Jamey Stillings' Bridge to Somewhere

Jamey Stillings first saw the Hoover Dam Bypass construction project while on a photo journey/vacation with his family. Inspired by the project and the material from it he originally captured, he began a personal quest to document it and (hopefully) some of the workers there as it evolved. We presented a selection from his first round there to the editorial staff at the New York Times Magazine, and they got on board immediately. Turned out it was a perfect fit for the first issue of their pub's redesign, which was devoted to our nation's infrastructure. The NYT used the shot above on the inside back cover to introduce Endpaper, a new feature to close the pub, as well as a larger selection of images in a slide show available on nytimes.com.

Though he's returned to site three additional times since he first encountered it, he's planning on shooting there one more time in the coming weeks as the gap is about to close. Jamey's access to the site has grown with each subsequent visit, as he gains the trust and respect of the numerous parties involved in the construction.

Additionally, the images have struck a chord with other publications around the globe as well as private collectors, giving us hope that the series might find a home in the gallery world.

Brilliance from Boone Oakley

Charlotte, NC ad agency Boone Oakley hit one out of the park with it's new company website. The brainchild of agency creatives, Jim Robbins and Ryan Holland, the site is a collection of low-tech videos residing on YouTube that brilliantly position the company as a smart, creative, fun, contemporary alternative to the bigger, older, stodgier, inbred agency brethren found in Big City, USA. While Modernista! was the first agency I'm aware of to adopt a "siteless" approach to their web presence, their effort isn't nearly as successful at branding the company as Boone Oakley's. Web 2.0 won't just be about access. The content will still have to entertain and inform in order to get the attention that marketers and agencies are after. Boone Oakley has set the bar, and its already paying off. Not only has the intro video received over 120K views in just it's first six days, the agency has already received calls from new biz consultants, clients, the press and people like me, who are now out here in cyberspace, spreading the word. Credits: CDs: John Boone, David Oakley; Interactive Director: Bill Allen; AD: Ryan Holland; CW/Illustrator/Narrator: Jim Robbins; Producer: Craig Jeiniker; Media Director: Demian Brink; Strategic Director: Phil Smith.

Does Martin Deserve This??

According to AdAge, there is a new bonus scheme at WPP which entitles CEO Martin Sorrell to take home up to $95M (that's MILLION) over the next five years if the holding company reaches new performance targets. This is a guy who's basic salary & "fees" were over $1.5M in 2008, and totalled $5.6M including bonuses from the old bonus scheme. Explaining the new scheme, a WPP spokesperson said that it was "even more aligned with shareholders' interests...because of extremely demanding performance targets." He also said the "WPP executives have to take a financial risk to gain the rewards, just like any other investor." WTF?! So if they don't meet the business goals, they only get their huge base salaries?? Wow. What a risk! Meanwhile, one path to meeting their performance goals is drastic cost cutting (layoffs) in order increase revenue. Here's an idea: How about if they miss the business targets, they DECREASE their salaries by the percentage they under perform?

Sir Martin... No wonder why HE"S happy! Photo: Pierre Verdy/AFP/Getty

Morgan Silk Goes to the Philippines

He's done it again. Morgan Silk returned from another trip for One Life Magazine, the house publication of Land Rover targeting existing LR owners, this time to the Philippines. And again, he came back with so much incredible imagery that ANY edit won't do it justice!! Here are a few of our favorites. Check out the rest of the edit on Morgan's newly redesigned website, or a smaller grouping on ours.

A GREAT Promotion

My photographer friend David Zaitz included me on an email promo he sent out last week that was so good, I shared it with my photographers, my family and friends, and now I'm sharing it with you. The email itself was simple, a compelling image an a short note from David to me underneath with a link. The link took me to a little web gallery of images from a four day trip David took through Texas. Each picture was captioned, and the combination of "stranger than fiction" reality with the captions had me laughing most of the way through the series. Great photos, entertaining copy that shows David's wit (one of his strongest suits), easy viewing and forwarding on to others made this one of my favorite promo efforts of recent past. Check it out here. Now, how can I do something as viral for MY group??

A Race to the Bottom

Just received the new PDN PhotoSource Stock Directory, which includes a feature titled, "Micro Machines, Stock producers boost volume, efficiency and quality in hopes of making microstock pay." Note the "in hopes of". It chronicles the current microstock environment, the only portion of the stock (and the photo industry at large) industry expected to grow in the next few years, and states that "...photographers are turning to microstock more than ever, even though the microstock business model is daunting. Prices are lower - much lower than in the RF sector." As more producers turn in that direction, the quantity and quality will only continue to improve, driving prices down further as supply continues to outpace demand. The article mentions that Yuri Acurs, one of the MS success stories, gets 5 times the industry average of $1 per image in sales per month. Wow! A whopping $5 per image per month... I'm reminded of the documentary I saw a few years ago about the seasonal changes from wet to drought conditions in the Serengeti, and how prey and predators inevitably end up at the same shrinking watering hole as the drought takes hold... Before I leave this happy place, I've got a bone with the PDN folks I want to mention, which is their "Reviews" section of the stock directory. Since the "reviews" are the same superlative puff written by the advertisers themselves, it's a little disingenuous to call the section that. ...Now... I'm off to find some water!