Motion Archives | Erik Almas Photography

Chris Botti for Genlux Magazine

It’s been 18 months since my last editorial assignment. This is way too long but we have been so busy with commercial assignments there has not been room to take on Editorial work.

 

My photographic assignment work should be a better balance of Advertising and Editorial…With editorial there’s a complete liberty to push boundaries, explore and try different things that opens my expression into new avenues.

In advertising, agencies look at the work I have done and see something in it they want to apply to their ideas and concepts. In many ways this is repeating myself, recreating something for the purpose of the ad. To look and push forward creatively one have to do personal work, and the editorial platform is a great outlet for this personal creative push.

With openings in the schedule I got really excited when Genlux Magazine called and asked if I wanted to shoot their upcoming cover story of Grammy winning trumpetist Chris Botti. Genlux Magazine’s Creative director Stephen Kamifuji is quite hands off in his approach and usually provide you with a theme or an overarching idea of what he wants the images to say or express.

We talked wind and sound and the air that flows through the trumpet.

How could we depict this idea of Chris harnessing the wind in a conceptual manner?

Among the ideas was Chris being on a raft with him creating the wind for the sails.

 

In the end this felt a bit literal and expected and I was more intrigued by the idea of him floating on air.

A dreamscape where the air inspire; Where he is in and of the wind, harnessing it’s power and floating within it…

 

As this idea matured I started thinking about context and how we would fill 7 pages. How would Chris Botti get there? What was the connection between him and the flying machine?

 

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A storyline emerged of him being in a personal library and the floating on air scene being more of his subconscious or space of inspiration, then taking him onto stage to perform what the air inspired.

With this very cinematic storyline it felt more like a film than a still story and I decided to go all in, creating not only the still visuals but a small film as well.

I have written about my thoughts on the still and motion disciplines becoming one in the world of commercial assignments so this was another great chance for me to create visuals across the 2 mediums.

In this I feel the 2 executions, both in the creating, execution and post all came together to create a seamless visual blend of still and film.

 

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In creating this I’m in gratitude to Chris Botti for his gracious attitude and generousity of time. His manager Bobby Colombi for letting us extend the concept to include Chris floating in the air and ofcourse Stephen Kamifuji, creative director of Genlux.

An editorial budget does not cover much of anything so I’m also grateful to the crew, all wearing several hats, pulling together a shoot which should have had 3 times as many people helping out.

Also a big thanks to my friend and world class DP Ketil Dietrichson for a true collaboration of cameras.

 

I’m truly excited about the result so please check it out. There’s the film, stills and a behind the scenes look at the execution.

 

 

 

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The Behinds the Scenes from our shoot day in Los Angeles

Connecting Still and Motion in the Namibian Desert

I’m really excited about the future of photography and image making!

As we are moving into one visual multi media language, how we create and absorb imagery and how the market savvy ad agencies choose to use it is changing really quickly…

If you know social media guy Gary Vaynerchuk he will tell you that people look down on their phones more than they look up. He ask’s the really interesting question; “Why would big ad agencies bother putting up Billboards when people look at their phones. Even when they are driving!”

As a photographer and artist whose living is made in Advertising I get excited! Excited to be a part of the changes.
I think imagery that stands out among the visual bombardment we are presented with during our day is becoming increasingly valuable so as photographers we have a great future.
That is as long as we stay relevant…

I believe  the biggest element in this change to be the ability to translate one visual language through all mediums(photography, film and animation) on all traditional and social media platforms.

So I have started; Started to look at how my photographic DNA can translate into moving images.

Last year I had an amazing trip to Namibia with the agency Frameworks and their client Dassault Systémes. It has taken a while but we now have what I feel is a seamless translation of my photographic language into the storytelling world of motion.

Check it out…

Art directed by Ray Brennan with original Score by Dominic Brennan. Post by Rainfall Films

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Connecting my visual language in both Still and Motion

Brand identity is not about showing off an image anymore. It’s about telling a story which consumers can relate to and identify with…

With the 5d being released every photographer got a film-making tool in their hands. This was, and still is, in many ways the perfect storytelling vehicle for us photographers helping brands go beyond the still image in their quest to tell their story.

It seemed so easy at first and I excitedly jumped in filming everything I saw…

Now, 4 years later, the craft and vision I have to my stills are getting translated into moving images and solid stories.

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I have a great relationship with a winery in Sonoma called Repris. Having shot their still images we went on to translate these to moving images telling the story of wine from place to harvest to tank to barrel to the bottle enjoyed.

For me it was important that visuals of these moments translated perfectly between the two mediums, retaining my visual identity in both and leaving Repris Wines with a visual language translating across all formats.

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As we collectively are becoming more and more visual I, as a photographer, have to continue to evolve. This both to have fun and learn new things but also to stay relevant in a fast changing visual market.

I’m excited to share the first OF many motion/still combinations that I am working on!

And here’s a Behind the Scene look on how it all came together: