Blog Migration

Hey folks! Just realized that some of you might stumble on this bloggery and think that I totally dropped the ball on keeping up with the updates.

The truth is that we migrated our missives to Tumblr where they are being regularly posted by my younger cohorts.

Check out the latest there.

Give Credit Where Credit is Due

Just got the new AdAge special feature showcasing the winners from the most recent Obie Awards, a well respected show focused on Outdoor advertising media. And like always, the illustrators, photographers and other artists who contributed to much of the work being recognized were no where to be found in many of the credits. The credit oversight is one that has bothered me for years, and not just when it's one of our people who were left off the list. It's indicative of a lack of concern about or appreciation for the people who made the concepts come to life. It wouldn't be acceptable, but would be less irritating if commercial directors and production companies were treated the same way, but they NEVER seem to be left off! I've even seen the trade rags use a print execution to complement a story about multi-media campaigns where the director and production company are mentioned, but NOT the person who shot/illustrated the ad they used to reference the campaign! Sour grapes? Damn right!

Lippman Participates in Surfers Healing

Putting his surfing skills to philanthropic use again, Steven Lippman and a host of other accomplished surfer volunteers participated in the annual Surfers Healing event in Malibu several weekends ago. The event, organized by the Surfers Healing non-profit group, benefits children suffering from autism. But judging from the responses of the surfers and other supporters at the event, the kids weren't the only ones who got something from the event.

Lippman Creates Oceanic Charity Campaign

Called "The Blue Project", the creative collaboration between Steven Lippman, writer Jody Wilson and a host of celebrity, activist, athletic, and entrepreneurial talent with ties to a variety of oceanic-environmental organizations was a labor of love for all involved and resulted in a series of still images that will appear in a 20 page editorial feature in the June/July issue of Malibu magazine, and a viral video. Additional thanks to Jill Roy at 3 Star Productions, and producer Barbie Duarte, who produced the shoot, and Jed James Sean Newhouse and Molly MacDonald of Maneater Productions for their help with the video.
There are plans for a sponsored event to unveil the campaign and further support the environmental groups to which it is tied. For more information, click here.

Kolenko Shoots for Serial Cultura

Eva Kolenko shot a surrealistic, fairytale narrative showcasing the Serial Cultura clothing line for the designer's fall look book recently. Kolenko collaborated with Claire Mack for Props and Sets Styling, Sharon Maloney for Wardrobe, and Tamara Brown on Hair & Make-up for the project, which was shot in an abandoned warehouse in Oakland to give it the edgy, industrial look the brand desired. Here are a few from the series:

Lippman's KMS Work in Germany

KMS rocked it at their booth at the "Top Hair" trade show in Dusseldorf using images from the Hotel California campaign Steven Lippman shot for them recently. CD: Christianne Brooks. ....Now all we need is a building to wrap!!

Zachary Scott's Coke Zero Campaign Breaks

Finally! We've started seeing the TV portion of a outdoor campaign Zack shot awhile ago for Crispin Porter & Bogusky lately, which means we can start telling people about the work. AD: Dayoung Ewart

Here are a couple of the images:

Stillings' Bridge Project Garners Multiple Awards

Jamey Stillings' Hoover Dam Bypass Project images were recognized by several significant award shows this week, and the project continues to gain momentum and exposure among the fine art blogosphere. Two images were chosen for the American Photography 26 annual and tbe project won First Prize in the 2010 Editor's Choice Award from Center, out of 2,596 submissions. To quote from the jurors statement, "We gave the top prize to Jamey Stillings for his work on the Colorado River Bridge. These pictures are epic and poetic at the same time. Stillings recognized what a great visual story the building of this bridge could be and then committed to it, making lots of good photographic decisions along the way. These awe-inspiring images deliver the thing photography does best – a documentation of a moment in time that won’t be repeated." The series also received an Honorable Mention in Center's 2010 Curator's Choice Award and made it into the upcoming PDN Photo Annual. It will also appear as part of a special slide show presentation at The Annenburg Space for Photography in LA, April 22, in conjunction with the Annenburg's current exhibit, Water, Our Thirsty World. It's been quite a week already and it's only Wednesday!!

Ad Rags Becoming a Joke?

I feel sorry for the publishers, editors, art directors, writers and the rest of the people still trying to make AdWeek and BrandWeek look like legitimate trade publications. They've got so little "meat" on (in) them these days, they are more like newsletters with advertising. And Advertising Age isn't much better - especially if you take out the "Advertising Special Section" that's normally included. Our subscription to Adweek somehow lapsed (could have been that I got in the habit of ignoring the repeated mailings they sent trying to give us deals on renewing our subscription WAY before it was close to ending... I HATE that!), which we noticed after missing a few months' worth of paper. Decided to re-up and for some reason, added BrandWeek as well. BrandWeek arrived first and after getting the second copy containing only about 8 pages of editorial content, I canceled my subscription. Then AdWeek started arriving. The God-awful redesign was the first thing I noticed. And it's fashion model thinness. Apparently, they've also succumbed to the less is more trend afflicting almost every pub these days regarding the depth of editorial features, and are now serving up info in smaller bites that are more easily digested by us busy, distracted readers. If I see one more "By the Numbers" spread, I'm gonna, I'm gonna..... They even devote a page in the pub to printing comments from their blogs. If I wanted to read what people were saying online, I'd go THERE! Since the BrandWeeks have continued to roll in despite my canceling the subscription, I continue to spend the 5 minutes it takes to look at them, and am amazed how much content is the SAME in both pubs! I swear, sometimes it feels like they've just put a different (but similarly ugly) cover on the same damn magazine.
On the bright side, my subscription does provide access to the email news updates and AdWeek.com, which has been more useful. I wonder how long they will continue the charade of producing the printed version.

We've Got MOTION!

It's been a long time coming but we've finally arrived. Attentive visitors to our site in the last month or so may have noticed a change to our landing page: the addition of an entire new section called MOTION. It's actually a separate site we developed and incorporated within the existing site's navigation as the most cost effective approach to handling the change. Hopefully, it feels fairly seamless. Evolving in this direction was inevitable, as the markets for still and moving imagery are quickly merging. We've started with content from three of our artists, Steven Lippman, Anthony Redpath and Bryan Christie, and while we don't yet have a deep body of work to show, we will be adding more shortly. All three have productions they are working or that are coming up, and we hope opportunities arise soon for rest of our roster. The site was designed by Daniel Stromberg of The Creative Common Good, and developed by Thom Meredith and Michael Madgett