This evening, I’m taking the opportunity to give back to the photo industry at Columbia College’s annual Industry Night. Meeting with photography graduates for portfolio reviews from 5-8pm and then socializing with other industry participants from 8-10pm.

Cheers!

Keith Carter is an internationally recognized photographer and educator. He is the recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts Regional Survey Grants and the Lange-Taylor Prize from The Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University. In 1997, Keith Carter was the subject of an arts profile on CBS Sunday Morning. In 1998, he received Lamar University’s highest teaching honor, the University Professor Award, and he was named the Lamar University Distinguished Lecturer.

Keith Carter has been called a “poet of the ordinary” by the Los Angeles Times and we are thrilled to welcome him to the Art Works Lecture Series. From how he takes assignments to his fine art gallery work, he will explore all the great ways photographers can find work in the industry.

This is a can’t miss event!

Date / Time: Wednesday, March 10th / 6:30pm

Location: Stage Two / 618 S. Michigan Avenue / Second Floor

Free and open to the public. Please call 312.369.7280 to register.

Sometimes it takes an objective eye to help you adjust your business focus, give you a fresh perspective and keep your photography business thriving. Selina Maitreya is a seasoned successful photography consultant and will be speaking to the APA this week.

Join me this Thursday evening for yet another fantastic APA event, held at Columbia College. (Click on above image for all details, and register by emailing apamidwest@gmail.com)

See you there!

This is one of my favorite events of the year!

Mo Wagdy has been putting on a great film festival (and party) for those in the film industry who assist, grip, light, record, prepare, style, sweep, scout, iron, paint, cook, edit, design, drive, rep, sweat, and bleed for other directors’ projects…

Back in my film-only days, I’ve seen this film fest grow from a small venue and 60 attendees to upwards of 300 at a killer studio.

Check out more info here:

www.mofest.com

Way back in March, photographer John Fleck and I worked on the Miller Lite Veteran’s Day campaign. Should be running now!

I’m not one to take myself too seriously, so enjoy these production snap shots.

Objective feedback on your portfolio can be hard to come by. It’s invaluable in updating your book & in keeping current. Maybe that is why tonight’s annual APA Portfolio Review sold out almost immediately.  Together with the APA, I’ve been helping to organize this event for the past few months. Reps are incredibly busy individuals, and I’m thrilled that 9 of the city’s finest reps are lining our roster for the evening. Getting uninterrupted facetime with these reps is rare to come by.

Steve Grubman has been kind enough to host the event at his studio and Amanda Love (LOVELEAF PRESS) and I will be providing the food and drink.

Stay tuned for images from the event….

Download the flyer here

I’m thrilled to be working with Acropolis Agency again – this time in New York. This is where I will be working for the next few weeks.

This year has been tumultuous and tough for many in the industry. We’ve seen budgets slashed and schedules compressed. Jobs are awarding later on in the game as clients are more hesitant to pull the trigger on the financial commitment.

One of the trends I have noticed has been an increase in photo shoots that are using hand models and body parts.  Agencies seem to want to lend a certain human feature to the advertisements, but aren’t springing for the larger cost of actual recognizable principle talent.  Using hands or parts lends this humanity and saves a chunk of change.

Casting for the parts can be a pretty fun experience. Recently, on an Altoids campaign with photographer Saverio Truglia, we had models arriving at the studio in low-rise jeans and bikini tops. Sometimes my teenage brothers get a bit jealous of my job.

Here’s a casting photo as well as one of the final images from the Altoids campaign.
Enjoy!

Altoids Casting

Actual "Dinner" Ad

One of the joys of being freelance is not being bound to an office or, gag, a cubicle. This August, I have the opportunity of traveling to and working in Germany once again. Wifi is ubiquitous and I don’t need much more to do my job at times. On the high-speed ICE train from Hamburg to Berlin, I made the cafe train car my mobile office and watched the lush green rolling hills, Holstein cows, bales of hay & my favorite modern windmills race by over the top of my laptop screen.
Life is good. Now back to that estimate.

-A