uh, Fujifilm had reached out and we were kind of bouncing around ideas of of what to do and for for this long lens uh release that they were doing.
00:16:41.120 --> 00:16:53.919
And you know, and and wing foiling came up, and then that was an easy answer because we've got Hood River right down the road, um hour and a half, but uh, which is you know one of the windiest and the epicenter for any wind sports.
00:16:54.159 --> 00:16:54.320
Right.
00:16:54.480 --> 00:16:56.159
And then the light is stunning there.
00:16:56.240 --> 00:16:59.360
Uh the the backgrounds are stunning, like the whole place is just magic.
00:16:59.519 --> 00:17:03.519
So that might have been a maybe of a more of a process of collaboration.
00:17:03.600 --> 00:17:06.079
But um, yeah, that that's a kind of a good example.
00:17:06.400 --> 00:17:15.279
You've got a lot of adventure in in your background here, a lot of things that that people uh would say, you know, that that that's you know beyond my normal experience.
00:17:15.599 --> 00:17:19.440
And your comfort outside, is that important?
00:17:19.759 --> 00:17:21.440
I think so, because you can't fake it, right?
00:17:21.519 --> 00:17:26.000
So I think like if if if you if you put me in a kitchen and wanted to do food photography, I would flail.
00:17:26.160 --> 00:17:27.759
Um I would I would not know what to do.
00:17:27.839 --> 00:17:28.640
I can't cook.
00:17:28.880 --> 00:17:31.279
I don't, I don't, my my knives are dull.
00:17:31.440 --> 00:17:36.640
Um yeah, so so I think absolutely like these are the places I'm more comfortable and the most comfortable in.
00:17:36.720 --> 00:17:38.640
Like put me put me in the extremes.
00:17:38.799 --> 00:17:39.599
Um it's it's funny.
00:17:39.680 --> 00:17:46.240
I was actually snowboarding with a uh a colleague yesterday, um, a taller photographer, um, Bob Martis, he's a he's a great photographer.
00:17:46.400 --> 00:17:54.799
Um and we're and we're sitting there ride in the chair together, and we're talking about how we often prefer riding during a storm cycle than like a than like a bluebird day.
00:17:54.960 --> 00:17:55.759
And he put it really well.
00:17:55.839 --> 00:17:59.920
He's like, it's because you can feel feel the weather, uh, you know, feel your environment.
00:18:00.079 --> 00:18:02.000
And it's true, there's an electricity out there.
00:18:02.079 --> 00:18:08.079
And so, yeah, put me outside, put me someplace, you know, kind of crazy, and I'm most uh most comfortable there.
00:18:08.400 --> 00:18:08.640
Okay.
00:18:08.720 --> 00:18:11.759
I gotta ask about one of the claims you make on your on your own website.
00:18:11.920 --> 00:18:17.599
You say, you know, you you yeah, you you say that you know you've searched for lost cattle, you know, in a snowstorm.
00:18:17.759 --> 00:18:18.880
Okay, you know, got that.
00:18:19.039 --> 00:18:22.720
Uh you say, you know, you photographed Olympic athletes, you know, okay.
00:18:22.880 --> 00:18:27.039
Um, but then you say you've touched the Alaskan floor on a single breath.
00:18:27.119 --> 00:18:27.200
Yeah.
00:18:27.440 --> 00:18:29.119
And I gotta tell you, I've done that too.
00:18:29.279 --> 00:18:31.359
I was about knee deep on a gravel beach.
00:18:31.440 --> 00:18:33.440
Um, I reached down, I picked up a rock.
00:18:33.519 --> 00:18:36.720
Yeah um no, but tell that's gotta be a cool story.
00:18:36.799 --> 00:18:37.359
Tell me that one.
00:18:37.599 --> 00:18:39.119
So that was a family vacation.
00:18:39.200 --> 00:18:42.160
Uh, and and did a little free diving up in uh Alaska.
00:18:42.720 --> 00:18:43.279
Super fun.
00:18:43.359 --> 00:18:45.759
Uh, I got into free diving a few years ago.
00:18:45.920 --> 00:18:49.440
Um, I I do a lot of work with a nonprofit called the Oregon Celp Alliance.
00:18:49.599 --> 00:18:56.480
Um, quick little side story, you know, up and down the West Coast, especially here in Oregon and Northern California.
00:18:56.559 --> 00:18:59.039
Um, we've lost a lot of kelp in our in our oceans.
00:18:59.119 --> 00:19:13.200
And so doing work with them and trying to photograph underwater, I took a free dive class and just fell in love with that whole uh, you know, that whole process of learning how to hold your breath for as as long as you possibly can safely and diving down.
00:19:13.279 --> 00:19:17.039
And um, there's something extremely quiet uh about it.
00:19:17.200 --> 00:19:21.359
You know, there's no bubbles from scuba, it's just you underwater checking things out.
00:19:21.519 --> 00:19:28.799
So yeah, so to go back to your question, uh uh, you know, I was uh up in Alaska on a family fishing trip uh over this summer and did a little free diving.
00:19:29.519 --> 00:19:31.119
And what was the record for you?
00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:32.799
As far as uh depth.
00:19:33.039 --> 00:19:33.519
Yeah.
00:19:33.839 --> 00:19:36.799
Uh it wasn't Alaska, it was I think it was Mexico.
00:19:37.039 --> 00:19:38.960
You know, I'm not that deep of a free diving.
00:19:39.279 --> 00:19:40.240
People go like hundreds of feet.
00:19:40.319 --> 00:19:43.039
I'm you know, I'm probably maxing out around 28, 30 feet.
00:19:43.279 --> 00:19:44.480
So okay, still, man.
00:19:44.559 --> 00:19:46.799
That that that's you know, that that's more than an atmosphere.
00:19:46.880 --> 00:19:47.680
That that's that's true.
00:19:48.079 --> 00:19:48.640
Getting down there.
00:19:48.799 --> 00:19:49.119
Yeah.
00:19:49.440 --> 00:19:58.960
Going back to the commercial stuff for a second, you've you've got a lot of products in there that have long histories, you know, just in you know, automotive stuff, for example.
00:19:59.119 --> 00:19:59.519
Yeah.
00:19:59.839 --> 00:20:04.319
You would think a tire or a Subaru, I gotta call out Subaru, that's what I drive.
00:20:04.559 --> 00:20:12.319
Um that they have been photographed so often there's absolutely nothing new to say.
00:20:12.640 --> 00:20:13.440
Is that true?
00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:16.240
Um Boy, I think.
00:20:17.680 --> 00:20:22.160
I don't, you know, no, I'm gonna say no, because we all have our own places in our in our own adventures.
00:20:22.480 --> 00:20:25.519
Like, um, I yeah, that's a tough question to ask.
00:20:25.599 --> 00:20:27.279
I don't know how to I don't know how to answer that one.
00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:28.319
Yeah.
00:20:28.799 --> 00:20:36.799
Well, I mean, yeah, one of these shots I was I was you know you know admiring, you somebody said we gotta you know do a shot of a shock absorber.
00:20:36.880 --> 00:20:37.039
Okay.
00:20:37.359 --> 00:20:39.440
And I think oh yeah, okay.
00:20:39.599 --> 00:20:46.000
I I I have absolutely no idea how to make a shock absorber interesting.
00:20:46.160 --> 00:20:46.400
Yeah.
00:20:46.640 --> 00:20:48.559
And yet, and then there's your picture.
00:20:48.799 --> 00:20:54.400
Um, so I mean, tell me that campaign, but tell me the creative, tell me how you I mean, and give me the technical stuff.
00:20:54.480 --> 00:20:56.240
How did you actually wind up getting that shot?
00:20:56.480 --> 00:20:58.319
Yeah, so that that that's actually a portfolio shot.
00:20:58.400 --> 00:20:59.839
That was a self-driven project.
00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:01.440
Uh and okay, yep.
00:21:01.519 --> 00:21:10.000
And I was and you know, kind of like working out, working around as I need to do something a little more product focused, maybe get some um, you know, aftermarket companies.
00:21:10.079 --> 00:21:16.480
It was kind of what is kind of the goal, like that, you know, is you're always you're always looking for your uh another client as a you know the commercial photographer.
00:21:16.640 --> 00:21:28.720
And so um I had the idea, I was like, okay, I want to get this perfect, perfectly clean, brand new uh shock absorber amongst this extremely muddy truck or you know, the the the underside of a muddy truck.
00:21:28.880 --> 00:21:33.359
Uh so you put we put the shock absorber on the truck, installed that.
00:21:33.440 --> 00:21:34.240
That was the easy part.
00:21:34.400 --> 00:21:36.880
Well, it took like a day and a half, but that's okay.
00:21:37.119 --> 00:21:40.160
Um truly was the easy part.
00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:46.720
Uh the the next step was was kind of framing it up and working around the tire, or were we gonna take the tire off?
00:21:46.880 --> 00:21:53.279
I kind of like the tire on because the way it was blocking light and casting shadow and actually shaping the the actual shock.
00:21:53.359 --> 00:21:59.759
Um so figuring out how to stuff my my medium format camera into there, you know, to get a you know, uh more of an intimate shock.
00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:01.920
If you will, of that shock absorber.
00:22:02.079 --> 00:22:04.720
And then the next step was how do you get it muddy?
00:22:04.960 --> 00:22:08.720
So we tried, or I tried getting the truck muddy before we installed it.
00:22:08.799 --> 00:22:14.720
By the time we, but then after we installed it, the mud had, you know, just look dried up or flaked off and just didn't look good.
00:22:14.960 --> 00:22:19.359
So I lit it and then uh figured out how to paint with mud.
00:22:19.440 --> 00:22:27.519
And through a process of trial and error, I ended up wrapping the shock and saran wrap and then mixing up a bunch of mud in the bowl.
00:22:27.759 --> 00:22:30.000
And by mixing up, you know, just some dirt and some water.
00:22:30.160 --> 00:22:38.799
And then and then took an air compressor and shot the air into the bowl and let it just spray everywhere because that's what it would do in in real life, right?
00:22:38.880 --> 00:22:41.440
If that's how it would most naturally fit, uh sit there.
00:22:41.519 --> 00:22:43.359
And so I sat there and sprayed it a bunch of times.
00:22:43.680 --> 00:22:46.960
You know, obviously covered my camera too, because I had everything just where I wanted it.
00:22:47.119 --> 00:22:51.599
Sprayed it, shocked, sprayed it, click, sprayed it, click until I found what I needed.
00:22:51.680 --> 00:22:55.839
So how many hours would you say are behind this one image?
00:22:56.160 --> 00:22:58.880
If we don't count the installation installation of a shot.
00:22:59.039 --> 00:22:59.519
No, count it.
00:22:59.839 --> 00:23:01.680
Okay, probably probably three days.
00:23:02.079 --> 00:23:02.559
Wow.
00:23:02.799 --> 00:23:03.440
Yeah.
00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:06.960
And and you did this just on spec.
00:23:07.039 --> 00:23:11.039
You did this for your own sense of I'm looking for new clients.
00:23:11.279 --> 00:23:11.440
Yeah.
00:23:11.519 --> 00:23:12.480
I mean, that's what you have to do.
00:23:12.720 --> 00:23:14.400
Your your portfolio's gotta evolve.
00:23:14.480 --> 00:23:17.680
You've got to, you know, keep keep putting yourself out there with new work.
00:23:17.759 --> 00:23:20.400
And so, yeah, that one was like, okay, here's here's an interesting image.
00:23:20.480 --> 00:23:21.359
I think, I hope.
00:23:21.519 --> 00:23:23.519
Uh, and also a challenge.
00:23:23.599 --> 00:23:24.960
Like, I I love a challenge.
00:23:25.039 --> 00:23:30.480
Um, so uh I love you trying to figure things out from a technical standpoint, and that was that was a good one.
00:23:30.799 --> 00:23:34.799
Wouldn't it have been easier to just simply cut and paste a clean shock into a muddy wheel well?
00:23:35.119 --> 00:23:35.440
100%.
00:23:35.680 --> 00:23:40.000
And we and we've done things like that, maybe not for shocks, but for other products and stuff a thousand times.
00:23:40.240 --> 00:23:44.480
But there's a third a certain authentic authentic authenticity, it's a tough word.
00:23:44.640 --> 00:23:49.279
Uh and um and and like I said, I do enjoy the challenge.
00:23:49.359 --> 00:23:52.480
So so you know, I'm sitting here like and I also love the process, right?
00:23:52.559 --> 00:23:57.920
And so, you know, here's an opportunity uh or an idea where uh I'm I'm not I'm not on the clock.
00:23:58.079 --> 00:24:00.079
I can spend as much time as I want with this.
00:24:00.319 --> 00:24:05.359
Obviously, you know, I don't want to spend a ton of time because you know, you're just how much money and how much time you're from a business standpoint.
00:24:05.519 --> 00:24:16.319
But yeah, and so there was that there was a freedom and then and just also keeping my skills sharp so that when things like this do arise, like I've I've got one more solution to to you know to solve something.
00:24:16.480 --> 00:24:23.119
And maybe I have to paint with mud on something else completely different in you know in life, but there's a process that I've I've put into my bag.
00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:27.200
How do you judge for yourself an image that works?
00:24:28.559 --> 00:24:29.759
That's a good question.
00:24:29.920 --> 00:24:34.480
Um I'm always looking well, okay, I think first it's like composition.
00:24:34.559 --> 00:24:36.319
Uh how's the composition looking?
00:24:36.400 --> 00:24:44.799
Uh is is if if there's a person in it, is what's the connection with the camera or with the with that with the person's environment or with what they're doing?
00:24:44.960 --> 00:24:49.519
Um there's also all the technical stuff, you know, is it in focus, is it exposed well, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
00:24:49.599 --> 00:24:53.039
So but I think largely, yeah, it's composition and and human connection.
00:24:53.119 --> 00:24:56.240
If there, if there, if there isn't a human into it, then it's mostly composition.
00:24:56.319 --> 00:25:03.200
And then uh, you know, if we're shooting product, I'm I'm making sure that there isn't like any tangent lines or you know, anything that's overlapping weirdly.
00:25:03.359 --> 00:25:16.079
Um, if we look at that shock, for example, I was raising the camera up and down, uh, you know, a few millimeters at a time to make sure that that IBOC logo didn't get obscured by the um, I think that's a the tie rod going across the frame.
00:25:16.400 --> 00:25:17.599
So small little things like that.
00:25:17.680 --> 00:25:24.240
So I think it, you know, it's a little image dependent, but it's also, you know, I think there's some basic rules as well.
00:25:24.640 --> 00:25:24.960
Okay.
00:25:25.759 --> 00:25:28.720
The I'm looking at a bunch of your other portfolios.
00:25:28.880 --> 00:25:29.839
Um, shoes.
00:25:30.079 --> 00:25:30.240
Yeah.
00:25:30.559 --> 00:25:30.640
Yeah.
00:25:31.440 --> 00:25:35.279
First of all, I'm surprised you have done work for companies that compete with each other.
00:25:35.359 --> 00:25:36.799
Does that ever get to be a problem?
00:25:37.119 --> 00:25:38.319
Uh I don't think so.
00:25:38.480 --> 00:25:49.839
You know, we we we all have we all are you know sign our NDAs and we don't talk about the projects and you know, you know, working in this in this town, um, you know, you it's it's a shoe town.
00:25:49.920 --> 00:25:54.079
So you're you're you're gonna end up working in some in some respect with I think every single shoe company.
00:25:54.480 --> 00:25:58.400
And and is your client actually uh an ad agency or the shoe company?
00:25:58.640 --> 00:25:58.880
Both.
00:25:58.960 --> 00:26:00.079
Uh it kind of depends on the client.
00:26:00.319 --> 00:26:00.880
So yeah, yeah.
00:26:01.039 --> 00:26:06.720
And my shoe work is very, you know, it's it's not a lot, but because I I live, I do where I live, it's um it is there.
00:26:06.880 --> 00:26:13.279
So well, I'm just saying, you know, in in general, you know, whether or not you're working for the agency or the company, I it doesn't make a big difference.
00:26:13.359 --> 00:26:14.000
I'm just curious.
00:26:14.160 --> 00:26:14.400
Yeah.
00:26:14.480 --> 00:26:15.839
Uh, but yeah, but but it it is both.
00:26:15.920 --> 00:26:18.240
So sometimes it's agency, sometimes it's it's brand direct.
00:26:18.319 --> 00:26:20.720
Um, it kind of just depends on what's going on.
00:26:21.119 --> 00:26:32.160
You know, for for somebody, and I want to get to a bunch of your other pictures here in a second, but I've just done something for somebody that wants to break into uh product photography or this kind of stuff, cold calls with a portfolio, does that ever work?
00:26:32.480 --> 00:26:33.039
Sometimes.
00:26:33.200 --> 00:26:33.519
Yeah.
00:26:33.680 --> 00:26:42.640
You know, it's um there's a really old adage, and I think it's the truest thing to especially today, is it's just it's who you know and putting yourselves in those spaces.
00:26:42.799 --> 00:26:44.559
And I think that is the biggest trick, right?
00:26:44.640 --> 00:26:48.880
Like first you've got to develop your portfolio, and then you just you need to find find your people.
00:26:49.039 --> 00:26:51.279
And I don't think that there's a magic answer to that.
00:26:51.440 --> 00:26:54.160
You just you've gotta what's the old, what's the old quote?
00:26:54.240 --> 00:26:56.240
Um, luck favors the prepared.
00:26:56.480 --> 00:26:56.799
Yeah.
00:26:56.960 --> 00:26:57.200
Yeah.
00:26:57.359 --> 00:26:57.680
Yep.
00:26:58.079 --> 00:27:00.160
Um for better or for worse.
00:27:00.240 --> 00:27:01.519
I think that's a large part of it.
00:27:01.839 --> 00:27:06.319
And and and I think doing the stuff on spec, you know, a lot of people say, I'll do the work if you hire me.
00:27:06.400 --> 00:27:10.000
It's like, no, you do the work, and then you then you say, uh, please hire me.
00:27:10.079 --> 00:27:12.559
You gotta you gotta spend three days on a shock absorber.
00:27:12.799 --> 00:27:13.680
Yeah, I mean that that's right.
00:27:13.759 --> 00:27:21.920
Like if we look at a lot of, I mean, there's definitely a lot of um of my paid work in my portfolio, but there's also a significant amount of not paid work in my portfolio.
00:27:22.079 --> 00:27:23.359
So yeah.
00:27:23.920 --> 00:27:24.240
Okay.
00:27:24.559 --> 00:27:28.079
Um, simply because I'm jealous as hell, tell me about AquaTech.
00:27:28.400 --> 00:27:30.960
AquaTech, uh, they're a great underwater housing company.
00:27:31.039 --> 00:27:32.000
They're fantastic.
00:27:32.160 --> 00:27:32.480
Yeah.
00:27:32.720 --> 00:27:38.480
Well, no, but I mean, tell me about doing this campaign, taking these pictures, using the gear.
00:27:38.559 --> 00:27:38.799
Oh, yeah.
00:27:38.960 --> 00:27:44.240
Because I, you know, I I walk by stores that have underwater housings and stuff.
00:27:44.319 --> 00:27:44.400
Yeah.
00:27:44.559 --> 00:27:46.319
And keep in mind, I live in Minnesota.
00:27:46.400 --> 00:27:51.039
I, you know, yeah, we got 10,000 lakes, but underwater photography is not a big deal around here.
00:27:51.279 --> 00:27:52.880
I just I want to do that someday.
00:27:52.960 --> 00:27:57.839
And that's my fantasy life to have that kind of gear and the reason to have that kind of gear.
00:27:58.400 --> 00:28:03.680
Aquatech is probably one of the best uh companies out there for you know, it's surf housings and water housings.
00:28:03.759 --> 00:28:06.799
Um, they they can you can go underwater to a decent depth.
00:28:06.880 --> 00:28:08.799
Um, they have all these amazing ports.
00:28:08.880 --> 00:28:10.960
Um, they're fan, they're fantastic to work with.
00:28:11.039 --> 00:28:14.160
Uh, I can't say enough good things about about their housings.
00:28:14.720 --> 00:28:19.599
But in in the short film that you've got on your website, that that that it's I mean such a cool experience.
00:28:19.839 --> 00:28:22.400
You're standing in a river, I guess, of some sort or an estuary.
00:28:22.559 --> 00:28:26.000
Um, there's someone with a paddle board's going by.
00:28:26.319 --> 00:28:27.440
Tell me about the shoot.
00:28:27.680 --> 00:28:29.279
Yeah, so that was mid-pandemic.
00:28:29.440 --> 00:28:31.680
Um, that was it was.
00:28:31.839 --> 00:28:34.319
Um, it must have been 22.
00:28:34.720 --> 00:28:35.920
I think it was 22.
00:28:36.079 --> 00:28:42.160
Um, I I I knew the marketing director of Aquatech, I think is what happened.
00:28:42.240 --> 00:28:43.599
It's been a while, so forgive me.
00:28:43.759 --> 00:28:48.480
But um, they uh they had reached out and said, hey, we have this project with Fujifilm.
00:28:48.640 --> 00:28:52.799
Um, you know, could you pitch us an idea and you know and see if it works?
00:28:52.880 --> 00:28:59.599
And so, of course, I you know, I fired up my pitch decks and I think I pitched them three different ideas.
00:28:59.759 --> 00:29:02.960
Um, we the idea that one was a completely different idea.
00:29:03.039 --> 00:29:05.200
I don't quite remember what the initial idea was.
00:29:05.359 --> 00:29:08.160
Uh, but being mid-pandemic, everything was shut down.
00:29:08.240 --> 00:29:10.799
And with that was uh a lot of the ranger stations.
00:29:10.880 --> 00:29:25.920
And so as a commercial photographer and when you're working with commercial commercial clients, uh, you have to make sure that every every place you work in is permitted, uh, whether it be you know the forest service or you know, whoever's running the beaches, um, et cetera, et cetera.
00:29:26.079 --> 00:29:40.880
So uh, and since all the ranger stations were were shut down, uh or or if not shut down, you know, working at a reduced capacity, getting someone on the phone to to approve what we want to do and where we want to do it was just it was a nightmare.
00:29:41.119 --> 00:29:47.519
Um so and I was either getting you know ghosted by everyone or being told no of all these other ideas I had.
00:29:47.680 --> 00:29:54.079
And so I had found this lake out in central Oregon where we filmed that.
00:29:54.240 --> 00:29:58.160
Um it is a it's a it's a what is it, it's a glacier fed?
00:29:58.319 --> 00:30:01.279
No, it's a spring-fed lake, I believe, that goes through volcanic rock.
00:30:01.359 --> 00:30:02.799
So it's crazy clear.
00:30:02.880 --> 00:30:05.680
I think it's 40 or 50 feet clear on a good day.
00:30:05.920 --> 00:30:06.160
Wow.
00:30:06.319 --> 00:30:06.480
Okay.
00:30:06.640 --> 00:30:09.359
And it, but it's cold, it's 37 degrees.
00:30:10.799 --> 00:30:11.440
Yeah.
00:30:11.759 --> 00:30:17.839
But but I actually got a ranger on, I got a ranger on the telephone, and they're like, yeah, if you can come out here, blah, blah, blah.
00:30:18.000 --> 00:30:21.200
So I I drove out there, I I was calling them.
00:30:21.359 --> 00:30:30.160
Um, I I did I did everything you could possibly do, and we finally, and the ranger that was I worked with was super nice and um and I think just took some pity on me.
00:30:30.640 --> 00:30:36.480
And uh, and I we got approved to to photograph uh uh at Clear Lake.
00:30:36.559 --> 00:30:41.920
Um the next step was swimming around in 37 degree water, which was uh an ordeal.
00:30:42.079 --> 00:30:49.839
But um we happened to have at the time a local free dive shop here in town, and I was able to rent uh, I think it was like an eight or 10 mil wetsuit.
00:30:49.920 --> 00:30:53.359
Uh, and we drove out there and and shot that assignment.
00:30:53.680 --> 00:30:54.559
Was it fun?
00:30:54.799 --> 00:30:55.599
It was a blast.
00:30:55.759 --> 00:30:57.519
It was it was a challenge, it was super fun.
00:30:57.680 --> 00:31:01.519
Of course, it had rained like a day or two before, so clarity wasn't wasn't the best.
00:31:01.599 --> 00:31:05.759
So it's so you have all these ideas like, oh, we're gonna have this super clear uh lake.
00:31:05.920 --> 00:31:12.160
I'm gonna dive down a little bit and maybe shoot some shoot from the um the you know, not the bottom, but below, looking back up.
00:31:12.400 --> 00:31:16.400
That really wasn't a whole very good possibility because uh the clarity wasn't the best.
00:31:16.559 --> 00:31:21.519
Um, you know, it's kind of all the struggles, but we make you make it work, and that and that's part of commercial photography.
00:31:21.599 --> 00:31:36.640
Like you roll in with all these all these preconceived ideas, and then and then you know, Mother Nature or something is gonna derail you, and you've got to adapt and you've just got to, you know, solve the problem the best you can, you know, in a semi-fast fashion.
00:31:36.960 --> 00:31:37.279
Okay.
00:31:37.519 --> 00:31:40.640
Um, when you're out in the field, uh, do you bring a lot of gear with you?
00:31:40.720 --> 00:31:44.000
I know you're a fan of medium format, but do you bring 810 lights?
00:31:44.160 --> 00:31:47.359
Do you bring you know reflectors, positive and negative?
00:31:47.519 --> 00:31:49.920
I mean, to tell me what you show up with.
00:31:50.160 --> 00:31:50.559
All of it.
00:31:50.640 --> 00:31:52.720
So it kind of depends um on the project.
00:31:52.880 --> 00:32:02.160
Like if if I think the project is going to warrant it, uh, we will have grip trucks, we'll have, you know, uh a van full of lighting, um, you know, stylus, uh, et cetera, et cetera.
00:32:02.319 --> 00:32:16.079
Um and then if if the project you know either doesn't have the budget or or if it's you know something that maybe doesn't make sense to have all that stuff, then we'll we will pair down and you know, sometimes it's just me and and the and the model and maybe an assistant with with a with a bounce card.
00:32:16.160 --> 00:32:19.440
So it's it's really it varies between project to project.
00:32:19.839 --> 00:32:21.599
Some of your work is in black and white.
00:32:21.759 --> 00:32:22.640
Is that your own work?
00:32:22.799 --> 00:32:24.960
Is is that I mean clients want that?
00:32:25.279 --> 00:32:29.359
Tell me where this is because it's is I mean, I'm a great fan of black and white just from the beginning.
00:32:29.680 --> 00:32:33.680
Um so this is fantastic work, but it's unusual in commercial world these days.
00:32:34.000 --> 00:32:38.079
I am seeing black and white a little bit in commercial in commercial work these days, which is exciting to me.
00:32:38.240 --> 00:32:48.079
Um, but to answer your question, some of that is uh is is client work that I've reprocessed in black and white for my website just because I I loved how they looked in black and white.
00:32:48.240 --> 00:32:54.720
Uh there's there's uh you know, um a softball player with the bat behind her and these just amazing clouds.
00:32:54.799 --> 00:32:57.839
And I as soon as I saw the image, I was like, oh my god, like look at that sky.
00:32:57.920 --> 00:33:02.720
Like, you know, and coming from the film days, like throw a red filter on that and like you know, just make those clouds pop.
00:33:02.880 --> 00:33:10.480
So there's a few moments here and there where I'm like, okay, this is for for my own uh website, kind of building my own vibe, like I I gotta sprinkle some black and white.
00:33:10.559 --> 00:33:15.759
Because I if if I could shoot black and white all the time, I I would I I I love black and white photography.
00:33:15.920 --> 00:33:23.039
So tell me a story where the photography gods just smiled on you and it was much easier than it should have been.
00:33:23.359 --> 00:33:25.759
Oh man, there's been there's been a bunch of those.
00:33:25.920 --> 00:33:28.960
Um because you know what I'm gonna ask next.
00:33:29.200 --> 00:33:30.480
Uh yeah, I do.
00:33:30.559 --> 00:33:32.319
Uh and I'm fearing that question.
00:33:32.559 --> 00:33:38.319
Um honestly, like I've I've got a uh uh a client that I've worked with a long time.
00:33:38.480 --> 00:33:43.680
Um they uh De Marini bats and they make um you know softball bats.
00:33:43.759 --> 00:33:53.279
And I got to work with the uh Olympic softball team, and those women are a amazing, super nice, and so easy to work with.
00:33:53.440 --> 00:33:55.200
Um they made my job so so easy.
00:33:55.359 --> 00:33:59.680
Like it's just like they they knew when to when you know what they know when to hold their their swings.
00:33:59.759 --> 00:34:05.680
They they know, you know the best place to uh or body position for a pitch.
00:34:05.759 --> 00:34:10.880
Like they just all everything that you you could dream of, like there's just it would make my life so easy.
00:34:10.960 --> 00:34:13.280
Um and I just feel super lucky every time I get to work with them.
00:34:13.599 --> 00:34:14.079
Oh, very good.
00:34:14.559 --> 00:34:20.480
Okay, tell tell me a story where the photography god said, nah, not today ain't gonna happen.
00:34:20.800 --> 00:34:26.639
Yeah, well, um, there's an image in my automotive portfolio.
00:34:26.960 --> 00:34:30.480
Uh and it's it's again a self-driven project.
00:34:30.559 --> 00:34:35.039
Um, it is a Toyota Tundra sitting parallel on a beach.
00:34:35.119 --> 00:34:37.519
I actually I'm scrolling through right now to see if it's on there.
00:34:37.599 --> 00:34:39.599
Um, I don't have it on there.
00:34:39.840 --> 00:34:40.960
Oh, nope, I don't.
00:34:41.039 --> 00:34:41.280
Okay.
00:34:41.440 --> 00:34:43.280
So there's there's an image I shot.
00:34:43.360 --> 00:34:48.719
Um I was I was you know working on my automotive portfolio, took a truck down to the beach, was driving down.
00:34:48.800 --> 00:34:52.400
Um I had a full car, like car detail kit in the back seat.
00:34:52.480 --> 00:34:56.079
So wherever I figured out, I was gonna detail the car on location and photograph it.
00:34:56.239 --> 00:35:02.719
Um and I get down there and it is uh, and there's some locations here on the Oregon coast where you can drive on the beach.
00:35:02.800 --> 00:35:03.679
So that's where I went.
00:35:03.760 --> 00:35:03.920
Right.
00:35:04.320 --> 00:35:08.639
So I get down there and I have never been in a rainstorm so bad.
00:35:08.719 --> 00:35:10.239
It's like I can't even see the hood of my truck.
00:35:10.320 --> 00:35:13.920
I'm driving on the beach and I just drive in this middle of this rainstorm.
00:35:14.159 --> 00:35:21.760
I'm driving and I look over and there's four bald eagles on the ground just honkered down because the wind and the rain is so bad.
00:35:21.840 --> 00:35:26.079
And I was like, well, if these guys can't even do anything, what am I supposed to do with this?
00:35:26.159 --> 00:35:30.480
And you know, I'm sitting here, I was like, oh, it's like I'm wasting all this money, time, what am I doing?
00:35:30.800 --> 00:35:41.519
But it was a huge lesson because the minute that storm broke, oh my God, the like then all of a sudden the the photo gods and the weather gods just smiled upon me.
00:35:41.760 --> 00:35:47.760
And uh I got some of the some awesome uh photographs of this truck uh in like this 45-minute window.
00:35:48.079 --> 00:35:51.599
I was gonna say the the entire world would have glimmered and shimmered at that time.
00:35:51.840 --> 00:35:52.239
It did.
00:35:52.400 --> 00:35:53.360
Um yeah, man.
00:35:53.679 --> 00:35:54.000
Okay.
00:35:54.400 --> 00:35:58.000
You also um, you know, it's not just commercial stuff.
00:35:58.239 --> 00:35:59.760
You do advocacy work.
00:35:59.840 --> 00:36:05.360
You you do some really cool stuff uh for Indigenous peoples, for the Oregon Kelp Alliance.
00:36:05.519 --> 00:36:09.760
Um, tell me how you're using photography to make the world a better place.
00:36:09.920 --> 00:36:12.320
As well, I mean, not to say that commercial isn't.
00:36:12.800 --> 00:36:12.960
Sure.
00:36:13.039 --> 00:36:13.519
No, yeah.
00:36:13.599 --> 00:36:18.719
I mean, uh I just have this responsibility to pay it forward.
00:36:18.800 --> 00:36:25.280
And I think a lot of it comes from everyone that you know brought me up, you know, whether it be in the Vinton days or the photo days, like they were so many kind people to help me.
00:36:25.360 --> 00:36:27.360
So I just I want to be able to give back.
00:36:27.519 --> 00:36:38.800
Um and and I think also my you know, my relationship to the outdoors with with all the sports I do, you know, I've been surfing up in the Northwest for over 20 years as well as snowboarding and and and mountain biking.
00:36:38.960 --> 00:36:41.760
And so I've seen the changes of these places.
00:36:41.920 --> 00:36:47.840
Uh and when I met the Oregon Cup Alliance, uh, and you know, they needed some help, I was like, yeah, absolutely.
00:36:47.920 --> 00:36:50.159
Let's like, let's help what can I do?
00:36:50.480 --> 00:36:53.519
So um, and and then the same thing with the Weleuska Foundation.
00:36:53.599 --> 00:36:56.719
They're they're a friend of a friend and they need some help telling some stories.
00:36:56.880 --> 00:36:59.280
I was like, uh Don, you know, um, here you go.
00:36:59.519 --> 00:37:01.119
You know, all these images are yours.
00:37:01.199 --> 00:37:05.119
Like take them and and you know, if I can help again, like please ask.
00:37:05.599 --> 00:37:07.280
They basically call you up.
00:37:07.679 --> 00:37:08.400
Yeah, yeah.
00:37:08.559 --> 00:37:19.440
Uh the the the Oregon Celp one, I had met them on assignment for a uh I'm trying to, it's been a while, so I'm trying to remember my the actual how I actually met them.
00:37:19.519 --> 00:37:23.679
Um I was on assignment with Oregon Coast Visitors Association doing some tourism work.
00:37:23.920 --> 00:37:32.320
And I believe I met the director of the who his name is um Tom Calvinese uh during one of those assignments uh who runs the Oregon Celp Alliance.
00:37:32.400 --> 00:37:42.320
And so he had asked me to help uh, you know, a few times, taking some images and uh uh eventually built a website uh with some friends and it just kind of was an evolutionary process.
00:37:42.559 --> 00:37:47.280
I also work with them now part-time um uh with their communications and marketing as well.
00:37:47.440 --> 00:37:49.599
So oh, very cool.
00:37:49.840 --> 00:37:55.039
Well, you know, like I said before, this work is to use a technical term, just so cool.
00:37:55.280 --> 00:37:58.960
Not only the composition and and the subjects, but I don't know what it is, man.
00:37:59.039 --> 00:38:10.719
Justin, you your work when I look at it, has that extra special kick to it where I I mean, I'm looking at a picture of a truck I have seen my entire life and as if I've never seen it.
00:38:10.960 --> 00:38:15.360
Or I'm looking at the ocean, I'm looking at surfing, I'm looking at the free diving stuff.
00:38:15.599 --> 00:38:17.360
Really, really cool work.
00:38:17.679 --> 00:38:19.440
And I love the insights.
00:38:19.519 --> 00:38:20.159
Thank you very much.
00:38:20.239 --> 00:38:21.440
It's been a great conversation.
00:38:21.760 --> 00:38:22.480
Oh, thank you, Scott.
00:38:22.559 --> 00:38:23.519
I really appreciate it.
00:38:25.840 --> 00:38:31.199
Frames, because excellent photography belongs on paper.
00:38:31.440 --> 00:38:35.760
Visit us at www.readframes.com
