FRAMES Photography Podcast
FRAMES Photography Podcast
Justin Myers
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In today's episode, W. Scott Olsen speaks with Justin Myers, a Canadian-American commercial automotive and adventure photographer based in Portland, Oregon, known for creating polished, story-driven imagery for global brands.
You can visit Justin's website here.
Find out more and join FRAMES here.
As an animator and coming up as an animator at the studio, we would often sit there and break down like music videos of Michael Jackson and how Michael Jackson is moving. We would go to malls and study how people are just moving through the mall and applying those principles to how we animated our characters. But with animation, you want to take it like that next step further, right? You want to just really uh emphasize those those moments of impact. And so I took all that into my work in photography, and especially with athletes, where is that that peak motion? Where is that moment where it's like it's super interesting? It's the body position is almost an art form in itself, or it is an art form in itself in whatever it's doing. You know, whether it's wing foiling or surfing or skateboarding or swinging the baseball bat, there's always this peak moment.
SPEAKER_00This photography podcast is brought to you by Frames, quarterly printed photography magazine. Here is your today's host, W. Scott Olson, with another fascinating conversation.
SPEAKER_04Well, hello everyone, and welcome to another podcast from Frames Magazine. My name is Scott Olson. And you know what, folks? Every now and then in the photography world, you come upon somebody's work and you're searching for the term, you're searching for the way to describe this stuff, and you come up with a really kind of esoteric, vague, not used very often term. And it's just cool. Uh you look at this stuff and you think, I want to be this guy or this woman. I want to do the work that they are doing because every image is just leaping off the page and it is somehow conveying, whether it's product photography or portraits or adventure or sports or whatever, there's just something about it that is larger than life that is really sort of compelling. And you look at it and you think, damn it, that that's just really, really cool work. And today, this is who we're talking to. Today we're talking with Justin Myers. Justin is uh a product photographer, automotive, adventure, all sorts of stuff. His clients are Fujifilm, Campbellback, Adidas, Converse, damn. This list just goes on. Columbia, Keene, Sorel, Domestic, Big Green Egg, one of my favorites there. Uh everything from the Oregon lottery to Merrill Lynch to the Portland Monthly, Condi Nast. And you look at his work and you just think, this stuff pops. And then you start trying to figure out why. And I mean, if you're like me, you stare at the image for a long time, trying to you know deconstruct it, and you and you finally figure out no, you know, it's no setting, it's no insight, it's just magic. It's it's just a way to to come think of light, to think of composition in ways that are original and fresh. And I gotta tell you, I am really looking forward to today's conversation. Justin, welcome to the podcast. How are you doing this morning?
SPEAKER_03I'm great, Scott. Man, I need to hire you as my hype man. That was uh that's one half of an introduction. Thank you.
SPEAKER_04Well, no, it it's true. I mean, th there are a thousand and one product photographers, there's a thousand and one, you know, uh environmental, outdoor photographers. And you you know, you go through a bunch of this stuff, then you come upon the special work, the stuff that simply, for whatever reason, leaps off the page and says, this is not only very good, it's excellent. It's got that last little kick in it. And your work certainly has that. So I'm really looking forward to digging in and getting at this. And you know, uh in a lot of these podcasts, we you know, we start off with origin stories. You know, when did you first hold a camera? When did you do uh this kind of stuff? You've got a a different take on how this all comes into your life. In the 1990s, in the 2000s, you were an animator for TV shows. Um so tell me how in the world you got into animation, uh, and then how that morphed into photography and and how the whole idea of the visual image came into your life.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, no, no, it's uh it's kind of an interesting uh evolution um over the last you know 25 years or so. Um I was I was so let's see here, late in the late 90s, or actually probably mid-90s. I was in junior high. Uh, I happened to meet an artist who was an animator at Wolvinton or Wilvinton Studios. Uh, they are the ones that created the uh the California Raisins. Um I don't know if you guys remember them, but the Noy and all that fun stuff. Um also the MMs. I think the MMs are still red and yellow are still out there today. I think they had a hand in all that work. Anyway.
SPEAKER_04Oh my.
SPEAKER_03Uh so I'm just I here I am as a junior high student, uh, loved art, and I met this uh animator, and he kind of took me under his wing, and I got to start uh going to the studio and interning and seeing what that life was all about. Um, fast forward through uh high school, I had an opportunity to go kind of go to a uh what a public art high school. Uh and so through that, and then after that was working at the studio and I was doing everything. I um I think my first official job was erasing tapes. Um you're sitting there with this giant, giant magnet and these old VHS tapes, and I was there and I was erasing. And then I then you take the you know the um the citrus cleaner to get all the goo off the labels and then you recycle them and put it back. I loved it because there I was sitting in this just highly creative environment with all these amazing people soaking in so much information. Um and and everyone was so kind, and they were all teaching me different things about lighting, about cameras, you know, everything was on uh uh highly modified um 35 millimeter Mitchell motion picture cameras back then. Um so loading film cameras, rushing them to the overnight lab so we could have dailies the next day. Uh and then ultimately, yeah, like you'll um studying the human form and how to animate.
SPEAKER_04If you if you're in junior high in the 90s, though, you're growing up with Dragon Ball Z and that kind of stuff. Um, so I mean, did you have an interest in animation in in art at all?
SPEAKER_03For sure. Yeah, absolutely. I was, I mean, I still have actually I've been trying to figure out what to do with it. I still have uh a big comic book collection. I was drawing all the time. Like it was a pretty it was a pretty easy um, you know, uh, you know, next step for me, I think, you with that opportunity in front of me. Could you draw? I mean, you know, I was okay.
SPEAKER_04MMs are vaguely round, so okay, you get you got that shaved down.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, you know, and the and the thing with with Vinton, though, it was a stop motion. So it's so the the process over there then became um you had your sculptors and and your character uh you know creators, I guess there was a different term, I can't remember, but um, you know, they they created the models for you. And then as an animator, you you took those and and gave them life on set. So I uh and then and then also, you know, with um with uh working school with cameras and stuff like that, I I really took to that work.
SPEAKER_04And and we should tell everybody that you're connected with Fujifilm. Um on their website, they say, you know, the the skills that you got from that provided an in-depth education on body movement. So, I mean, tell me what what that means. What is an in-depth education on body movement and how does that translate into your understanding of photography?
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So uh as an animator and coming up as an animator at the studio, we would often sit there and break down like music videos of Michael Jackson and how Michael Jackson is moving. We would uh go to malls and study how people are just moving through the mall and applying those principles to how we animated our characters. But with animation, you want to take it like that next step further, right? You want to just really uh emphasize those those moments of um of impact. And so I took all that in into my work with photography and especially with athletes and whatnot, and and you know, really honed in like, where is that that peak motion? Where is that moment where it's like it's super interesting? It's the body position is you know almost an art form in itself, or it is an art form in itself in whatever it's doing, you know, whether it's wing foiling or surfing or skateboarding or or swinging a bait or swinging a baseball bat, like there's always this peak moment.
SPEAKER_04And it's not just maximum extension and you know, arm is farthest out or above your head or something?
SPEAKER_03I don't think so. I mean, I mean, sometimes, sure. But you know, there's I think there's moments where there's uh there's beauty where maybe it's not full extension, maybe it's full compression, right? Like if you're dropping into a wave and you're like on this big bottom turn and you're just compressing down into that, things like that. And and and even small things like how people are interacting with everyday objects. You know, if if I'm working with a technology company, let's say and we're photographing, I don't know, like the latest computer, like there's just subtleties on how people are moving that we're working with their mouse or or you know, typing on their keyboard that you you try to capture that aren't stiff, that have a little motion, a little more life, something that feels more natural. So I think going back to that that education I had at Vinton Studios, like and studying all that human form we did back then, like that informed me how people move, and I was really able to bring that forward.
SPEAKER_04Does that lead in in your work then to a better sense of anticipation?
SPEAKER_03Absolutely, absolutely. And and anticipation is actually probably one of the best terms for animation. Like you want to you have to have anticipation when you're animating characters. And so, yes, you spot on, that's exactly what it is.
SPEAKER_04You you you got this career going on, you're doing the animation, but then at some point you you make a change and you move over into still photography. Tell me that's tell me that story.
SPEAKER_03So, I mean, a camera was always in my hand. My my uncle Bob, you know, gave put a camera in my hand. Gosh, probably freshman year of high school. I think I took a uh black and white photography class. And um, you know, the classic story. Someone, someone gives you a camera and you're like, whoa, this is this is amazing. Especially back in the days of of you know uh film and black and white film where you in high school you had access to sit there and mix the chemicals and see whatever funny photograph you made just kind of you know come to life in front of you. So that was always there. Uh through the studio, I was always taking pictures. Um, the studio was, you know, uh kind of expanding and and and whatnot. And so uh through that, you know, uh some of us kind of you know parted ways, and I was I was one of those people. So there I was around maybe 20, 21, maybe. And uh had this had this lovely little short career in animation already. And I was like, okay, well, that was fun. So kind of what's next? So I got a job at a ski shop, uh, tuning skis, tuning snowboards, selling snowboards, uh jackets, you know, what name you. Um and kind of got stuck there for, no, I shouldn't say stuck there. I had a really good time there for three years. You know, learned learned a snowboard, learned to surf, learned a mountain bike, and and through that was then like was exposed to all these wonderful magazines like outside and alpinist and and stuff like that, and was just just enamored with the photography in there, you know, like these big mountains and these big mountain skiers and snowboarders uh charging down them and drawing these really beautiful lines down, down uh down these mountains and then surf photography in the surf magazine. So and I was always kind of uh skateboarding with friends, so like the action sports were not totally out of my uh every day, but this was just kind of some next level exposure. So uh yeah, worked there for three years, um, did a lot of did a lot of that stuff. And then finally it's like, okay, well, what's you know, had had the thoughts like what's next? Where where am I going? What am I doing? And uh decided to give the photography thing a try and went back to school. Okay. And and to university, to where? Yeah, so I went back to school to uh Brooks Institute of Photography down in uh Santa Barbara. Um they're no longer around, but but at the time they're one of the larger photo schools to go to.
SPEAKER_04And they taught you composition, they taught you lightweight, tell me so many people are self-taught. So many people have a kind of university approach to it. Uh tell me what they offered you.
SPEAKER_03So it was an extremely uh you know focused program in in commercial photography. And that's kind of was kind of you know uh calm and I guess. Um back in the Binton days as well, to kind of you know flashback to that for a second, uh, I was exposed to advertising, you know, like at a at the thousand percent. Like I was, you know, the studio was working on MMs, Nissan, uh, oh boy, Chili's restaurant, like just so much. And then we had an ad agency here in town in Portland called uh Wyden Kennedy, still here, huge ad ad agency. And they were always coming over. And uh every once in a while we would get to go over there and kind of experience um the ad world. And so I still kind of had that in my mind. I was like, okay, that's that's a fun world. That's a kind of a world I want to be in. And so when I was looking to go back to school, I and I found that commercial uh photography program at Brooks. I was like, okay, I think I think this is it. And it's also extremely technical, which you know, I I I try to be. And so I went there for a year and a half. I met a lot of amazing people, uh, really just um re reinforced my my photobat photographic uh you know education there, lighting education, composition, all that type of stuff. Uh, and then came back and started assisting.
SPEAKER_04Okay. You know, one of the things that always strikes me about uh commercial photography is I I have in imagination, you know, some art directors sitting at their desk and they they've got to do a campaign for let's, you know, a thumbtack, let's say. Um and and they're going, they're going through a thousand portfolios. They're they're going through a thousand shooters, you know, trying to figure out which one to hire. How do you establish a voice? How do you establish a presence when when you're just starting out in commercial photography to sort of differentiate you from the 573 other people who are trying to set up a voice and a style and that kind of stuff?
SPEAKER_03Man, I I if you find that magic answer, let me know. Okay. Um, I'm I'm I'm slightly kidding. Um, I do think it's about your lived experiences, right? I do think it's about who you are as a person. So uh, you know, for me, I've got this animation background, and then then I'm then I'm diving in headfirst to snowboarding, mountain biking, surfing. Uh with that comes, you know, we're sleeping in the back of our trucks to get first chair on the lift. Uh so there's some automotive uh influence in there. And so I just think it's your you're building all those layers you're building upon it informs how you're how you're shooting and also like where you are in the environments that you that you're spending time in, right?
SPEAKER_04So okay, you are in the Pacific Northwest, one of the most beautiful, dramatic parts of North America. How does your environment influence when you press the shutter release?
SPEAKER_03I I think a lot. You know, I think um, not to compare myself to the Seattle grunge scene, but you know, like if Seattle has a sound, right? And so I think being from the Northwest, we have, you know, largely you have a kind of a visual style. It's a little grittier, it's uh maybe a little more dramatic. Like I'm looking out my window right now and it's dark, big dark clouds, but then there's a uh a ray of light raking across these fir trees. So it's like this this contrasty, gritty, gritty area that that I love and spend a lot of time recreating in and bring that into my photography.
SPEAKER_04Okay. You you say, and again, this is again from the uh Fujifilm website. Yeah. It says just Justin believes a stunning location is the foundation for creating imagery, and everything else is a process built on collaboration. Why does location, why does setting come first for you?
SPEAKER_03For me, there's there's spots that I can walk into and and there's just like this magic. You're like, okay, boom, this is this is the spot. And and if it's not the spot, you know, a a good photographer or well-trained photographer will turn around and see what look what it looks like from the other angle. So there's just a there's there's an electricity or a feeling on on certain locations, and I try to go find those spots and and bring my clients to those those spaces.
SPEAKER_01Let's take just a quick break. We hope very much that you are enjoying today's episode. The very fact that you are listening to this podcast suggests that photography means a lot to you. And if that's the case, you might want to have a look at Frames, quarterly printed photography magazine. We truly believe that excellent photography belongs on paper. Visit readframes.com to find out more about our publication and use the coupon code podcast to receive a recurring 10% discount on your new frames magazine subscription. And now, back to today's conversation.
SPEAKER_04Okay, so if I call you up and and I and we're gonna do a campaign about filling in the blank, you your your first question to yourself is where am I gonna set this?
SPEAKER_03A little bit, yeah. I mean, it kind of depends on creative, right? So that sometimes or or often I should say is is creative um will dictate where we're photographing. The art director probably has their own idea of of where they want this campaign to set. And so sometimes it's it's it's uh depicted for me, and then sometimes I get to choose or or help choose as well. So it kind of depends on the project.
SPEAKER_04Tell me a story about where you got to pick.
SPEAKER_03Let's see here. Um, you know what, I think the the the wing foiling project, uh, Fujifilm had reached out and we were kind of bouncing around ideas of of what to do and for for this long lens uh release that they were doing. And you know, and and wing foiling came up, and then that was an easy answer because we've got Hood River right down the road, um hour and a half, but uh, which is you know one of the windiest and the epicenter for any wind sports.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_03And then the light is stunning there. Uh the the backgrounds are stunning, like the whole place is just magic. So that might have been a maybe of a more of a process of collaboration. But um, yeah, that that's a kind of a good example.
SPEAKER_04You've got a lot of adventure in in your background here, a lot of things that that people uh would say, you know, that that that's you know beyond my normal experience. And your comfort outside, is that important?
SPEAKER_03I think so, because you can't fake it, right? So I think like if if if you if you put me in a kitchen and wanted to do food photography, I would flail. Um I would I would not know what to do. I can't cook. I don't, I don't, my my knives are dull. Um yeah, so so I think absolutely like these are the places I'm more comfortable and the most comfortable in. Like put me put me in the extremes. Um it's it's funny. I was actually snowboarding with a uh a colleague yesterday, um, a taller photographer, um, Bob Martis, he's a he's a great photographer. Um and we're and we're sitting there ride in the chair together, and we're talking about how we often prefer riding during a storm cycle than like a than like a bluebird day. And he put it really well. He's like, it's because you can feel feel the weather, uh, you know, feel your environment. And it's true, there's an electricity out there. And so, yeah, put me outside, put me someplace, you know, kind of crazy, and I'm most uh most comfortable there.
SPEAKER_04Okay. I gotta ask about one of the claims you make on your on your own website. You say, you know, you you yeah, you you say that you know you've searched for lost cattle, you know, in a snowstorm. Okay, you know, got that. Uh you say, you know, you photographed Olympic athletes, you know, okay. Um, but then you say you've touched the Alaskan floor on a single breath. Yeah. And I gotta tell you, I've done that too. I was about knee deep on a gravel beach. Um, I reached down, I picked up a rock. Yeah um no, but tell that's gotta be a cool story. Tell me that one.
SPEAKER_03So that was a family vacation. Uh, and and did a little free diving up in uh Alaska. Super fun. Uh, I got into free diving a few years ago. Um, I I do a lot of work with a nonprofit called the Oregon Celp Alliance. Um, quick little side story, you know, up and down the West Coast, especially here in Oregon and Northern California. Um, we've lost a lot of kelp in our in our oceans. And so doing work with them and trying to photograph underwater, I took a free dive class and just fell in love with that whole uh, you know, that whole process of learning how to hold your breath for as as long as you possibly can safely and diving down. And um, there's something extremely quiet uh about it. You know, there's no bubbles from scuba, it's just you underwater checking things out. So yeah, so to go back to your question, uh uh, you know, I was uh up in Alaska on a family fishing trip uh over this summer and did a little free diving.
SPEAKER_04And what was the record for you?
SPEAKER_03As far as uh depth. Yeah. Uh it wasn't Alaska, it was I think it was Mexico. You know, I'm not that deep of a free diving. People go like hundreds of feet. I'm you know, I'm probably maxing out around 28, 30 feet.
SPEAKER_04So okay, still, man. That that that's you know, that that's more than an atmosphere. That that's that's true. Getting down there. Yeah. Going back to the commercial stuff for a second, you've you've got a lot of products in there that have long histories, you know, just in you know, automotive stuff, for example. Yeah. You would think a tire or a Subaru, I gotta call out Subaru, that's what I drive. Um that they have been photographed so often there's absolutely nothing new to say. Is that true?
SPEAKER_03Um Boy, I think. I don't, you know, no, I'm gonna say no, because we all have our own places in our in our own adventures. Like, um, I yeah, that's a tough question to ask. I don't know how to I don't know how to answer that one. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Well, I mean, yeah, one of these shots I was I was you know you know admiring, you somebody said we gotta you know do a shot of a shock absorber. Okay. And I think oh yeah, okay. I I I have absolutely no idea how to make a shock absorber interesting.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_04And yet, and then there's your picture. Um, so I mean, tell me that campaign, but tell me the creative, tell me how you I mean, and give me the technical stuff. How did you actually wind up getting that shot?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so that that that's actually a portfolio shot. That was a self-driven project. Uh and okay, yep. And I was and you know, kind of like working out, working around as I need to do something a little more product focused, maybe get some um, you know, aftermarket companies. It was kind of what is kind of the goal, like that, you know, is you're always you're always looking for your uh another client as a you know the commercial photographer. And so um I had the idea, I was like, okay, I want to get this perfect, perfectly clean, brand new uh shock absorber amongst this extremely muddy truck or you know, the the the underside of a muddy truck. Uh so you put we put the shock absorber on the truck, installed that. That was the easy part. Well, it took like a day and a half, but that's okay. Um truly was the easy part. Uh the the next step was was kind of framing it up and working around the tire, or were we gonna take the tire off? I kind of like the tire on because the way it was blocking light and casting shadow and actually shaping the the actual shock. Um so figuring out how to stuff my my medium format camera into there, you know, to get a you know, uh more of an intimate shock. If you will, of that shock absorber. And then the next step was how do you get it muddy? So we tried, or I tried getting the truck muddy before we installed it. By the time we, but then after we installed it, the mud had, you know, just look dried up or flaked off and just didn't look good. So I lit it and then uh figured out how to paint with mud. And through a process of trial and error, I ended up wrapping the shock and saran wrap and then mixing up a bunch of mud in the bowl. And by mixing up, you know, just some dirt and some water. And then and then took an air compressor and shot the air into the bowl and let it just spray everywhere because that's what it would do in in real life, right? If that's how it would most naturally fit, uh sit there. And so I sat there and sprayed it a bunch of times. You know, obviously covered my camera too, because I had everything just where I wanted it. Sprayed it, shocked, sprayed it, click, sprayed it, click until I found what I needed.
SPEAKER_04So how many hours would you say are behind this one image?
SPEAKER_03If we don't count the installation installation of a shot. No, count it. Okay, probably probably three days.
SPEAKER_04Wow. Yeah. And and you did this just on spec. You did this for your own sense of I'm looking for new clients.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. I mean, that's what you have to do. Your your portfolio's gotta evolve. You've got to, you know, keep keep putting yourself out there with new work. And so, yeah, that one was like, okay, here's here's an interesting image. I think, I hope. Uh, and also a challenge. Like, I I love a challenge. Um, so uh I love you trying to figure things out from a technical standpoint, and that was that was a good one.
SPEAKER_04Wouldn't it have been easier to just simply cut and paste a clean shock into a muddy wheel well?
SPEAKER_03100%. And we and we've done things like that, maybe not for shocks, but for other products and stuff a thousand times. But there's a third a certain authentic authentic authenticity, it's a tough word. Uh and um and and like I said, I do enjoy the challenge. So so you know, I'm sitting here like and I also love the process, right? And so, you know, here's an opportunity uh or an idea where uh I'm I'm not I'm not on the clock. I can spend as much time as I want with this. Obviously, you know, I don't want to spend a ton of time because you know, you're just how much money and how much time you're from a business standpoint. But yeah, and so there was that there was a freedom and then and just also keeping my skills sharp so that when things like this do arise, like I've I've got one more solution to to you know to solve something. And maybe I have to paint with mud on something else completely different in you know in life, but there's a process that I've I've put into my bag.
SPEAKER_04How do you judge for yourself an image that works?
SPEAKER_03That's a good question. Um I'm always looking well, okay, I think first it's like composition. Uh how's the composition looking? Uh is is if if there's a person in it, is what's the connection with the camera or with the with that with the person's environment or with what they're doing? Um there's also all the technical stuff, you know, is it in focus, is it exposed well, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So but I think largely, yeah, it's composition and and human connection. If there, if there, if there isn't a human into it, then it's mostly composition. And then uh, you know, if we're shooting product, I'm I'm making sure that there isn't like any tangent lines or you know, anything that's overlapping weirdly. Um, if we look at that shock, for example, I was raising the camera up and down, uh, you know, a few millimeters at a time to make sure that that IBOC logo didn't get obscured by the um, I think that's a the tie rod going across the frame. So small little things like that. So I think it, you know, it's a little image dependent, but it's also, you know, I think there's some basic rules as well.
SPEAKER_04Okay. The I'm looking at a bunch of your other portfolios. Um, shoes. Yeah. Yeah. First of all, I'm surprised you have done work for companies that compete with each other. Does that ever get to be a problem?
SPEAKER_03Uh I don't think so. You know, we we we all have we all are you know sign our NDAs and we don't talk about the projects and you know, you know, working in this in this town, um, you know, you it's it's a shoe town. So you're you're you're gonna end up working in some in some respect with I think every single shoe company.
SPEAKER_04And and is your client actually uh an ad agency or the shoe company?
SPEAKER_03Both. Uh it kind of depends on the client. So yeah, yeah. And my shoe work is very, you know, it's it's not a lot, but because I I live, I do where I live, it's um it is there.
SPEAKER_04So well, I'm just saying, you know, in in general, you know, whether or not you're working for the agency or the company, I it doesn't make a big difference. I'm just curious.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Uh, but yeah, but but it it is both. So sometimes it's agency, sometimes it's it's brand direct. Um, it kind of just depends on what's going on.
SPEAKER_04You know, for for somebody, and I want to get to a bunch of your other pictures here in a second, but I've just done something for somebody that wants to break into uh product photography or this kind of stuff, cold calls with a portfolio, does that ever work?
SPEAKER_03Sometimes. Yeah. You know, it's um there's a really old adage, and I think it's the truest thing to especially today, is it's just it's who you know and putting yourselves in those spaces. And I think that is the biggest trick, right? Like first you've got to develop your portfolio, and then you just you need to find find your people. And I don't think that there's a magic answer to that. You just you've gotta what's the old, what's the old quote? Um, luck favors the prepared. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Um for better or for worse. I think that's a large part of it.
SPEAKER_04And and and I think doing the stuff on spec, you know, a lot of people say, I'll do the work if you hire me. It's like, no, you do the work, and then you then you say, uh, please hire me. You gotta you gotta spend three days on a shock absorber.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I mean that that's right. Like if we look at a lot of, I mean, there's definitely a lot of um of my paid work in my portfolio, but there's also a significant amount of not paid work in my portfolio. So yeah.
SPEAKER_04Okay. Um, simply because I'm jealous as hell, tell me about AquaTech.
SPEAKER_03AquaTech, uh, they're a great underwater housing company. They're fantastic. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Well, no, but I mean, tell me about doing this campaign, taking these pictures, using the gear. Oh, yeah. Because I, you know, I I walk by stores that have underwater housings and stuff. Yeah. And keep in mind, I live in Minnesota. I, you know, yeah, we got 10,000 lakes, but underwater photography is not a big deal around here. I just I want to do that someday. And that's my fantasy life to have that kind of gear and the reason to have that kind of gear.
SPEAKER_03Aquatech is probably one of the best uh companies out there for you know, it's surf housings and water housings. Um, they they can you can go underwater to a decent depth. Um, they have all these amazing ports. Um, they're fan, they're fantastic to work with. Uh, I can't say enough good things about about their housings.
SPEAKER_04But in in the short film that you've got on your website, that that that it's I mean such a cool experience. You're standing in a river, I guess, of some sort or an estuary. Um, there's someone with a paddle board's going by. Tell me about the shoot.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so that was mid-pandemic. Um, that was it was. Um, it must have been 22. I think it was 22. Um, I I I knew the marketing director of Aquatech, I think is what happened. It's been a while, so forgive me. But um, they uh they had reached out and said, hey, we have this project with Fujifilm. Um, you know, could you pitch us an idea and you know and see if it works? And so, of course, I you know, I fired up my pitch decks and I think I pitched them three different ideas. Um, we the idea that one was a completely different idea. I don't quite remember what the initial idea was. Uh, but being mid-pandemic, everything was shut down. And with that was uh a lot of the ranger stations. And so as a commercial photographer and when you're working with commercial commercial clients, uh, you have to make sure that every every place you work in is permitted, uh, whether it be you know the forest service or you know, whoever's running the beaches, um, et cetera, et cetera. So uh, and since all the ranger stations were were shut down, uh or or if not shut down, you know, working at a reduced capacity, getting someone on the phone to to approve what we want to do and where we want to do it was just it was a nightmare. Um so and I was either getting you know ghosted by everyone or being told no of all these other ideas I had. And so I had found this lake out in central Oregon where we filmed that. Um it is a it's a it's a what is it, it's a glacier fed? No, it's a spring-fed lake, I believe, that goes through volcanic rock. So it's crazy clear. I think it's 40 or 50 feet clear on a good day. Wow. Okay. And it, but it's cold, it's 37 degrees. Yeah. But but I actually got a ranger on, I got a ranger on the telephone, and they're like, yeah, if you can come out here, blah, blah, blah. So I I drove out there, I I was calling them. Um, I I did I did everything you could possibly do, and we finally, and the ranger that was I worked with was super nice and um and I think just took some pity on me. And uh, and I we got approved to to photograph uh uh at Clear Lake. Um the next step was swimming around in 37 degree water, which was uh an ordeal. But um we happened to have at the time a local free dive shop here in town, and I was able to rent uh, I think it was like an eight or 10 mil wetsuit. Uh, and we drove out there and and shot that assignment. Was it fun? It was a blast. It was it was a challenge, it was super fun. Of course, it had rained like a day or two before, so clarity wasn't wasn't the best. So it's so you have all these ideas like, oh, we're gonna have this super clear uh lake. I'm gonna dive down a little bit and maybe shoot some shoot from the um the you know, not the bottom, but below, looking back up. That really wasn't a whole very good possibility because uh the clarity wasn't the best. Um, you know, it's kind of all the struggles, but we make you make it work, and that and that's part of commercial photography. Like you roll in with all these all these preconceived ideas, and then and then you know, Mother Nature or something is gonna derail you, and you've got to adapt and you've just got to, you know, solve the problem the best you can, you know, in a semi-fast fashion.
SPEAKER_04Okay. Um, when you're out in the field, uh, do you bring a lot of gear with you? I know you're a fan of medium format, but do you bring 810 lights? Do you bring you know reflectors, positive and negative? I mean, to tell me what you show up with.
SPEAKER_03All of it. So it kind of depends um on the project. Like if if I think the project is going to warrant it, uh, we will have grip trucks, we'll have, you know, uh a van full of lighting, um, you know, stylus, uh, et cetera, et cetera. Um and then if if the project you know either doesn't have the budget or or if it's you know something that maybe doesn't make sense to have all that stuff, then we'll we will pair down and you know, sometimes it's just me and and the and the model and maybe an assistant with with a with a bounce card. So it's it's really it varies between project to project.
SPEAKER_04Some of your work is in black and white. Is that your own work? Is is that I mean clients want that? Tell me where this is because it's is I mean, I'm a great fan of black and white just from the beginning. Um so this is fantastic work, but it's unusual in commercial world these days.
SPEAKER_03I am seeing black and white a little bit in commercial in commercial work these days, which is exciting to me. Um, but to answer your question, some of that is uh is is client work that I've reprocessed in black and white for my website just because I I loved how they looked in black and white. Uh there's there's uh you know, um a softball player with the bat behind her and these just amazing clouds. And I as soon as I saw the image, I was like, oh my god, like look at that sky. Like, you know, and coming from the film days, like throw a red filter on that and like you know, just make those clouds pop. So there's a few moments here and there where I'm like, okay, this is for for my own uh website, kind of building my own vibe, like I I gotta sprinkle some black and white. Because I if if I could shoot black and white all the time, I I would I I I love black and white photography.
SPEAKER_04So tell me a story where the photography gods just smiled on you and it was much easier than it should have been.
SPEAKER_03Oh man, there's been there's been a bunch of those.
SPEAKER_04Um because you know what I'm gonna ask next.
SPEAKER_03Uh yeah, I do. Uh and I'm fearing that question. Um honestly, like I've I've got a uh uh a client that I've worked with a long time. Um they uh De Marini bats and they make um you know softball bats. And I got to work with the uh Olympic softball team, and those women are a amazing, super nice, and so easy to work with. Um they made my job so so easy. Like it's just like they they knew when to when you know what they know when to hold their their swings. They they know, you know the best place to uh or body position for a pitch. Like they just all everything that you you could dream of, like there's just it would make my life so easy. Um and I just feel super lucky every time I get to work with them.
SPEAKER_04Oh, very good. Okay, tell tell me a story where the photography god said, nah, not today ain't gonna happen.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, well, um, there's an image in my automotive portfolio. Uh and it's it's again a self-driven project. Um, it is a Toyota Tundra sitting parallel on a beach. I actually I'm scrolling through right now to see if it's on there. Um, I don't have it on there. Oh, nope, I don't. Okay. So there's there's an image I shot. Um I was I was you know working on my automotive portfolio, took a truck down to the beach, was driving down. Um I had a full car, like car detail kit in the back seat. So wherever I figured out, I was gonna detail the car on location and photograph it. Um and I get down there and it is uh, and there's some locations here on the Oregon coast where you can drive on the beach. So that's where I went. Right. So I get down there and I have never been in a rainstorm so bad. It's like I can't even see the hood of my truck. I'm driving on the beach and I just drive in this middle of this rainstorm. I'm driving and I look over and there's four bald eagles on the ground just honkered down because the wind and the rain is so bad. And I was like, well, if these guys can't even do anything, what am I supposed to do with this? And you know, I'm sitting here, I was like, oh, it's like I'm wasting all this money, time, what am I doing? But it was a huge lesson because the minute that storm broke, oh my God, the like then all of a sudden the the photo gods and the weather gods just smiled upon me. And uh I got some of the some awesome uh photographs of this truck uh in like this 45-minute window.
SPEAKER_04I was gonna say the the entire world would have glimmered and shimmered at that time. It did. Um yeah, man. Okay. You also um, you know, it's not just commercial stuff. You do advocacy work. You you do some really cool stuff uh for Indigenous peoples, for the Oregon Kelp Alliance. Um, tell me how you're using photography to make the world a better place. As well, I mean, not to say that commercial isn't.
SPEAKER_03Sure. No, yeah. I mean, uh I just have this responsibility to pay it forward. And I think a lot of it comes from everyone that you know brought me up, you know, whether it be in the Vinton days or the photo days, like they were so many kind people to help me. So I just I want to be able to give back. Um and and I think also my you know, my relationship to the outdoors with with all the sports I do, you know, I've been surfing up in the Northwest for over 20 years as well as snowboarding and and and mountain biking. And so I've seen the changes of these places. Uh and when I met the Oregon Cup Alliance, uh, and you know, they needed some help, I was like, yeah, absolutely. Let's like, let's help what can I do? So um, and and then the same thing with the Weleuska Foundation. They're they're a friend of a friend and they need some help telling some stories. I was like, uh Don, you know, um, here you go. You know, all these images are yours. Like take them and and you know, if I can help again, like please ask.
SPEAKER_04They basically call you up.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. Uh the the the Oregon Celp one, I had met them on assignment for a uh I'm trying to, it's been a while, so I'm trying to remember my the actual how I actually met them. Um I was on assignment with Oregon Coast Visitors Association doing some tourism work. And I believe I met the director of the who his name is um Tom Calvinese uh during one of those assignments uh who runs the Oregon Celp Alliance. And so he had asked me to help uh, you know, a few times, taking some images and uh uh eventually built a website uh with some friends and it just kind of was an evolutionary process. I also work with them now part-time um uh with their communications and marketing as well.
SPEAKER_04So oh, very cool. Well, you know, like I said before, this work is to use a technical term, just so cool. Not only the composition and and the subjects, but I don't know what it is, man. Justin, you your work when I look at it, has that extra special kick to it where I I mean, I'm looking at a picture of a truck I have seen my entire life and as if I've never seen it. Or I'm looking at the ocean, I'm looking at surfing, I'm looking at the free diving stuff. Really, really cool work. And I love the insights. Thank you very much. It's been a great conversation. Oh, thank you, Scott. I really appreciate it.
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