Last week, I set out early on another portfolio event, this time with designer Amanda Friend by my side. Loaded into my Rav4 with a trunk full of production cases and a dolly, we made our way up the turnpike to New York City.

Our first stop was at Ogilvy & Mather.  We came bearing gifts of breakfast treats from Dean & DeLuca and filled four tables with portfolios. Once everything was set out, we stood back, grabbed some D&D coffee and waited for the onslaught of creatives to arrive.

The view at Ogilvy.

And boy did they arrive, at first as a trickle and then as a full-on stream. During our two hours at Ogilvy, we reviewed portfolios with around 30 art buyers, art directors, creative directors, and copywriters. There was some definite stand out work in the group, including Matt Dutile‘s travel-themed promos (which were all gone almost immediately), as well as Jim Henderson‘s photographs, which one creative described as rich and vibrant. On the other side of the room, Julie Bidwell‘s food photography had reviewers drooling while Brian Cummings‘s “cool” business cards were being divvied up.

A couple Ogilvy creatives review portfolios.

Jim Henderson’s portfolio video:

Amanda and I both had some great conversations with the Ogilvy creatives on a variety of topics, from individual shooters, Wonderful Machine, stock, and just how hard it actually is to capture a stand out photo. Eventually, the crowd died down, so Amanda and I packed up and headed to our next meeting at the digital ad agency, R/GA.

A little ahead of schedule, we decided to grab a quick bite. Former New Yorker Amanda’s hawk eyes immediately spotted a little shop, Buongiorno Espresso Bar, pushing “green smoothies”—something she’s been itching for since moving to Philly. We ordered two. I’ll admit, I was a little scared at first when I saw them filling up the blender with broccoli, zucchini and various other green veggies. How is this going to taste as a smoothie?! But, Amanda was right! I’ll never doubt you again, girl. Healthy and delicious.

After drinking our lunches, and feeling like Popeye after a can of spinach, Amanda and I pushed our dolly full of portfolios over to R/GA’s offices. We were pleasantly surprised to find they were very un-New York-like. Instead of a sprawling high rise, we found a hidden gem: a quaint white building surrounded by plants; a mini Manhattan jungle oasis.

The interior was as impressive as the exterior, with walls filled with trophies. There, we met with art buyers Tamara and Kris, the latter of whom was kind enough to help us carry 100 pounds of portfolios up a flight of stairs. Tamara and Kris had been nice enough to squeeze us into their very busy schedule; to return the favor, we pulled out a concise group of books—all lifestyle, as they’d requested. As they looked through portfolios of photographers like Graham MacIndoe and Kinzie + Riehm, we chatted about the site and all the things Wonderful Machine has to offer. Tamara was already a fan of the site, and said she likes how easy it is to find photographers in odd locations. As for the work on the table, favorites included Ryan Donnell and Ashley Davis Tilly.

The R/GA review.

Ryan Donnell’s portfolio video:

Once the collections of portfolios had been reviewed, we said goodbye and headed to our last meeting of the day at Men’s Health. Inside Rodale’s building, we entered a model-filled lobby and were mildly offended that the receptionist didn’t ask us if we were there for the casting too (just kidding). Soon, photo editors Mark Haddad and Joe Rodriguez ushered us into a conference room where we shared the work of photographers like Nick Hall, Victor Wang, Simon Bruty and Ackerman + Gruber, to name a few. Mark said he’d used Wonderful Machine, like Tamara, to find photographers in far-off lands. Joe told us that he’s a fan, and reads the blog (Hi Joe!) and follows us on Twitter. For Mark and Joe, Ackerman + Gruber’s humorous reportage really stood out, as did David Arky‘s slick still life. But after awhile Mark and Joe had to wave goodbye—WM t-shirts in hand—as Amanda and I left for our favorite part of every portfolio event: the happy hour.

Rodale!

Ackerman + Gruber’s portfolio video:

Our day ended with a couple cold beers at Puffy’s Tavern with Forest Woodward and John Kuczala. We sat in front of a large open window and enjoyed the sunshine as we chatted about photography and shared our favorite Instagram pics.

Amanda, Forest and John.

When our glasses emptied, we said farewell to Forest, John and New York City, and rode off into a beautiful sunset.

Follow @wonderfulmachine on Instagram!

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Setting out to record “an accurate portrait of pie” in the South, photographer Alan Gastelum joined pie maker Nicole Mournian, filmmaker Casey O’Brien, and producer Alessandra Molina on a road trip like no other—the pie road trip.

But before we hit the road with these intrepid pie lovers in search of some American pie, we must got back to the beginning of things. Or at least to the beginning of Alan and Nicole. The two met on a shoot. Alan was photographing Nicole for an assignment, and was greatly impressed with her “natural talent for baking.” And, “as it so often happens when meeting incredible people on set,” they established a great friendship. And thus, when Nicole was invited to the National Pie Championship in Florida and decided she’d make a pie-trip out of it, Alan was her first choice to record the adventure.

Joining the two across the States was filmmaker Casey O’Brien, whose task was to make a documentary of the trip. The idea behind the journey was to, “explore the long tradition of pie making in the South, and discover why it’s such an important part of the culture there.” As for Alan, his motivation was to capture honest pictures to create an honest portrait of pie culture—”a story that hasn’t been told.”

Before heading out, producer Alessandra Molina took over logistics, carefully planning each pie stop along the way. Alan prepared in a slightly different manner, by re-reading Avedon at Work: In the American West for inspiration.

The pie-route.

Soon they were off, traveling through 10 states in 6 days and shooting at 8 locations. So what was the pie-filled trip like? “It was a blast,” Alan says, adding, “We met so many amazing people.” Some of his favorite stops included Pie-o-neer in Pie Town, New Mexico and Pie Lab in Greensboro, Alabama. Pie Lab especially interested Alan as pie is “just the tip of the iceberg” for them. “We were completely fascinated to learn what pie has done for this community. It would take too long to explain their many accomplishments, but it’s well worth your time to read about the charity they donate their profits to, H.E.R.O.”

Alan’s favorite story from the trip also comes from Alabama. “We were on a two-lane road and saw a small animal in the distance. As we got closer we noticed that it was a turtle in the middle of the road. ‘You’ve got to be kidding me! We are actually witnessing a turtle cross the road!’ It was too good to be true. We stopped and safely helped our little friend across—a bit faster than he would have on his own.”

After countless miles and pies, Alan looked back and considered the things he learned along the pie-way:

• Having a whole row in a 15-passenger van to yourself is imperative for 6 days on the road.
• What an actual bayou is and how it feels to be 10 feet from an alligator.
• Denny’s has an entire menu dedicated to bacon.
• Pecan pie is the best. (Well, strawberry too…and apple. And peach.)
• If you’ve been doing it long enough, 20 strawberry pies can be made in less than 15 minutes.
• Why the turtle actually crossed the road…

The response to the trip and the photos has been great so far , with food writer John T. Edge saying, “This is a beautiful portrait of pie in this American moment.” They now hope to get the story published in a national magazine to share the story with other pie aficionados. Alan has also posted some of the photos on pieroadtrip.tumblr.com. Their long-term goal is to publish a cookbook filled with new pie recipes from Nicole that were inspired by the trip.

View more of Alan’s work at alangastelum.com.

Wonderful Machine Photography Blog | Permalink | 610.260.0200 | Wonderfulmachine.com

There isn’t a show that gets the Wonderful Machine office buzzing more than AMC’s The Walking Dead. So when I came across some recent Dead images on Harold Daniels’s website, I was beyond excited. I immediately contacted Harold to get the scoop on this zombie-filled shoot.

It turns out, the job wasn’t for an entertainment magazine spread or promotional items for the show. Instead, Harold was assigned this shoot by the Georgia Department of Economic Development, for their Georgia Travel Guide. This may seem odd, but the show is actually filmed on location in Georgia, and the Travel Guide is distributed nationwide as a way to promote the state as a destination for travel and film production.

“It was all about the cover,” Harold says of the shoot, adding, “There really wasn’t a lot of advance direction.” But he was excited for the shoot, mostly due to the “cool factor of being on the working set of such a popular show.”

As a veteran celebrity photographer, shooting someone like Walking Dead star Andrew Lincoln isn’t atypical for Harold—but capturing zombies? That was completely different—and fun. Harold met up with Andrew and the zombies shortly after arriving on set and says, “it was very cool to meet the zombies before they went into hair and makeup, and then seeing the transformation in progress.”

After the actors had been zombie-fied, the shoot officially began. Luckily, everyone, from the crew to the star of the show turned out to be easy to work with. Harold elaborates,

Andrew was everything you hope a celebrity subject would be. He was a total professional—patient and gracious.  He told me that he is an “amateur” photographer himself and was really curious about what I was doing, and about my camera, etc.  Just a down to earth, friendly guy who loves living in the Highlands in Atlanta with his family.

The zombies were also pretty amazing at how they would transform their entire character when the camera was on. One minute they are chatting with you about the beautiful day and they next they want to eat your face off.

One of the only challenges on the shoot was portraying face-eating zombies in a way that wasn’t too grotesque for the cover of a state travel guide. But Harold pulled it off and the clients loved the images. “There was some trepidation about the cover of a travel guide being a tough looking guy with a big gun and a group of zombies saying, ‘Hey ya’ll come visit Georgia.’ But they got over it and the cover got a lot of press and online discussion.” And thus, Harold can now add “zombie shooter” to his resume.

View more at harolddaniels.com.

Wonderful Machine Photography Blog | Permalink | 610.260.0200 | Wonderfulmachine.com

Kazakhstan-based photographer Ikuru Kuwajima is known for his sprawling landscape images and vintagesque photos of Eastern Europe and Asia. His “Cossacks” series documents, in this same style, the resurgence of the Crimean Cossack community. What’s most interesting about the photos is that they’re captured in a manner that intimately draws the viewer in, while simultaneously leaving an air of mystery around the subjects.

Since the Soviet Union’s collapse, Cossacks have been reviving their traditions mainly in Ukraine and Russia. In Crimea, a number of active Cossack communities have sprung up in the decade. Some of them are also tied to pro-Russian movements, as ethnic Russians still dominate the demography in Crimea. Before the Soviet Union, Cossacks formed independent military communities, with a large degree of autonomy. They were known as brave soldiers with skillful horsemanship, having fought many wars for hundreds of years.  However, Cossacks’ activities and tradition were suppressed during the Soviet era. After the Soviet collapse, Cossacks have been active in restoring their traditions, often working as security guards in each community and organizing events to commemorate Cossacks’ historic events to reaffirm their identity.

I was inspired to photograph this project because, to me, it seems that the rise of the Cossack movement is a search for lost identity. Also, they were quite friendly and open—and their close ties with horses, military training, orthodox Christianity and their complex historical background interested me greatly.

View more at ikurukuwajima.com.

Wonderful Machine Photography Blog | Permalink | 610.260.0200 | Wonderfulmachine.com

Running through western Indonesia, The Citarum River plays an important roll in the lives of those who live along its banks. Almost five million reside in the river’s basin, and its waters support locals through agriculture, fishing, cooking and bathing. It’s also one of the most polluted rivers in the world.

Polluted purple water in the Citarum

Recently, Greenpeace decided to bring attention to toxic state of the Citarum. To do so, they enlisted the help of Jakarta-based documentary photographer, Andri Tambunan. Greenpeace’s director of photography had become familiar with Andri’s work after judging and awarding Andri the Reminders Project Asian Photographers Grant.  Andri is drawn to documenting social issues and layered stories; he prides himself on investing a great deal of time and effort into his photo essays, which allows him to capture “rare moments of intimacy, vulnerability and sincerity.” It was this passion and talent that made Andri the perfect photographer to take on the Citarum.

A local resident of Cilawengke village washes dishes with water contaminated by toxic wastes.

Andri received the assignment just 48 hours before he needed to ship out. With so little time to prepare, he threw himself into research and planning. Greenpeace asked for photographs that would connect the audience to those impacted by the river’s pollution. He would be spending time with families who live along the river, as well as the illegal dumping of toxic waste and the culprits behind it.  Andri adds, “They wanted me to convey the importance of the Citarum River to the families and communities that depend on it for their daily needs and livelihoods.”

Pak Ade catches fish at the Citarum River. The fish population has significantly declined over the years.

Once at the river, Andri spent a week with several local families, documenting their daily activities and taking portraits. He says, “Fortunately, Greenpeace had already established a great rapport with the families in those communities. Many were hospitable and showed us around. We didn’t encounter any hostility while shooting. But one of the challenges was photographing the dump sites undetected because the factories could send their enforces to rough us up, or even worse, threaten to hurt the families that helped us.” Luckily, Andri got away with his photographs undetected, his only issue coming from falling off a ladder and bruising his ribs while trying to get a higher vantage point.

Toxic industrial wastes illegally dumped into the Citarum River.

Along the way he met some interesting people, including a village elder whose part time job is fishing dead bodies out of the river—”he keeps a log of all the bodies he’s recovered.” Andri also learned that 80% of the water in Jakarta, where he lives, comes from the Citarum River. “I only drink bottle water now, because boiling the water will not get rid of the metal trapped inside.” But most importantly, he captured the culprits behind the polluting, including one of the biggest and most popular clothing companies in the world, GAP Inc.

Toxic wastes illegally dumped into the Cihaur River which feeds directly to Citarum River.

Andri’s pictures are now being used in a Greenpeace campaign to promote detoxing the river. It specifically calls out GAP Inc and has brought attention to the locals’ plight. Brands like Victoria’s Secret, Benneton Group, Zara, Mango, Esprit and Levi’s have all committed to “detoxing”, and Greenpeace hopes their campaign will convince current polluting offenders to do the same.

A Greenpeace ad featuring Andri’s photo.

View more of Andri’s work at andritambunan.com. The rest of his Citarum photos can be viewed here.

Wonderful Machine Photography Blog | Permalink | 610.260.0200 | Wonderfulmachine.com

Wonderful Machine Photography Blog | Permalink | 610.260.0200 | Wonderfulmachine.com

Rock and Ice
Christopher Beauchamp

Sportsnet
Steve Craft

enRoute
Grant Harder

Wonderful Machine Photography Blog | Permalink | 610.260.0200 | Wonderfulmachine.com

Sushi cats!

A feast fit for a king. Photo by Winnie Au

What can we build with all the LEGO bricks ever made?

Awesome photo series inspires awesome marriage proposal.

The ahhh effect.

GeoGuessr.

We’ll get you started with an easy one. Photo Tony Burns

Great photo bombs.

50 greatest movie villains of all time.

Abandoned Star Wars film sets.

Marooned Star wars villain. Photo by Jessyel Ty Gonzalez

Freaky Photoshopped tongues in ads.

The most important Kickstarter of our time.

Textastrophe.

Photographers Update:

• Scott M Lacey covers Boston Magazine.
• Barbara O’Brien‘s got a new website.
• Marcus Smith updates his website.
• Caryn B Davis‘s “On The Job” gallery show.
• An interview with Manuello Paganelli.
• David E Jackson photographs Escape The Fate.

Wonderful Machine Photography Blog | Permalink | 610.260.0200 | Wonderfulmachine.com

Italy-based photographer Escapista recently traveled to Syria, a country in the midst of a gruesome Civil War. He made the risky trip to help out a humanitarian group and to document the situation. There, he braved explosions, aggressive guards and more in the hopes of bringing added attention to the plight of the Syrian people.

In April, I had the chance to travel to Syria with a humanitarian organization called “Syrian Children Relief”. From the Turkish city of Reyhanli, we crossed the border to Syria, looking for the best place where we could pass the barbed wire fences with our sack full of children’s games.

We passed through dozens of militia checkpoints, and had the chance to meet a lot of wonderful children and to bring them a few smiles. We saw a country in ruins, with a population that’s become accustomed to the daily bombings. We talked to militia and to teenagers who held AK47′s in their arms as they would hold the hands of their beloved.

We prayed, we ate, and we had our share of bombs go over our heads. We saw a country in pieces. We crossed the border again, but with smugglers; Lord knows what they where smuggling.

These photos are from a country prostrated by a horrific civil war, practically forgotten by western countries until the moment that someone brings their war to our homes.

View more at escapista.net.

Wonderful Machine Photography Blog | Permalink | 610.260.0200 | Wonderfulmachine.com

After knocking on the University of South Carolina’s door for almost three years (his knuckles must hurt!), James Quantz Jr finally got his first SC gig last year. Since then, he’s opened the university’s eyes to new and exciting styles of photography, by bringing the culture of commercial productions to their marketing. He adds that the school had “been making do with bare bones photo shoots and action photos cut from game files prior to working with me. With my style of capture and post-production, I’ve shown them that we can recreate big game moments and have complete control over the process.” James has now become their go-to shooter for SC’s more creative assignments.

Recently, SC asked James to shoot a campaign for their upcoming 2013 football season. He had shot last year’s campaign, and the images were so well liked that the university was hoping he could bring the magic again. James was more than happy to do so, especially since he’s a big fan of the team. He also remarked that it was a thrill to shoot for a team with such an enthusiastic fan base. “I normally put a lot of pressure on myself to deliver the best images possible,” he says, “but trying to impress a fan base takes it to a new level!”

After the creative direction for the shoot was determined, James found himself on set with a gaggle of SC football players. He enthusiastically explains that the shoot was “rockin’!” adding that “this being the second year doing the images for the football campaign the players were much more motivated. They now know I’m not there to just take the same boring photos they’ve seen for years.  It was a lot of fun to see them show up fully taped, pads on, eye black, etc.”

One of the more entertaining aspects of the shoot was seeing the players’ reactions to their photos on screen. “One of my favorites was Bruce Ellington,” James elaborates, “who’s featured jumping at the end of the video. After one of his jumps, we really had some cool images on the computer and I brought him over to view them. I pointed at the screen and said, ‘Bruce are you ready to see this on billboards all over town?’ And he replied with a big smile, ‘Let’s do it again!’”

Behind the scenes of the shoot:

The photos have now been released and James has heard a lot of great feedback, especially from fans. He concludes that “it’s really about the fan base—if they don’t like something you’ll definitely hear it! Thankfully, I’ve only had positive experiences with them so far.”

View more at quantzphoto.com.

Wonderful Machine Photography Blog | Permalink | 610.260.0200 | Wonderfulmachine.com