Steve Bonini In the "Land of the Big Sky"

Steve recently spent a few days in Montana.  

Here are some point and shoot personal images, Steve Bonini style.

 

 "The  one thing for me has and always will be Emotion. "

"Whether or not there is a person in the photograph, I strive to ignite inner stirrings of passion, longing, motivation, and connection." SB

 Works for me.  When I saw these, I felt the vastness and beauty yet emptiness of the land.  How quiet and deserted places are that once had life.  The Patriotism of times past in towns that no longer bustle with commerce.

Not a soul on the street and like so many small towns across America, For Sale signs in the windows.

In just a few images Steve tells a story and truly evoked emotions in me.

Rick Chou, Frankie the lizard and APL Shoes

  Frankie, the lizard, showed up on set with a bit of trepidation.  Rick held him and stroked his warm, soft belly a few times, whispered to him and soothed his savage soul.  The bonding was complete.  Later,  Rick realized that his initial shyness was all for the extra belly strokes!  Frankie loved being in front of the camera.  He sat under the hot lights all day, basking in their warmth.  He was patient and took direction like a pro.  What a fantastic model.

Frankie, of course, wanted to see his images and give his feedback.  He spent quite a bit of time with the Digi Tech going over the images discussing angles, lighting and making sure the final picks showed off his youthful and well toned physique.

Afterwords, he hung out with the crew.  Just like one of the guys.  His mellow, yet colorful personality had everyone on the set fawning all over him. 

What a superb day with Frankie the lizard.

PS. He was adopted by a young son of one of the assistants, who adores him and grooming him for his next modeling gig.

HELP - by Curtis Johnson

 In Curtis'  words:
"This was an extremely challenging shoot from the technical and logistical side.  HELP was just one of the various headlines for the campaign.  All in all we needed 19 different letters and symbols to accomplish this. I spent a few days creating our letter and cubicle configurations using schematics and sketches I made.

By using the individual cubes as the building blocks for the letters, I was able to simplify things down to four different cube configurations that were built to create all of the letters and symbols needed.  Letters like H, E and L were easy. Letters such as X and W were a different story.  

 I also had to come up with a budget friendly method for creating these words.

Logistically, we needed a studio space with a 35-40 foot ceiling to achieve a camera perspective that gave us a ‘parallax neutral’ image.  The art director, Steve Mitchell from Hunt Adkins, hoped that I would have to hang 40 feet in the air from a flimsy harness.  I opted for mounting the camera on the ceiling and operating it remotely!

By shooting various one and two-person cube configurations, I was able to capture enough variations of people and cubes to pull it off.  In the end, we shot 50 people with four different cube-desk configurations. We had to create enough variety in the talent so there would be no duplications. I shot the 50 chosen models then changed each of their wardrobe and hair styles 3-4 times.

 Retouching by Jellysquare brought the whole thing together.  I worked closely with them on each step so we could simplify the production and post work.  Each person at his or her cube and the individual sitting across from them is one shot with numerous layers to create the final image. 

 This was a very mathematical shoot.  Paying very close attention to detail.  The cubicle configurations had to be shot perfectly so they could be retouched into a legible word.
In the end it all worked because of the great efforts of the agency and entire crew.  Hats off to Sally Mars, my producer, for a another great production!!"

All able bodies were needed.  Curtis is in the image as well!  Above he is photographing himself.  Take a look, he is the man standing on the left side of the image.  Where's Curtis?...He is the image a few times.

Gatorade With Coco Ho and Ryan Lochte, Bonini style.

                Over the years Steve has shot a lot with Gatorade.

This shoot was fast and furious at a private gym in LA, 6pm to Midnight.

An evening of vein busting workout drills led by premier fitness trainer Jay Blahnik.  

Jay was in the face of our two athletes being a true drill sergeant.

He put each of them through a couple of hours of muscle burning routines.

Gatorade wanted the look of intensity, grit and sweat.

 

The tunes were cranked up.  Gatorade was chugged.

 First up was Kick ass surfer Coco Ho, the youngest female competitor to enter the world tour.

Next swimmer Ryan Lochte, a 6 time Olympic medalist.

 

In case you haven't heard of him much, just know, he has beaten Michael Phelps a few times.
Nuf said.

"It's always great to watch young athletes at the top of their game!" Steve Bonini

 

Last but not least, ALTER then took over working their magic, creating the muted background and making the athletes "pop".

The Client was, oh so happy!  Another great assignment.  Thanks Gatorade.

KIA Hybrid Shoot: Rick Chou

Here's what Rick Chou had to say about the shoot: 

“It is always challenging executing interior shots without having a car buck.  We moved around, again and again, trying different distance-to-car, height-to-car and lens perspective in order to find the desired look to match to the layouts.”

 "We were pushing the camera and lens perspective to get the right dynamic for the Hybrid badge shot.  We experimented with different format cameras and lens combination's to finally settle on the look." 

View more of Rick's work @ www.RickChou.com

The Attributes of Personal Work

I am constantly telling my Artists, "When you are not on an assignment, get out and shoot your personal visions."  It is through personal work that the Artist is truly able to express themselves.  Often times creating imagery they would not normally be assigned.  It is through personal work that the Artist can expand and experiment.  Steve Bonini is known for his "sports photography", but there he is at a fundraiser, seizes the moment and does award-winning Portrait work! 

"I was at a fund raising event and saw these big, bearded men dressed as nuns and wearing platform shoes...I told the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to pose as if it were a driver's license photo." -Steve Bonini

You can view the original series on Steve Bonini's website.   

First, he won the 2010 Rosey award for excellence in direct response advertising.

Then, Bart Cleveland, Creative Director and Copywriter, from McKee Wallwork Cleveland contacted Steve.  Together with Art Director Bruce Johno, they created Ad's for Village Frame Crafters using Steve Bonini's unusual portraits.

This once again shows what personal work can do to add to the Photographer's repertoire.
Personal work also opens up avenues the Photographer may never drive down via assignment work.  Giving Art Directors and Clients the chance to see personal visions they did not know the Photographer has.  And, doors fly open!

[click on an image to view it larger]

"Don't embarrass yourself with a cheap frame."

"Express yourself.  With a really, really nice frame."

"Surprise your mother.  Use a custom frame."

"With the right frame, it's not Uncle Bob.  It's art."

Personal work demonstrates the Artist's love for their media and their true desire to create.  When doing portfolio shows the people who hire are always drawn to the personal work.  It shows that the Artist can do a lot more than effectively re-create a comp.  It exhibits their passions and uniqueness.  Photographers, Art Buyers and Creatives I would love your thoughts and experiences.

 You can hear Steve talk about his vision in this short 2 minute video:

"I like to do slices of life that might not be part of the slice of life I live in." -Steve Bonini

Classy, Sassy Fish People by Curtis Johnson

Curtis Johnson brought these fish to life for Fuji Ya.  Aron Shand and Paul Swiatek from Kruskopf Coontz were the Creatives for the Ads and really reeled in fantastic concepts!

Here's what Paul Swiatek (Copy Writer) had to say about the shoot:

"Curtis is great.  He's so adept at picking up on the vision of the idea.  But the coolest thing is that he throws in ideas of his own, little 'maybe we should try this' kinds of things - and that's what makes your idea that much better."

"The Fuji Ya shoot was definitely an experience.  The fish were very demanding.  They freaked out when we didn't have the bottled salt water they wanted.  But Curtis took charge, calmed them down and talked them out of the trailer.  The shoot went great until lunch, when we served tuna fish sandwiches.  AWKWARD!"

Aron Shand  (Art Director) added:

"I really enjoy working with Curtis. He helps make our wildest dreams come true (everything from robots on trains to fish people on cell phones).  He's great at taking a highly conceptual idea, finding the elements to pull out, shoot, and piece it back together beautifully."

 The metamorphosis from human to fish:

 struttin' his stuff

 Ann  (AB) proving her "anything for the job" attitude.

 Rawr - where's my bottled salt water?!

Click any image to view it bigger or go to

www.CurtisJohnsonPhoto.com 

for more of Curtis Johnson's humorous and conceptual work.