Attendees
When you’re inviting strangers (or people you only know through the Internet) to come spend 48 hours in the woods with you, you have to think carefully about who you invite.
I sifted through the names of photographers I’d met while I was editor in chief of JPG Magazine, people I’d always been a fan of on Flickr, and folks I’d featured on my photography blog. I looked for the right combination of talent, personality, and creativity.
I couldn’t have been happier with the outcome: a sparkling group of twenty interesting young photographers with genuine interest in knowing and learning from each other. So far I’ve already seen dozens of collaborations come out of Phoot Camp, ranging from assisting together on commercial shoots to doing full-on remote art projects together.
To think they started as shy strangers around a fire (photographed by Chad Nicholson). Which brings me to one of their camp assignments: to take a portrait of the person to the left, at some point over the weekend. Here are the results and a little bit more about the campers.
Daniel Gebhart (photographed by Dan Busta) came the farthest to attend Phoot Camp — all the way from Vienna, Austria where he works as a photographer full time. Daniel and I met at the New York Photo Festival in 2008 when he was an intern at Magnum Photos. He’s also been published in JPG.
Ryan Schude (photographed by Daniel Gebhart) is an award-winning editorial, advertising, and fine art photographer in Los Angeles who’s developing quite a following for his cinematic photo creations. We published a series of his “movie in a single frame” shots in issue 15 of JPG.
Chad Nicholson (photographed by Ryan Schude) is the official photographer for Improv Everywhere and finished producing his first feature film this year. He lives in Brooklyn and Los Angeles.
Nate Bolt (photographed by Chad Nicholson) hails from San Francisco where he runs a user research company, studies the cultural role of technology, and makes art.
Michael O’Neal (photographed by Nate Bolt) also lives in San Francisco, but commutes to Cupertino for his job as an Associate Creative Director at Apple. Michael brings the perspective of having art directed incredibly famous photographers, but is himself a photographer as well (and loves Polaroid film).
Laura Brunow Miner (photographed by Michael O’Neal) is writing about herself in the third person. She is a designer, editor, and photography lover in San Francisco, and really should have launched her big exciting startup by now. Founding Phoot Camp has been a diversion, but an amazing one.
Mona T. Brooks (photographed by Laura Brunow Miner) is a documentary photographer in San Francisco with a particular interest in politics. Mona has photographed Hillary Clinton, the Obamas, Howard Dean, and many other influential politicians. Mona also runs a photo blog for San Francisco magazine.
Kevin “Lomokev” Meredith (photographed by Mona T. Brooks) wrote the popular photography tutorial book Hot Shots. Kevin is a considered one of the brightest stars of Flickr and had his photo of Imogen Heap featured on the homepage for years. He’s also been published in everything from Russian Esquire to BBC News, and done work for commercial clients like Doc Martens. Kevin came the second farthest (from Brighton, UK) and showed an admirable disregard for jetlag.
Steph Goralnick (photographed by Kevin Meredith) is a designer and photographer in Brooklyn, and also masterminded and hosted a series of Photojojo photo safaris in New York and Las Vegas. Steph was regularly published in JPG, and has also been featured in Adbusters, the Village Voice, Rolling Stone online, and many other publications.
Eddy “Aqui-Ali” Joaquim (photographed by Steph Goralnick) is an architect who uses his sharp eye for geometry and keen sense of design in his photography. Eddy hails from South Africa but lives in San Francisco now.
Paul “Dunny” Octavious Cribb (photographed by Eddy Joaquim) works as a multidisciplinary creative in Chicago. He was a photographer for Threadless, has done design work for a variety of clients, and has done professional and personal illustration projects.
Cody Austin (photographed by Paul Octavious Cribb) lives in Houston and takes his camera with him everywhere. Cody was a forum moderator for JPG and has been published in the magazine.
Dan Busta (photographed by Cody Austin) lives in Los Angeles. Like his roommate Ryan Schude (above), Dan is an award-winning photographer. Specializing in travel and fashion photography, Dan has shot for ESPN the Magazine, the Chicago Tribune, and many other publications.
Also in attendance:
Lis Bokt (photographed by Mona T. Brooks) had a long flight from Kalamazoo, Michigan to Phoot Camp and was asleep by the time we started the portrait chain assignment. Lis has dual degrees in Astrophysics and Horticulture and brought a fascinating science background to Phoot Camp. We all listened intently as she told us about how photographing lightning created in the science center where she works is like putting her digital camera into the microwave.
Derek Wood and Brian O’Hara (photographed by Steph Goralnick) are another roommate pair from Los Angeles (like Dan and Ryan) and drove 7 hours to Phoot Camp after an important editorial shoot that lasted all day Friday. They arrived in the pitch black early morning, bringing their gear and beer they’d brewed themselves.
Amit Gupta and Jen Giese (photographed by Laura Brunow Miner) are the founder and store manager of Photojojo, respectively (although I also worked with Jen when she was an intern at JPG). These two have been super busy promoting the Photojojo Book, so it was totally understandable that they arrived a day late. Especially when they showed up with party favors like bottle cap tripods and camera levels.
Christina McNeill (doesn’t like to be photographed) was also an intern at JPG with me and has since branched out on her own as a successful full time photographer. So successful that she had already booked the weekend by the time we planned Phoot Camp. We’ll give her more notice next year, but it was great that she stopped by Friday night!
That’s right, next year. Maybe it’ll be yurts in Marfa, maybe it’ll be a big vacation rental in Palm Springs. In any case, one phrase that was heard often around Phoot camp was “next year” — and I’m sure game to do it all over again.