Erik Almas Photography

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

 

In the past 18months I have done a lot of images for American Airlines. 5 shoots building interiors of planes in different studios, one shoot at LAX and another 2 days shooting a brand new 777-200 while flying over California…

Out of this body of work came a series of studied images with a cool, modern color palette used for branding the new look of American.

Through this effort I shot a library consisting of thousands of images. Some of the photographs captured were truly random and somewhat unexpected for my style of image making.
I started looking at these off topic images and posting them on instagram whenever I got on a flight. Through posting on Instagram I got compelled to look at my own captures a bit differently.

The moment between the moment is a well know term in photography. It’s a strange saying as the moment between then becomes THE moment and a moment surely cant be between itself. (Now this lofty topic might be better pondered over a glass of vino…)
These between, off scope, images was shot as intuitive responses to what I saw. As I revisit these photographs they have grown on me and I’m really intrigued by what they contain versus the edited and retouched images for the branding.
There’s for sure a spontaneity and intimacy to these that are lost a bit on the classic view. Maybe a bit of honesty as well..

As I keep looking for that elusive “moment” in image making I’ll leave you with the below to check out. Me, I’m seeing a more random side to making that perfect image and grateful for another experience and opportunity to grow as a photographer.

Cheers,

E.

After my first commercial assignment some 14 years ago I could not wait to see the image in a magazine. I impatiently waited for 3 months for the ad to be published and on the day it arrived on the magazine stands I bought two of the same issue.
One of the magazines was Home & Garden and I still have a copy of that very issue tucked away somewhere. I don’t hold on to things but for some reason that felt like a milestone and I will probably keep that issue another 14 years…

As with all things new which then becomes familiar the excitement wears off.
It does not go away though and I still feel a great sense of accomplishment when I see my work displayed in public.
There’s quite a few of the campaigns I have been fortunate enough to be a part of that are running at the moment.

Below are the ones spotted..

In London The TV show 24 for SKY Television.

In the same issue of Fast Company 2 ads for Don Julio Tequila and 2 ads done for Dassault Systemes.

Credit Suisse spotted at JFK Airport in New York

American Airlines spotted on buses in New York, Boards in London and Buenos Aires

Trondheim Torg on Bus shelters in Norway.

If you do see others please share!

In November last year I shot an assignment for Trondheim Torg, a shopping center at the main square of my hometown. It was for their holiday marketing with the idea of turning the whole scene into a winter fairytale of snow and ice.
As this was my first commercial assignment that was shooting in Norway I went full force in recreating the square in snow and ice, even if it was late fall…

This March the agency, HK Reklame, called again to continue the idea of this first image of winter and do 3 new pictures following the seasons of spring, summer and fall…
This time they extended the idea to the open ended question “What if?”
What if the square was a bit different? Different as if a fairytale was taking place…

Just asking these questions makes visuals surface and I excitedly dived in again.
In addition to the home court advantage these images mixes a lot of the things I thrive on when crafting pictures.
I love a visual challenge, and being able to create rather than take pictures always intrigues me. Then setting the stage of the city square and the idea of “what if?” made for great visuals and almost a mythic storytelling quality to the images we wanted to create…
Telling stories and somehow connecting to them in a personal way has been my mission for years and I’m excited to share our second fairytale from Trondheim in it’s spring incarnation….

In the process of making the images I travelled to Trondheim to shoot the background plates and then off to London to do the studio work. Here’s a behind the scenes film showing the parts on how this came together.

A big thanks to HK Reklame, crew and cast and Chris Bodie on retouch for making this come together.
And till Summer I’ll leave you with the past image from Winter…