John Fulton was recently named a Luerzer’s Archive Top 200 Advertising Photographer Worldwide, and his work has been recognized globally by the likes of Hasselblad Masters, Ads of the World, Canon, “Lucies” (The Int’l Photography Awards), The Addy’s, and Prix de la Photographie Paris, among others. He is based in Savannah, Georgia and represented by Visu Artists and Wonderful Machine.

Your work encompasses a range of things from portraits to advertising work to editorial images – how did you get started, and is there a genre you prefer working in most?
‘I went to photography school in Santa Barbara, California. After graduation, I was hired at a retouching house in San Francisco, worked on some big campaigns, and learned how the back and forth with art directors is conducted successfully. While in SF, I also worked with Jim Erickson, Erik Almas, and a bunch of other great people. The skills and business acumen that I learned during that time had a big influence on me.

‘I’m inspired and interested in a lot of different things, but I specialize in photographing people, environments, and concepts whether personal or commercial. I shoot projects outside of those categories but have other venues and outlets for that kind of work. I would get bored shooting the same things all the time. Photography is a great tool that way – it can applied in so many ways.’

You recently completed a series of extreme runners after a race – can you talk a bit about these images?
‘From time to time I take on editorial assignments from a small magazine here in Savannah for fun and to stay fresh. They approached me about shooting something they called “extreme running”. This sport basically entails athletes swimming through mud pits and running straight through the swamp. It sounded intriguing. When I arrived on location, the owner of the course explained that it was required that his course be inspected by an alligator expert and steps had to be taken to ensure that an athlete doesn’t find him or herself face to face with a ten footer in the middle of a race. “It’s 99% gator free!”, the owner said with a big smile and no sense of sarcasm in his voice. I tried not to think about that 1% when I was up to my chest in the swamp shooting.

‘Originally, I’d thought that the best images would be the action on the course. It was a great experience shooting the actual race but when it came time to edit, it was these portraits that I found to be the most engaging. I was very happy with the final series and they’ve been well-received by ad agencies.’

A lot of your advertising and creative work has a rather unique and somewhat playful feel. How do you think digital editing and manipulation affects the images you produce?
‘Post production plays a role in most of my work. When capturing everything in camera isn’t possible due to budget or logistical constraints, there’s often some compositing involved. At minimum, I will massage the tones and colors to see what palette I think is most affective for the environment. I’m also visually excited by atmosphere, dust, fog, smoke, etc. I usually weave a little atmosphere into the image even if it’s subtle. To me, post production is just another tool to help make the images in my head come alive in a tangible form. It feels like a combination of photography and painting which I really enjoy.’

Do you find that you approach a project differently if it’s shot on location rather than in a studio environment?
‘Even with a scout, location work always has many potentially uncontrollable elements involved compared to the studio in my experience. Inclement weather, changing light, random people upset that you get to shut part of their street down despite your permit, there’s always unexpected challenges. Thinking on your feet is a prerequisite for location work. Having a great producer who helps put out fires behind the scenes really helps as well.

‘Last year, while planning a shoot in a neighborhood, some random person took it upon themselves to dial up and leave nasty messages about my production to the agency, their parent agency, and the client. It turned out the guy didn’t even live in the neighborhood. My producer took care of the problem over the course of several days, but it could have gone badly and that was even before the shoot started.

‘To answer the original question, when planning a location shoot I’m of the mind that you can’t over think or over plan the production but you have to be ready for when things change. My studio work is much more straight forward so generally, all I need is to have a vision for what the final work will look like and know how to get it there.’

Your image of the hula girl on the dashboard for ‘Eaton’ has been hugely successful – where did the idea for that shoot originate?
‘The elderly hula girl was a great project. It was concepted by the agency (Brunner) who I’ve worked with for several years. It’s been so successful for the client, that they’ve had real elderly hula dolls fabricated in China for their promotion and branding.’

This post was contributed by Ariel Body.

Oli Kellett is a London-based photographer who earned his degree from St. Martins Art College. He worked at several London ad agencies as an art director before leaving in 2008 to pursue photography full time. His recent project is entitled ‘Team Vodkovia’ and features a digitally-designed team of olympic hopefuls from the fictitious country of Vodkovia.

What was your vision and inspiration behind the Team Vodkovia series?
‘The idea for “Team Vodkovia” started in the spring of 2011 when Olympic fever was really beginning over here in London. I thought it would be good to get involved and would be fun to invent some athletes who were specifically matched to the event they would participate in. Brave New World Style.’

You worked closely with retouchers, writers, designers, etc. to create the whole visual story. Can you talk a little about that process?
‘We started thinking about athletes and events and I was sending ideas through to Kai, a retoucher at The Operators, who was letting me know what was possible.

‘Eventually we settled on eight athletes and spent a long weekend shooting them in a studio in North London. After the shoot, The Operators started the retouching job which meant a lot of arms and legs of different bodies stitched onto new ones.

‘At about this point I thought about how I could get the images out to creatives and Art Buyers and get the series a bit of PR. I thought to create a “Top Trump” themed mailer and I started brainstorming fictitious background information for each athlete.

‘When the images were almost ready, I got in touch with a couple of graphic designers I knew and a writer. It was important that I had the images nearly done so I could get them excited about the idea. Luckily they liked it and we all agreed it had the potential to go bigger; it could be an entire country, and this was their first Olympic games. Three months later “Team Vodkovia” was born and is ready to take on the world.

‘Writing and design was done by Konstantinos Kanellopoulos, and the website was designed by Kostja Paschalidis. There is also a poster which is going to be sent out to advertise the country.’

What has the feedback been like so far?
‘I was asked to do a presentation of my work in December so I took that as a good opportunity to launch “Team Vodkovia”. I got an actor to play the President of Vodkovia. I dressed him up and he gave a rousing and enthusiastic speech introducing each of the athletes and their background. I don’t think anyone was expecting it but I think it went down well.’

How do envision it evolving as it gets closer to the Olympics?
‘What I would love is for some print and online magazines which are not art/photography related to run the images. It would be great if the project could cross over into the ‘real’ sports world as a bit of fun. That’s when I will consider the project to be a success.’

The whole idea of the series is really quirky – from the images themselves to the online shop to physically designing an entire country – is there some kind of message or statement you’re trying to make through the images and intricacy of the project as a whole?
‘Well the project didn’t start off this big. It was originally just a sketch of a guy with long legs riding a bike, but has grown quite naturally along the way. There is no message as such, just meant to be a bit of entertainment. I feel people remember ‘the idea’ more than the images (in most photography), so the more work I can put into ‘the idea’, like the biographies and shop, I hope will result in more people remembering the project.’

This post was contributed by Ariel Body.

Cornelia Hediger was awarded a Master of Fine Arts from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. Her work has been widely exhibited in the US, as well as internationally and in 2009 she was awarded a PDN’s 30: Emerging Photographers to Watch. Her photographs have been featured in New York Magazine, HotShoe, Vision Magazine, Photography Quarterly, Photo+ and Phat Photo amongst others.

This work, Doppelganger II, is currently showing at Klompching Gallery in NYC.

You recently completed your Döppleganger II series, how would you describe your vision for the project?
‘In 2004 I started the Doppelgänger project. I was interested in exploring the concept of the Doppelgänger in a broader way. Doppelgänger in German means ‘double walker’, it is a ghostly double of a living person, an omen of death and a harbinger of bad luck. The idea of the Doppelgänger also allows me look the alter ego, the conscious mind vs the unconscious mind, inner conflicts, the duality between good and evil and split personalities – the concept gives me plenty of material to think about and work with.

‘The first part of Doppelgänger was created between 2004 and the beginning of 2008. It took me several years to master the technique of shooting single images and putting them together in a grid to create one composition, one environment. Even though the earlier work was carefully planned out, it was more spontaneous then Doppelgänger II. In Doppelgänger II I started to make more elaborate sketches and drawings of the set I wanted to create, often weeks in advance. At times I would create the set by transforming my apartment into a set. I would paint the walls, put up wallpaper, install lamps where there are none, order area rugs and move around furniture to create new images. The more recent images are perhaps more narrative and the props and dresses are chosen carefully. I felt that I have mastered the technique by the time I started Doppelgänger II and could concentrate more on the mood and feeling I wanted to get across. The method of photographing single images and putting them together in a grid, not only allows me to distort the space and the body, but I am also able to break up the self, as in a split personality’.

You also portray the characters in each of the pieces. What was it like being both artist and subject?
‘I use photography as a visual diary. The inspirations are drawn from my own life. From the very beginning, when I picked up a camera in College, I immediately turned the camera on myself. For many years I would photograph my body in motion, either cutting off my head or blurring it out. This way of working felt right at the time as I felt very much in flux and not grounded at all. The Doppelgänger work as well, is a reflection of my own life and it would not feel right to use a model to act through my own emotions. On the other hand, a 6 panel image take anywhere from 8 to 10 hours to shoot. The larger set, Doppelgänger 2.22.09, a 12 panel image, took three days, morning to night . Any model would throw up their arms and walk off the set in disgust – these images take a very long time to do. Not only is it a slow process to create these photographs, I also prefer working on my own. I do everything myself; prepare the sets, do the lighting and stand in front and behind the camera. I would not feel comfortable to have anyone around me when I work’.

You’ve just launched an exhibition of the work at the Klompching Gallery in NY. Since the process and images are very personal to you, how do you think framing the work in a gallery context affects the narrative?
‘I have a strong desire and need to create artwork, as most artists do. When I started the project, in 2004, I had no idea that it would end up in a gallery, I didn’t produce it for a gallery setting, having the end result in mind. I created this body of work because I am fascinated with the subject and I needed to go through the process of exploring it. Having said that, I am trained as an artist and eventually I do create work for the public to see. For many years I would only show the photographs to close friends of mine. The images at the time were the size of contact prints and the set fit on a 5×7″ card. The work is very personal and it took me many years to actually allow the images to go larger. I don’t believe that one should push out work prematurely, not only does the work have to be ready, the artist has to be ready as well and I wasn’t until the end of 2007, when I started to show the Doppelgänger series’.

What has the feedback been like?
‘The exhibition just opened the other night and it is too early to talk about the reaction and feedback. The feedback at the opening was very positive but only a day has passed since the opening so I think time will tell. The work is out there and I stand behind every single image so there is nothing I can change at this moment and I wouldn’t for that matter. I think now it is important for me to look at this body of work and reflect on it. There are always things that could have been either better or different but I feel that it was crucial for me to create every single piece in the exhibition and it is important because I learned something from it and that is what it is all about’.

Tim Doak is a Northern Ireland based photographer whose work explores the relationship between photography, faith, and modern day life. Having recently completed an MFA in Photography from the University of Ulster, his final body of work, Beautiful Dawn , has earned him numerous exhibitions, awards, and inclusion in photography festivals throughout the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland.

You recently completed a series entitled Beautiful Dawn. Can you tell us a little about how the project originated and developed over the year?

‘The Beautiful Dawn work was created during my studies at the University of Ulster, under the tutelage of Paul Seawright, while I studied for a Master of Fine Art Degree in Photography. The project started to take shape back in December 2009. I got together with a couple of photographer friends in Belfast and took part in Help-Portrait, a global movement set up by Nashville based photographer Jeremy Cowart, to encourage photographers to use their skills and give back to those in need. The venue we used to host the event was Calvary Christian Centre, a small church located in the Cathedral Quarter of the city.

I went back to the church the following month at the start of the new year, beginning what turned out to be just over a year spent connected with the church, helping out with their work with the homeless and the poor, allowing time and space for relationships among its members and those it helped to take shape and develop. After a short period I began to be drawn to one individual in particular, Jason Smyth, who had a pigeon loft on the roof of the church’.

Shooting in such an intimate capacity, how do you think the development of the relationship between you and Jason affected the work?

‘As the relationship with Jason developed, we began to spend more time together and began to trust each other more – we both became more open and vulnerable with each other. It’s interesting, it was definitely a two way process. He began to share his life with me and I began to do the same with him. Often we would spend hours talking. Talking about the weather, pigeons, life, faith, death…

‘I often wrestled with the internal dilemma while with Jason of whether I should keep talking or stop and interrupt and make a photograph. At times I missed what seemed would make a good image in favour of maintaining conversation. As time moved on both he and I got more relaxed with the presence of the camera, perhaps him more than me’.

Lissy Laricchia is a Canadian photographer who is known for her surreal portraiture work. Working extensively with self portraiture, she combines photography and her imagination to create unique collections of composites that tell the dreamlike stories she imagines. From book and album covers to magazine ads, her unique style has inspired a growing number of fans and recognition.

How would you describe your work?
‘They are dreamscapes. I became obsessed with the word when I heard it defined as ‘a dreamlike, often surrealistic scene’. It is definitely what I strive for’.

Your photos have a very imaginative style and each seems to tell a magical story of its own; what inspired you to start making images?
‘Things that don’t exist, but should’.

Much of your recent work very much embraces digital manipulation and editing techniques. Do you think these methods have changed or influenced your style? If so, how?
‘Figuring out what my abilities and limitations are has let me be freer in my ideas. Previously I would have a great idea, shake my head because there was no way I could do it, and disregard it entirely. Since improving my photoshop skills when I have an outrageous idea, it just becomes a matter of simple planning out to make work’.

Before becoming a professional photographer, Matt Hoyle was a Creative Director in advertising. His photography has been recognized in Communication Arts, PDN Photo Annual, and D&AD. He’s been selected as one of the 200 Best Ad Photographers by Lurzer’s Archive, and has appeared multiple times in the IPA Best of Show. His work has also won a Cannes Gold Lion. Matt’s clients include Saatchi & Saatchi, BBDO, GSD&M, Rolling Stone, New York Magazine, Wired and Fast Company among others. This work is from his new personal series, Barnumville.

Your most recent series, Barnumville, depicts a city inhabited by sideshow performers.  What inspired this continuation of your previous series, Barnumvillians, in which you shot portraits of said residents?
‘I’ve always thought of myself more in terms of creating stories. Having been a copywriter in advertising I was used to conveying sentiments in terms of words and narratives so it never feels quite right shooting something without trying to get something beyond an aesthetic. With Barnumville, I knew circus freaks and sideshow performers where inherently interesting for a simple black and white, with their unique physicality. But I also loved this mythic world of the sideshow which is actually based on reality. Before it was politically incorrect to make a living off or ones so called deformities or uniqueness it was actually one of the mainstays of entertainment. Barnum was one of the world’s greatest showmen with his stable of stars. I wanted to base this series on a ‘what if’. What if there was a town totally inhabited by these special people. How twisted would it be’?

Your portrayal of Barnumville is the result of blending elements of reality with your fictitious photographic representation.  In many respects, the entire project seems to be the result of manipulation; what inspired you to take in the direction you did?
‘I love nothing more than story. In my entertainment work and editorial I light dynamically and direct the subject so that even with a white backdrop, there’s something there that’s interesting. I like the challenge of getting something that keeps you looking with just the subject and at most a simple prop. You can see that in my celeb folio. But when I get to play in my personal work and utilize whatever resources are available, I don’t want to limit my storytelling if i’m wanting a particular scene that would otherwise be too expensive finding and shooting on location. I will get what I can in shot. I’m a portrait photographer first so there will always be a photo of my subject. But if I have to composite something to add to the story in my personal work, I’ll use that to my advantage’.

There is also quite a descriptive written story that accompanies the project and sets the scene for body of work.  What roll do you think this particular piece of writing played in the overall success of the series?
‘I was a copywriter and they say that every copywriter is a failed novelist. Well I guess the same way that I utilize CG or compositing for my backdrops I also use words when applicable. I wanted to give a back story so there is a context.  Certainly you can look at each photo and get a sense of story you can make up yourself. But in this instance I wanted the depth of the story to have a context. The way I envisioned it. I even reached out to the likes of composers to write music when I was thinking of making Barnumville its own microsite. David Lynche’s composer, the wonderful Angelo Badalamenti, and even the Movie Amelie’s Composer Yann Tierson were interested in contributing. The idea would have been to have a unique piece of music accompany each scene.  I got too busy last year and it become to big of a commitment to get such a site up to the level I would have wanted so I just concentrated on finishing the actual images’.

Can you talk a little about how the images were created?
‘I did the shoot in studio with each talent and a rough sketch layout. Shot against green screen as I’ve always done with my personal work.  I then cut the hero shots out and imported them into my CG program and created each scene around them.  Once I had that scene built and rendered I shot key areas such as woodland or water etc…and composited them into the scenes before doing a final finish.  I wanted to keep a subtle theme with the series so you’ll note a red and white palette in some of the elements’.

What was the feedback about the series like from the performers you shot?
‘The feedback I got on Barnumville black and white portraits was the best I’ve received since I shot my Iceberg Winter Swimmers back when I just started my photography. The longer winded answer is that there are two parts to my work, and I’ve seen there are two types of people who like my work, of those who actually like the work at all. First is the purist where my simple closer portraiture work like Iceberg and Barnumville black and whites, as well as my Yesterday in America series get favored. Then there are those who enjoy the more imaginative works like my Barnumville scenes, fairy tales, and Cinemaricana Film Noir series. They aren’t looking for what lens I used or if it’s pure and no post. They are looking at the work from a piece of art/story perspective – does it move them or take them somewhere emotionally.

‘I don’t create any work to appease the viewer, it’s just that I seem to like the variety for the simple portraiture balanced with more layered storytelling, which is why I’m pushing myself into tv and movie key art, the ultimate in great design and simple storytelling’.

Your work encompasses a range of fine art, portraiture, and advertising areas.  What’s it like transitioning from each of these and do you have a favorite genre to work on?
‘I’m a hyper, I call it passionate, photographer.  I thrive on activity.  Therefore the variety of shooting a big ad campaign one day, a network tv poster art shoot another, a simple no budget editorial with a good personality another, and then personal work where I get to control, with my awesome team, the entire project; it’s never boring. I do have to switch modes.  I find that for different markets the clients are attracted to different areas of my work, ad agencies like my quirky punchy stuff, entertainment and editorial, my ability to direct talent and get good performances, and so even the way I act and shoot is different depending on the client. As for my favorite genre, right now it’s entertainment portraiture.  Working with well known talent who know how to take directions makes my work look all the better’.

San Francisco based Matt Sartain is a photographer and visual storyteller. His photos, which are whimsical compositions of fairytales and imagination, have been featured in many outlets including appearing on the covers of both CMYK and HOW magazines. He has worked with clients such as Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, BBDO, The New York Times Magazine, & HOW Design. Additionally, Sartain’s ‘Misadventures’ series has been exhibited in China and throughout the US.

Can you talk a little bit about the project you’re currently working on?
‘The project that I’m currently working on is a photographic storybook that unveils an entire new epic narrative from beginning to end. Unlike my old work that only gives us a snapshot into an implied larger story this will be the entire scope of an adventure following characters as they journey through a mysterious world learning of life and death, love and loss and their dreams, pains, and experiences along the way.

‘The scope of what I have written for this project is enormous (in terms of production) so I’ll most likely approach this one chapter at a time, continuing to add to the story episodically as time goes on. The final format will be printed like a textless graphic novel as well as a gallery show – the prints laid out on the wall mimicking the page layout of the book so that the project is cohesive from print to wall.

‘The first chapter in the story that I am producing is the story of a desperate father’s journey to save the life of his dying boy. The journey, the sacrifices, and the outcomes are not at all what the father imagined’.

Your work very much utilizes digital manipulation and composites. Do you think this method of creation adds to the narrative strength of your work? If so, how?

‘Besides the color and toning in Photoshop I would be happy to do all of these things in camera. Truth is it’s often not practical and sometimes not even possible to do what I want in camera. Often times the use of compositing and manipulation is a more accessible way to get something that would otherwise be out of my budget. I hope to do more practical in-camera imagery as the budget for my work grows. The less compositing the better as far as I’m concerned, so when I use that technique it’s because the decision has been made from a production standpoint. Before any shot goes into production I consider what I have (time/money/location/crew) and then decide what I can do in camera and what I do in post. Often times images that would require an enormous crew, rigging, permits, etc. are just me and one other person – compositing allows for a lot of freedoms.

‘The role of compositing has had a remarkable effect on my photography. I remember when I first began to construct images – I started small and went bigger and bigger and bigger. I was excited when I discovered that my work was only limited to my imagination. There’s something really empowering about feeling like there is nothing I can’t create – I don’t mean that in a cocky way, I mean only to say that I’ve discovered my strengths and weaknesses and I know that if I can concept an image I can create it’.

There seems to be a real sense of dream-like imagination throughout your images. Where does the inspiration for these concepts come from?
‘My work is inspired by a number of things and dreams are part of that. The image of The Shipwreck came from a dream I had where I was lost on a series of tall floating islands over the sea that were guarded by giants. I jumped over the cliff into the water and found an oak barrel and floated along the currents until I woke up.

‘Besides my dreams I my aesthetic has been shaped by tons of stuff. Illustrators like Shel Silverstein, Arthur Rackham and Winsor McCay. The great imaginations of Frank L. Baum, Roald Dahl, C.S. Lewis and Tolkien were inseparable to my developing mind. Video games like Zelda took me on epic quests as a child and when I went to study English for my undergrad writers like Poe and Melville showed me the “darker” side of the American Romantics. Movies are an enormous influence. Filmakers like Terrence Malick and The Cohen Brothers and screenwriters like Charlie Kaufman have been inspiring me for years.

‘All of these things mush together to form some idea of my aesthetic. I have a lot of influences that are in the “fantasy” genre but I’ve always believed that, when concerning my own work, it’s important to cement fantastic events within a real world so that the impacts of these events matter to the characters involved. If everything is a fantasy then nothing really matters. There has to be the cement of reality somewhere within the scope of the work so that the events have meaning’.

The panoramic nature of the photos in the ‘Misadventures’ series you did a couple years ago, really makes the whole project feel quite cinematic. I especially love how as much as the single images tell a story they also seem to inspire the viewer to make up their own story – was this intentional?
‘Definitely. Though, that body of work developed very naturally I began noticing opportunities to explore the mystery and intrigue of untold stories. I wanted to show a piece of some character’s larger journey without revealing too much of it. If the imagery was beautiful enough and the events unfolding intriguing enough I hoped it would inspire the viewers imagination to create their own beginning and end. I’ve had some great responses from people who have described their feelings about the work and I love it because the reactions and responses can be completely unexpected and can often show me a way to look at the work that I hadn’t ever thought of’.

Richard Kolker is a UK based photographer and part-time university lecturer whose work uniquely combines traditional photography and digital methods. In 2008 he completed an MA in Photography from London College of Communication, University of the Arts London, where he extensively explored the use of computer generated imagery as photography. Since then, he has continued to focus on the creation of synthetic photographic imagery using 3D digital modeling techniques. His work on the series ‘Night’ has recently earned him inclusion in the “reGeneration2: Tomorrow’s Photographers of Today” book and globally traveling exhibition. Additionally, Kolker has received numerous awards and his photographs have been exhibited throughout the UK, Europe, North America, & China.

Your work really embraces the digital influence on photography, what inspired you to explore the use of computer generated imagery? Did you start out studying ‘traditional’ photography?
‘Yes, I was a freelance photographer for over 10 after leaving college and started using computer generated imagery about six years ago, mainly as a way of producing simple conceptual stock imagery. Then four years ago I enrolled on the MA Photography course at the London College of Communication, University of the Arts London to explore both the medium and my own practice in greater depth. I left two years later with a CGI body of work without having taken a single photograph’!

Can you talk a little about the concept behind your most recent project, ‘Reference, Referents’?
‘This project is still very much ‘work in progress’, but through it I’m trying to explore the nature of photography and it’s relationship to other art forms. Painters have often used photographs as a reference aid in their work, especially but not only of course, the hyper realists of the 1960s. In fact, around the time of the invention of the photographic process in the mid 19th century it was thought that this would be the principle use of photography in the future. From the artist’s resolved artwork I aim to recreate the photographic reference they may have used. The referent, therefore, is not the physical scene/location in the real world but the artist’s work’.

What advice would you give to photographers interested in using computer generated imagery in their work?
‘Whichever one of the three or four software packages you chose the learning curve is steep. There seems to be a movement around commercially to try and keep CGI work in the hands of the retouching houses but photographers can, with training and patience, integrate it into their own workflow.

‘CGI has changed many areas of commercial photography in the last five years – from automotive advertising and product photography to CG set building for compositing studio shot models; and its influence will continue to grow as costs fall and art directors/buyers and all those who commission the production of imagery become even more aware of the creative possibilities it can offer. A few years ago the photographer was responsible for solving all the visual/technical problems that arose to create the art director’s vision, now he is just another technician in the creative chain’.

What kind of feedback have you been getting from both viewers and the photography community? Has there been any criticism negating the photographic validity of the computer generated nature of your work?
‘Feedback has been very positive. I was fortunate enough to be selected by the Musee de l’Elsee, Lausanne, last year, for reGeneration2: Tomorrow’s Photographers Today. The accompanying exhibition is currently touring the world. It’s just closed at the Aperture Gallery, New York but will open at the Galerie Azzedine Alaia, Paris on April 4th.

‘I have been included in many shows and have always been exhibited alongside technically more traditional photographic work. I think, visually, I often reference the tradition of photography in my work with subject matter, composition, lighting etc.

‘Photography is going through a revolution; we are viewing, recording, analysing and archiving every aspect of our world and lives in a digital, binary form. Today’s digital cameras are part of this digital encoding and in that respect very different from analogue process of photography. Computer generated imagery represents synthetic or simulated photography, but has no real world referent to convert into a mechanical trace. It is a photographic vision created using simulated light and computer geometry ‘recorded’ with a virtual camera’.

Where do you see yourself going from here?
‘I am currently a part time university lecturer, and I would definitely like to expand this area of my career, particularly in the area of synthetic imagery. I also will continue to develop and explore my own art practice with a view to constantly producing and showing new work. I have never really ventured back into the commercial arena since completing my MA; I need to pay the bills so can’t afford to rule it out! But I do strongly feel that my future lies with this exciting still new medium of computer generated photography’.

John Offenbach is a London-based photographer who began his career in 1994 and is now represented by agents in New York, London, Paris and Hamburg. He has been commissioned to photograph campaigns for a range of clients including American Airlines, American Express, IBM, Hewlett Packard, Hyundai, BMW and Bentley. He has won several awards for his personal as well as commercial work. His work has been included in Communication Arts, The One Show, D&AD, American Photography, PDN and Creative Review’s The Annual, as well as a number of AOP annuals.

Feature Shoot contributor, Arial Body asked him a few questions below about his start in photography and inspiration for personal projects.

You have a range of different collections of photography in your portfolio, how would you describe your work overall?
‘Tidy, ordered’.

A lot of your early work especially is very architectural based, do you think your interest in architecture & geometry evolved to influence the style of your other work in advertising? In what way?
‘Definitely, yes. I love architecture and geometric shapes and patterns. I think I always have. So when I look and appraise anything, whether it’s a portrait or a landscape or still life, my judgement of how well it’s working is based on an intuition of those values’.

How did you get started in shooting advertising? Did you originally start shooting editorial images?
‘Nope. I assisted advertising photographers, and the transition was fairly fluid’.

Several of your advertising images in particular embrace various digital editing methods (digital composites or computer-generated imagery). How do you think new digital manipulation techniques are changing photography?
‘It’s a big change in approach. I think that on set/location there was more experimentation more discovery before, because you were never really sure what you had. Now there is a tendancy to ‘gather the pieces’.

What is the most interesting campaign or project you’ve worked on recently?
‘I have just come back from shooting Porsche in Los Angeles. One of the shots required a snowy scene but we couldn’t move the cars and crew to the snow so we covered a street at Universal Studios in real snow! You can see a behind the scenes video on my website under ‘Having Fun‘.

Can you talk a little bit about some of the personal projects you undertake between advertising shoots, and where the inspiration for those comes from?
‘Personal projects are usually works of discovery. I like to explore and look for things that other people have maybe overlooked or walked passed because they didn’t notice something was interesting to look at. It may be banal or maybe spectacular, but I’m happy if something was nicely seen’.

Born in Norton, Kansas, New York-based Lori Nix was awarded an Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist Grant as well as a 2004 New York Foundation for the Arts Individual Artist Grant. She earned a BFA in photography from Truman State University, Missouri, and attended the MFA program at Ohio University. Her photography often examines the boundaries of where city and rural landscapes meet.

The visual narrative throughout your work has a unique, almost eerie feeling. What inspires you to tell the stories that you do?
‘I am interested in depicting danger and disaster, but I temper this with a touch of humor. My childhood was spent in a rural part of the United States that is known more for its natural disasters than anything else. I was born in a small town in western Kansas, and each passing season brought its own drama — from winter snow storms, spring floods, and tornados, to summer insect infestations and drought.

‘Whereas most adults viewed these seasonal disruptions with angst, for a child, it was considered euphoric. Downed trees, mud, and even grass fires brought excitement to daily, mundane life. As a photographer, I have recreated some of these experiences in the series Accidentally Kansas’.

‘I am fascinated, maybe even a little obsessed, with the idea of the apocalypse. In addition to my childhood experiences with natural disasters, I also grew up watching 1970s films known as “disaster flicks”. I remember watching Towering Inferno, Earthquake, Planet of Apes and sitting in awe in the dark.

‘Here was the same type of dangers I had experienced day to day being magnified and played out on the big screen in a typical Hollywood way. Each of these experiences has greatly influenced my photographic work. The series Accidentally Kansas explored my personal experience with the natural disasters of my childhood.

‘The City postulates what it would be like to live in a city that is post mankind, where man has left his mark through the architecture, but Mother Nature is taking back these spaces. Flora, fauna and insects mix with the detris of high and low culture’.

There’s obviously quite an art to both creating the dioramas as well as photographing them. What do you enjoy most about the process?
‘I enjoy all aspects of the process, but I’m most keen on coming up with the idea and researching the topic. I mostly research images through books or with a Google search. Then I try to forget what I’ve seen and just start sketching my ideas, figuring out where the camera lens is going to look and what will comprise the entire scene’.

You started working on your series The City quite a few years ago, and it has recently been exhibited in various locations. How has this project developed over the years? Is it something you are still working on?
‘I began The City in 2005. I completed part one in 2007 and part two in 2010. I’m currently working on part three and then will close this body of work. I hope to be done in 2013, but if it extends to 2015, then I will have worked on it for a decade. By then, it will definitely be time to move on.

‘Each scene takes a very long time — anywhere from three months to fifteen months, depending on the scale and detail of the diorama. I work on two simultaneously, and finish about three a year. I’m already researching my next body of work, but I’m only in the “thinking about” phase. I should begin working on it in three years or so’.

How do you come up with the scenes and are they based on real locations?
‘I work narratively, so I have a list of possible dioramas to build. I’m inspired by several things. I just let the surrounding city have its impact on me. That is when I’m open, looking around, and taking in my surroundings I walk with my head down and lost in thought way too much.

‘I also take inspiration from reading the daily newspaper and several magazines that I subscribe to. I usually get my ideas during my morning subway commute, usually as I’m crossing over the Manhattan Bridge. Something about coming out of the dark and into the morning sunlight while standing among the throng of other commuters puts me in a magical state of mind and an idea comes.

‘I immediately write it down, and if I’m still thinking about the idea a month or two later, I’ll really start thinking about it as possible photograph.

‘These images are never based on real locations, but rather an amalgamation of locations. If I were to construct something that already exists, I’m afraid I would fail miserably. I do as much research as possible. For the Laundromat, I visited them not only in Brooklyn and Manhattan, but also in Ohio, Missouri, and California. Laundromats all look the same wherever you go’.

What can we expect to see in the future?
‘More of The City, then I think I might return to landscapes again. It might be time to get outside by then’.