36 Hours of Phuket- The New York Times
Assignment: Photograph a travel story for The New York Times Travel Section
Client: The New York Times
Days Shooting: 2 Days shooting 15 locations
Location: Phuket, Thailand
I’ve done a few of these 36 hour stories now for the Travel section of The New York Times. They are loads of fun, sort of like a scavenger hunt for photographers. I’m given a list of places to shoot, usually around 15.The Travel editor I worked for in the past left in December so I was working with the new one. I really wanted to impress her because the Times always has fun travel assignments. Most of the time the assignment is 2 days shooting and 2 days traveling so you have to hit the ground running. Phuket is a pretty big island so it required me traveling all over the place by motorbike trying to figure out the most visuals places and when to shoot them.
I raced around the island photographing Muay Thai Boxing, a gigantic Buddha statue, elephant trekking, waterfalls, ladyboy cabaret, sinful Patong nightlife, a $2,800 a night resort, local artists village, and much more.
All together it was a great experience and so much fun. Here is the final slideshow published today:
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/03/21/travel/20100321PHUKET_index.html
Thanks for looking,
Justin
Assignment-Anantara Lawana
Client: Anantara Lawawa
Location: Koh Samui, Thailand
Days of Shooting: 4
I had the great privilege to photograph another resort for Anantara Resorts, this one was also in Koh Samui. This time we were there just to do stills, so I brought along my assistant Tung and we headed off to Thailand. We had a hectic shooting schedule trying to squeeze in as much as we could in the 4 days of shooting we had. We had to work around the weather because the rain came and went quickly without notice.
Each of Anantara’s locations has a unique mood to it so we set out to capture that.
Here are a few samples from our shoot:
Thanks for looking,
Justin
Meeting face to face
Location-Koh Samui, Thailand
Days Shooting: 2 Days of Spa shooting, 4 days shooting the hotel
Client: Anantara Resorts(Anantara Spa)
I’ve built up a great relationship with Anantara Resorts getting to work with them and their affiliates has been a wonderful first class experience. Along with providing stills we are in the process of editing our first video for them. Each of their resorts is unique in decor and overall ambiance but always consistent in providing their clients with top notch service. I still miss the Ahi Tuna Sandwich at AKS Koh Samui and the amazing aromas that fill their grounds.
For their spa shoot they wanted to use talent(people), which always breath of fresh air for me. It’s an interesting process trying to incorporate my style at the same time trying to stay consistent with their photography for their other resorts. Often my clients aren’t trying to do a complete overhaul of their marketing campaign but rather update their visual library. Consistency and communications is key to keeping everyone happy. I met with their marketing team in Bangkok to go over the shot list. We met in a large conference room that was filled with comfortable leather chairs and a nice view and I even wore a button down ironed shirt for the occasion. Providing visuals can be tricky especially when the only communication between client and photographer is often over emails. We are often hired off a referral and while our portfolio might have one style the client might want something different that suits their other imagery. Having a face to face meeting was hugely beneficial.
While I have to give them what they want I feel I also want to give them something they didn’t know they wanted. It’s always a challenge to find balance. Here is a sample of some of the images shot for their amazing award winning spa.
I look funny taking pictures
A writer I often work with told me that he gets a kick out of watching me work. He told me that people around me end up watching me as well when we are on assignment together. I never really paid much attention but on my last commercial gig I had people photograph me working, I am odd ha ha!!!
Anantara-Koh Samui
Client: Anantara Resorts
Location: Koh Samui, Thailand
Days Shooting: 6
Description: Provide a visual package of stills and video for promotional purposes for their global marketing campaign.
We just returned from our stills and video shoot in Koh Samui. What an amazing resort and spa with top notch staff. We debut our new Steadicam, hope to have some samples up in the coming weeks.
Elewana Afrika-Mott Visuals goes to Tanzania
A while back I received a call about doing some work in Tanzania for a luxury safari company. I had been doing commercial work for a few years but it always took a backseat to my documentary work. In April of 2009 I decided to put more focus into my commercial photography and I launched Mott Visuals, , a commercial photography and web video company.
I had been talking about getting my commercial work organized and branded behind the scenes with a good friend of mine in Singapore, Camille Faylona. Camille took on the role of producer for our video content and Singapore representative.
The assignment was to shoot 5 locations for a luxury lodge and safari company in Tanzania called Elewana Afrika. They are a unique company catering towards high-end safaris. Each of their locations offers a unique experience with impeccable service. Rooms cost about around $1,000 a night and they’ve had such high profile guests like George W. Bush, Will Smith, and most recently Justin Mott.
I met with their founder a few days into the shoot, a young successful businessman named Karim. He has a great vision for his Elewana line of lodges and we sat over drinks as he explained that to me. The face to face meeting really gave me a great idea of his vision and how to blend it with my style. He was demanding of me as well he should be, their brochures and website are the front line of their marketing campaign.
He had a great team assembled to work with and I couldn’t have asked for better people. I mean his main management staff did the styling, logistics, and just about everything else you could imagine. They had me up in trees, on a table balanced on top of an old petrol truck, out on safari drives in the middle of the night.
The first few days started off quite stressful, but once we were all on the same page things ran smoothly. I am so thankful to have met the team at Elewana Afrika all the way from their founder Karim, to their management team(damn South Africans teamed up on the poor American making fun of my accent), to the accommodating staff at each lodge.
I am truly proud of the work we produced and we’ve even talked about doing more work in Tanzania in the future together as Elewana expands.
Here are some samples of the work that I couldn’t have done without Dalene, Mike, Glenn. Edward, and Gretchen:
