The Evolution of an Idea

Yesterday I was asked by an art director how I came up with the postcard idea.  I have to admit I did have some help.  First, the main idea came from Randy Santos, a photographer based out of Washington, DC.
He has been sending out a monthly postcard to clients for about three years and mentioned to me that I should do the same.  I've been sending them to clients for just over a year now. 
Here is an example of an early postcard:

A few months ago I got tired of the same look and wanted to change the template, but wasn't sure what direction to take.  Talking with Amanda Sosa Stone, she said "why not make it look like a real postcard".  What an amazingly simple solution.  I designed some mock ups, sent them to her for input. 
Here is what I came up with:

The tricky part was finding stamps and designing the postmark.  I update both to show where the image was taken - it's subtle and works brilliantly.  All of this was done in Photoshop and is saved with layers, so changing everything is quite easy.  Writing a new message is easily done on my Wacom tablet.  I feel like I'm sending out a real postcard - message and all.   This is what I really love about photography - it allows me to evolve.  So Thank You Randy for sharing the idea with me and Thank You Amanda for all your great input.

The "B" Side

Do you remember when we could buy albums? I don't mean the large ones, I'm talking about the 45's. Two songs - one on the "A" side and one on the "B". What a great way to listen to new and inventive music (yes and sometimes - maybe often - bad music). The artist would record their "best" song and place it on the "A" side, and because they had to fill the other side, record a song that was just filler. How many great songs can you remember that came off the "B" side? Just for starters did you know that "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley was a "B" song?

In a round about way this brings me to photography. I just re-did my portfolio -including my web site (with a lot of help from Amanda Sosa-Stone). I gave her a few dozen images from which to choose. Now, what I've learned over the years is that never send what you think is the very best. Always send a variety of images - more than you think is needed and definitely more than the ones you love. It is amazing to me what gets chosen. Many of the images that Amanda chose are from the "B" side of my shoots, or list. Above are some examples. The first is from a shoot at Flint Hill School. This recycling photo was taken in the hallway of the school and a complete after thought. "Hey you're the recycling queen - lets have you sit on a bin". The image next to it is of Dominique Dawes. This was taken after a photo shoot for the Washington Post Magazine. She had her dogs with her and I asked if I could get some shots of her with them. She agreed...

The other two are outtakes from some model shoots. I was just trying to be a little arty, knowing they weren't going to beuse, or liked. But I just had to take them.
And guess what - they turned out to be in my portfolio.

Never forget the force of the "B" side. You WILL be surprised.