I recently went to see ‘You, the Living‘ (’Du Levande’) - an interesting and truly strange film by Roy Andersson - who was once quite accurately referred to as “a slapstick Ingmar Bergman“. It’s a surreal, meandering film - basically a hipster, European sketch comedy show - but in the end I found it quite entertaining. What really struck me, however, was how incredibly considered every single scene is - set and lit like a photograph. This photographic feel is only bolstered by the fact that the camera moves only twice in the entire film. To top it off - almost every scene (interiors and exteriors) were sets, painstakingly constructed in a studio.

It’s worth checking out - if anything for a bit about a man who ends up being sentenced to the death penalty for unsuccessfully attempting the old tablecloth trick at a posh dinner party.

I wonder if these new Jagermeister ads (who knew they had ads?) were inspired by Mr. Andersson - there’s a similar feel. Quite a funny little set of ads - great colour pallette.

Over the last 30 years, I’ve done over 60 books, most with a strong environmental message. I realized that if this work translated in a compelling way to television, I could reach, in one episode, a hundred times the collective audience of all those well-intentioned books.

While Art Wolfe’s Travels to the Edge (now live on Getty Images) is first and foremost a show about photography, there is a strong environmental component to it as well, but we don’t beat people over the head with it. One week we might be photographing and endangered species:

IND0701300168: © Art Wolf/Edge of the Earth Productions

the next an extraordinary culture:

ETH0608300229: © Art Wolf/Edge of the Earth Productions

…and the week after that a threatened landscape.

ANTO611251055: © Art Wolf/Edge of the Earth Productions

We are a streamlined production by choice: with a low-impact four man crew (including me), we’re hopefully leaving nothing behind but shared good memories.

JLG0701190903: © Art Wolf/Edge of the Earth Productions: Travels to the Edge crew, (L-R) Karel Bauer, Sean White, Art Wolfe, John Greengo

We usually have ten days to shoot each episode so equipment, guides, translators and other local resources are all put in place before we go. Sometimes our numbers burgeon alarmingly mostly due to safety issues.

JLG0711100011: © John Greengo/Edge of the Earth Productions: Travels to the Edge production in the Sahara Desert, Mali

Photography has always been an important way for large numbers of people to see and experience nature and places they might never visit. It’s going to become even more important now, at this critical juncture in history, as photographers build a visual record of what’s being threatened. We witness, we record…

Matthias Clamer/Getty Images

Beijing has raced to improve its air quality before August 8, crude oil just hit a new high at $117 a barrel, and a huge chunk of Antarctic ice just fell off right into the water (apparently it was seven times the size of Manhattan). Earth Day seems more important now than ever before.

There are demonstrations, celebrations, protests, new ad campaigns and all sorts of activities about how each of us can make a difference, make a change, save the world, save the animals, save the forests and save ourselves. In case you haven’t done your part yet, check out a few of the sights below that will give you some ideas on what to do next:

• http://www.earthday.net
• http://www.saveourplanet.org
• http://www.wecansolveit.org
• http://www.ecorazzi.com

Here’s the deal people - we love stuff. We love to buy stuff, hold stuff, look at stuff and dream of stuff. We are a culture of STUFF.

Those of us, in the business of communicating, are stuff experts. We entice people to buy more of it. That’s okay, I’m proud to be a stuff expert. However, the question for our time is this:  how do you sell more stuff while responsibly communicating about all things Earth Day?

To explore the answer to the question above, we did a study. It’s called Map 2: AspEn. Aspirational Environmentalism. Within the pages of Map 2 we look at green communication from around the globe to try to understand visually where we are today and where we might go tomorrow. It’s one of my favorite projects of all time, it’s about the human condition and how we all communicate about stuff we need vs. stuff we desire.

So go check it out. Don’t print it out. Drink from your recyclable coffee cup. Plant a tree. And go celebrate Mother Earth!

sb10062686e-001 Dougal Waters/Getty Images

It’s predicted that in three years we will be watching so much TV and videos on the internet that bandwidth will run out. Most of the networks have their shows on their websites for viewing and now there are new sites like Hulu that have plenty of diverse TV shows and movies. You can also get shows on pay-per-view sites like iTunes and Amazon.

What amazes me is that with the popularity of large HD flat screen TVs, why are we spending so much time on the internet watching videos in such low quality? I’ve decided that it’s because our attention span is so short we need a constant supply of entertainment on our TVs, our computers and our iPhones. Why do I believe this? Because of my case study below…

200018793-001 John Giustina/Getty Images

Case study - Dramatic Prairie Dog

One year ago a clip from a Japanese TV show with a segment about prairie dogs as pets showed up on YouTube. Someone took ten seconds of a close-up of the prairie dog and matched it up with dramatic music. Then it became a YouTube sensation. There were over 2,000 spin-offs and mash-ups of the dramatic prairie dog.

South Park summed it up best in their Canada on Strike episode when they thought the best way to raise money for Canada was to become a YouTube phenomenon. When they became a hit, they earned 10 million theorical dollars on YouTube. They went to the Department of Internet money to get paid. While waiting to get paid, they met up with all of the YouTube favorites, including the prairie dog waiting to cash in…

Escape.

What an engaging word…especially in relation to vacation - root word vacate, meaning to leave, to cease to occupy.

The lure to step out of one’s everyday life, even if only for a day, a week… is intoxicating. Along with relaxation, exploration and luxury, the word escape is one of the “Holy Grail of Concepts” in the travel industry. If a travel company can truly communicate that feeling, they’ve got you - before you know it, you’re booking your trip.

Images really do have the power to transport. They can take you to places you’ve never been, or back to places that hold vivid memories for you.

In my case, this image taken on the Kalalau Trail along the Na Pali Coast in Kauai, takes me back to where I was this very time, one week ago.

David Stubbs/Getty Images

The exhaustion felt after nearing the end of an eye-poppingly beautiful 11 mile backpack trip:

Caterina Bernardi/Getty Images

the reward of a stunning, empty beach…

Tom Hill/Getty Images

…where I would pitch my tent on the edge of the sand and listen to migrating whale calls through the night, the greens more vivid and varied than in any place I’d ever been.

Bob Stefko/Getty Images

These images all hold special meaning to me now. I know what the air smells and feels like…

joSon/Getty Images

…I know what the water feels like…

joSon/Getty Images

…and I know how quickly the rain comes on.

Bob Stefko/Getty Images

I know the true meaning of ESCAPE.

joSon/Getty Images

Rosanne Olson/Getty Images

Getty Images is proud to support and sponsor many photographic organizations such as the International Center for Photography, World Press Photo, Visa Pour L’Image, New York Photo Festival and the Eddie Adams Workshops.

We also like to recognize our friends in the fine art world and are happy to sponsor the Photographic Center Northwest’s (PCNW) 13th Annual Photographic Competition Exhibition. The competition draws entries from across the US with jurors whom are nationally known, including Paul Kopeikin, Mary Virginia Swanson, Anne Wilkes Tucker, Charlotte Cotton, Michael Kenna and Keith Carter. This year’s juror is Rod Slemmons, the director of the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago.

Entries to the 13th Annual Photographic Competition Exhibition are due May 9. Click here for additional details and good luck!

Thomas Holton/Sasha Wolf Gallery

Currently on view at the Sasha Wolf Gallery (10 Leonard Street in Manhattan) are documentary images from photographer Thomas Holton’s body of work depicting the “Lams of Ludlow Street,” a Chinese immigrant family that lives in a small apartment in downtown New York City.

Holton began photographing this family while a graduate student in the MFA Photography program at the School of Visual Arts. The show, currently on view until April 26, includes a carefully curated selection of images that evoke a strong “day in the life” sensibility that results in a powerful sense of authenticity. Small, seemingly mundane daily rituals, such as a parent giving her children a bath, sharing a family meal gathered around the kitchen table, or watching television together are transformed far beyond basic family snapshots and into beautiful and telling moments that describe the human condition.

Thomas Holton/Sasha Wolf Gallery

Thomas Holton/Sasha Wolf Gallery

At a time when a strong sense of authenticity and human connection are becoming more and more desirable by advertising and creative industry clients, this gallery exhibition is a strong example of authentic work of a very high visual caliber.

Lars Borges/Getty Images

When we talk about making commercial imagery that feels more “real,” what is it we’re actually saying? There’s no question that imagery you once would have only found in an editorial context is increasingly being seen in advertising…but what else do we mean by “real”?

My take on it, is that we’re saying there must be some kind of emotional route into the image for it to connect with the viewer and feel believable. We want to feel connected to the message.

Some of the best communication in advertising occurs when an idea that has perhaps been lurking on the edge of a common consciousness is brought to fore front. Combine that with great visuals and you have something original that has broad appeal.

In some ways, it’s like hearing a great song for the first time - it feels very new, but there’s also something familiar about it.

Using a straight-forward term like “real” or “authentic” to describe imagery makes the issue of creating it seem a lot more simple than it really is.

What kind of authenticity are you after? Is it that you want to see exactly what your mind’s eye demands, or are you after a true emotional connection with the image regardless of the content?

If it is the first of these two, then perhaps what’s required is a technical understanding, or particular style, demonstrated through model choice, location, lighting and styling. Authenticity in advertising doesn’t happen by chance.

If it is the second of these, an emotional truth that’s required, then there are certainly no limits to the fantasy that may appear in the image…it doesn’t have to be real at all, but the message created needs to feel real - it needs to connect.

Let us know what you think the boundaries of “real” are…I think I’ve kept it pretty simple so far…

In the meantime, here are two of my favorite ads from the past that demonstrate the two approaches mentioned above:

Setting up shop

I just returned from completing one of the most fun and rewarding shoots I can remember in Park City, UT.

This project is the latest in a series of Olympic shoots I’m working on as we try to get updated, relevant imagery in time for the Olympic advertising push later this year. Last fall I got to work with athletes in 26 different summer Olympic sports and now it’s time to revisit some of the important winter sports.

Operation Snowflake was the working title of the project that would encompass skeleton, bobsled, speed skating, figure skating, and hockey. Our creative research showed just how important it is to have commercially salable images of these sports - bobsled in particular - as it so clearly portrays concepts of speed, teamwork, and intensity. One good recent example of winter sports’ commercial relevance is this spot from T. Rowe Price.

A little background on me: This project was right up my alley as sports played a big role in my youth. In addition to playing every sport I could, I was brought up as a child of the Wide World of Sports watching Jim McKay “span the globe” to show some very powerful sports imagery. Images of the “Agony of Defeat” Skier, John McEnroe’s first Wimbledon victory, and Franco Harris’ Immaculate reception are indelibly etched in my memory. Sports images have a special gravity for me now – so I jumped at the chance to tackle this project.

Bobsledding is a sport I have always enjoyed watching (albeit only every 4 years) so it’s an honor to have the opportunity to work with elite athletes making imagery that represent the sport at a global level.

Production commenced after the usual approval process. Amy Uratsu, the producer, did an extraordinary job of pulling it all together. Where do you shoot bobsledding? Tough one. Well, turns out there are only 3 tracks in North America, Calgary, Lake Placid and Salt Lake City. It’s tough to stage and make look real and it necessitates renting the entire facility and staging a real competition. After a hitting a lot of dead ends, we decided to shoot at the track in Salt Lake City on the last possible day of the season – Easter Sunday.

My mandate was to come back with images of these sliding sports that would work in 2 distinct ways: as a literal representation of the professional sports as viewed in the Olympic competition and as conceptually driven imagery that foregrounds relevant commercial themes, allowing for a more stylized end image.

Watch the team take off by clicking here.

With the exception of the photographer, Ryan McVay, who I knew I could rely on to nail the project, nearly every single component of the production had an element of uncertainty. Where do you find a bobsled team on Easter Sunday? Where do you find actual sleds that meet the criteria of commercial photography without logos, etc? Can you find a crew on Easter?

With help from some truly generous people, namely Jeremy Holm and Steve Revelli, it all finally came together. Once we had confirmed access to the track, we locked in talent and crew, had 2 bobsleds custom wrapped blue and red, and booked the travel.

We got to the track a day early to do a tech scout to select locations, POV’s and timings. Then we got a real taste of the sport. After an orientation and signing the scariest liability waiver I’ve ever seen:

we all got to take a run in a bobsled with the 4 time world champion named Stefan. Words simply cannot express what you feel in a four man bobsled. On TV it always looked so smooth. Before this project I secretly thought that bobsledding would be one of the easiest Olympic sports to do – I mean, all you do is sit in a little sled for a minute or two, right? Well, it was the single most extraordinary physical experience I have ever had.

SLC is the fastest track in the world. The track record was 47 seconds and change. We did a 51 second run reaching 80 mph in the turns and pulling in excess of 5 G’s. That meant my head with a helmet ended up weighing about 75lbs! You are bounced around the inside of the sled like a ragdoll. Halfway down I realized that I could barely breath and I couldn’t stop my head from slamming back and forth uncontrollably. Within the first 20 seconds we were going 80mph. Again, words just fail to communicate the magnitude or intensity of that experience. I instantly had a new appreciation for the sport and respect for the athletes.

Here we are - anxious to take a run…

It can’t be hard when we look this good…

After - trying to get out of the sled…

We arrived to the location at 8:00am to meet our athletes and get the shoot rolling. I was happy to discover that we’d cast 8 truly remarkable people for the project. As intense as the athletes were about their chosen discipline, they were all really witty and light hearted. Release photos were taken. Jokes were made. Nicknames established. We had a great rapport from the get go.

Our models getting ready to work

We started shooting as soon as paperwork was sorted and talent got fed. Since each run was so demanding on the athletes, we were given a limited number of runs. Five to be exact. To make the #’s work we ended having 5 cameras up on the action shots. It’s tough to catch; you blink and they’re gone. Check out how it looks from the photographer’s angle by clicking here.

The first run went off around 9:15 we waited for them in turn 14 and listened for them as they came down the track. The facility’s crew consisted of about 12 people in total. They operated more like a team of air traffic control or NASA than a group of ski lift operators – it was all done by the book. The athletes’ safety was paramount. Every single component of the shoot was orchestrated, called over radios, and confirmed.

We broke for lunch, gave the athletes a much-needed break, got warm and reviewed some of the morning’s images. I was happy to know that we had lots of good stuff in the bag and that it opened the day up to a little more experimentation. Ryan shot some really gorgeous, reverent, carefully lit images of the athletes on a black background:

Ryan McVay/Getty Images

Click here to watch the team in action!

Ryan McVay/Getty Images

Then it was back to the action to make sure everyone could get all their runs in before we wrapped. In the end the whole shoot went off without a hitch; We made beautiful pictures, forged friendships with the athletes and crew, and came back with a really good feeling of accomplishment having not only nailed the photos, but returned to LA re-energized from a truly exceptional shoot.

Special Thanks to : Jeremy Holm, Steve Revelli, Donnie Osmond Jr (that’s right), Matt “Big Sexy” Storm, Brad Welch, Joe Sisson, Nick Venneau, Tracey Anderson, Matt “Professor” Griff, Preston and his team at the bobsled track, Rennie Solis, and Jake Campos.

Nicely illustrated history of photography timeline at National Geographic website. I love the first natural-color photograph ever printed in National Geographic magazine (1914).

A French cartoon about the popular rush to try photography after Louis Daguerre developed his process for the Daguerreotype in 1839. Hordes for people line up to be photographed; others sell photographic equipment. Several men hanging from gallows, potences a louer por MM les graveurs represent the death of art in the wake of photography. (from Library of Congress, via Science Faction/Getty Images)
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