There's a lot of gatekeeping in the creative world, and I've found it difficult to discover new ways to plan creatively and execute effectively on open-ended shoots. Sometimes it's easiest to fly by the seat of your pants and make images all willy-nilly and fire from the hip, but most of the time there's a sweet spot of effective planning when it comes to location scouting, weather forecasting, talent casting, and shot-listing.
But sometimes you receive a new product to shoot with a 3-day turnaround time, so planning gets thrown a little to the wind. Gaining a bit of clarity in your creative ideas makes all the difference for making it happen on such short notice.
So here's the inside scoop I wish I had when I first started out in the creative world:
But sometimes you receive a new product to shoot with a 3-day turnaround time, so planning gets thrown a little to the wind. Gaining a bit of clarity in your creative ideas makes all the difference for making it happen on such short notice.
So here's the inside scoop I wish I had when I first started out in the creative world:
I work with a team of product developers in Seoul - and language barriers and timezones aside, we have built a pretty efficient communication strategy. On Friday October 18th, I checked my email at the end of the day to close out the week and tie up any loose ends before spending a weekend out hiking in Snoqualmie. I had gotten one last-minute email that read roughly like this:
"We've air-shipped four new rainfly designs to the US team for lifestyle photography. We're planning to launch each of them by November 1st."
"We've air-shipped four new rainfly designs to the US team for lifestyle photography. We're planning to launch each of them by November 1st."
Not. Stoked.
It's a joy to work in the outdoor industry and coordinate fun road trips in epic locations all just to create, but the timelines are almost always a huge headache. It's the rainy season here in Seattle, so putting together a last-minute photoshoot that isn't one messy mud puddle is a constant challenge. I earmarked the following Tuesday as the only day that didn't have rain in the forecast, and got to work with arranging model help - one of the most important elements of any kind of lifestyle photography. Luckily I've been able to meet and share friendships with some of the most amazing outdoorsy people here in the PNW, and was able to pick and choose a lineup of 5 folks to help out with making this all happen.
After sending out a few too many copy-pasted text messages asking for last minute modeling work, I jumped in the car and made for the mountains to do some (you guessed it: last minute) location scouting. Creating content for a 'car camping scene' is often challenging because of the limits of space, time, and overall 'cool factor'. You can shoot lifestyle images of a raincoat or a water bottle anywhere, but a roof top tent has a time and a place that's very specific and needs to be carefully curated.
I've spent a lot of time just driving around in the mountains, so it was nice to have a bank of ideas already starting to form as I raced the dying light to the peaks of Snoqualmie Pass. I've found some of my favorite places in the world just by wandering. My favorite coffee spots, riverbanks and restaurants have all been discovered by a rare combination of calculated luck and an impeccable sense of direction. Whenever I need time to think, I need to get moving, either by bike or by car -- and it's in these random spurts of activity that I often stumble across a hidden gem.
It's a joy to work in the outdoor industry and coordinate fun road trips in epic locations all just to create, but the timelines are almost always a huge headache. It's the rainy season here in Seattle, so putting together a last-minute photoshoot that isn't one messy mud puddle is a constant challenge. I earmarked the following Tuesday as the only day that didn't have rain in the forecast, and got to work with arranging model help - one of the most important elements of any kind of lifestyle photography. Luckily I've been able to meet and share friendships with some of the most amazing outdoorsy people here in the PNW, and was able to pick and choose a lineup of 5 folks to help out with making this all happen.
After sending out a few too many copy-pasted text messages asking for last minute modeling work, I jumped in the car and made for the mountains to do some (you guessed it: last minute) location scouting. Creating content for a 'car camping scene' is often challenging because of the limits of space, time, and overall 'cool factor'. You can shoot lifestyle images of a raincoat or a water bottle anywhere, but a roof top tent has a time and a place that's very specific and needs to be carefully curated.
I've spent a lot of time just driving around in the mountains, so it was nice to have a bank of ideas already starting to form as I raced the dying light to the peaks of Snoqualmie Pass. I've found some of my favorite places in the world just by wandering. My favorite coffee spots, riverbanks and restaurants have all been discovered by a rare combination of calculated luck and an impeccable sense of direction. Whenever I need time to think, I need to get moving, either by bike or by car -- and it's in these random spurts of activity that I often stumble across a hidden gem.
I caught just enough of the evening light to explore a few potential campsites off of Tinkham Road, a legendary I-90 exit for rock crawling, snow-wheeling, and overlanding. I found a few open spots, which was remarkable considering it was a Friday evening and these are well known spots for weekend warriors and boondockers. I felt pretty confident about the few spots I'd found as it got dark, so I zipped back on the highway and headed home. I had gotten a few pings back from models accepting the gig, and I got right back to work with my creative planning doc.
The only real wrench in the plan would be if the spots all managed to fill up over the next few days - or if there was a disastrous amount of rain in the area. As Tuesday crept closer, I jotted down the last of my ideas and kept a religious eye on the weather app for any changes in forecast.
The only real wrench in the plan would be if the spots all managed to fill up over the next few days - or if there was a disastrous amount of rain in the area. As Tuesday crept closer, I jotted down the last of my ideas and kept a religious eye on the weather app for any changes in forecast.
Long story short, there were two groups of campers in each of the spots we visited on the morning of the shoot. Luckily, one of the previously occupied spots opened up, and we got a full day's shoot in before the rain hit.
I'm still learning how to better communicate in the heat of the moment when I'm focusing on technical details for lighting, posing, and constructing worthwhile scenes that directly tie to new products' KSP's. I love seeing ideas go from concept to creation, and better yet bringing people together to make those big ideas happen. Post-shoot Dan is usually wiped out, and this time was no different. Each phase of the creative process requires a different kind of energy, and I sometimes struggle to translate that energy from one stage to the next. Editing is a heavily detailed, time-consuming next step of this process, and it's tricky to go from the stimulus of a photoshoot to the gloom of the editing cave. But this is the chance to lock in and really bring the ideas to life, and re-evaluate the work that's already gone into each photograph. I love seeing how my ideas translate in color, and I'd like to think that a little bit of that moment's story is trapped in there somewhere, even if it never makes it to the final round of selects or onto the product packaging.
Sometimes things shake themselves out, and sometimes they don't. This time around, I was able to grab the images we need and create some new friendships along the way. As cheesy as it sounds, half of the battle in creating a good photograph lies in bringing your best self to the moment, and being open to new possibilities and running with a bit of creative whimsy when it whispers through the moment.
Update: I got the deliverables done. Here are a few of the snapshots from this sporadic Tuesday up in the mountains:
Update: I got the deliverables done. Here are a few of the snapshots from this sporadic Tuesday up in the mountains:
