Jeremy Cowart is obviously an incredibly talented photographer. But it's not his skill as a photographer, he says, that gets him the best work - it's his story. In this video from CreativeLive, Jeremy discusses a meeting with an art director at a huge ad agency. Going through his portfolio, the AD commented that his shots were nice, the retouching was good, yadda, yadda - no epic reactions one way or the other. It wasn't until Jeremy began to show and talk about his personal work that the AD completely changed his attitude.
It wasn't that the work was so much different in technique, but what the work showed was insight into how Jeremy sees. It's so easy to get caught up in technique. That's because it is infinitely easier to learn how to do something than why. Jeremy notes that, at the end of the meeting, the AD grabbed everyone from the office and proclaimed that Jerememy "is an idea guy" and "thinks so much bigger than anyone we've worked with." What better affirmation is there than that?
Even shot from an "old" camera (Nikon D80 or D300?), I STILL go back to the poignance of my son as a little guy.
Jeremy got it right.
http://lifeascinema.blogspot.com/2014/10/mr-son.html
I'm glad when I hear stories where "humanity" creeps in the "polished dream machine of advertising", when art directors realize who they should be reaching : a large mass of ordinary peoples.
My regular work IS my personal work. I suppose I lose points for wanting a life outside of obsessive "imaging".