advertising photography

Interview #1- Kelly Pon, CD of BBH Shanghai

Last year I interviewed a series of creative directors and art buyers based at top ad agencies in Asia. I wanted to understand from their perspective how they chose photographers for jobs, how much influence their clients and teams had, and what kind of photography was inspiring them. I first met the lovely Kelly Pon when she

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Top folio shots 2014: June

We are currently dealing with horrible winter storms here in NZ. At our home in Titirangi we’ve had numerous power cuts, and some of our windows and doors are boarded up. Oh, and the family dog is sick. There is more but I won’t bore you. Suffice to say it might explain my slightly jaded (and possibly green-eyed) post last

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The Big Gong

Another year of Cannes is over. A batch of disgruntled French maids mops up the mess left behind by the drunken ad guy who jumped up and down on a bathroom sink, leaving nothing but a hole. Gaggles of ad-industry creatives and their entourage disperse to sunny European resorts to nurse hangovers. Others step blearily off long-haul flights into

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Top folio shot 2014: April

OK so it’s a doggie shot. But a damn good one. And this shot worked so beautifully in Robin’s folio alongside a fashion shot, a flower image, and a close up of a woman’s face. Robin’s folio was an example of style over subject, and all the strongest shots to me could be summed up by

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Top folio shots 2014: Jan- Mar

Here I am again on the first day of April madly delving into the last 3 month’s worth of images I have already edited for folios this year. From my humble abode in Titirangi I have travelled all over the world; from sparkly ocean pools scattered about Sydney’s shores, to the fashion scenes of Japan and Shanghai; I’ve attended

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6 Steps to Cracking a new Market- Case Study #1

Just over a year ago I met one of my top ‘students’. John (we’ll call him that) is an Australian photographer. He had just turned 50 and was shooting local editorial and below the line (read budget) jobs. He earned much of his income from his rental studio business. After some initial planning we established that

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Top Shot Winner 2013: Selected by Mick Bakos, TBWA Melbourne

Last month I asked a creative from the ad industry to pick his top shot from all the folio edits I had done each month in 2013. I first met Mick Bakos when he was the CD of DDB Singapore and we have crossed paths many times over the years-more recently at TBWA in Melbourne. As

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