Andrea Johnson Photography

 

Tips to build effective Photo & Video libraries

I’m regularly asked for tips by wineries, marketing & public relations firms, and wine associations how to create an effective image library.  Specific needs include utilizing photos on websites to inspire consumers to visit, in press releases to gain more editorial exposure & in advertising campaigns to increase awareness for the region. Since 2003 I’ve created over 100 photo libraries for wineries & tourism associations, where my background as a photojournalist has helped me craft an impactful story through imagery.

In Cole Danehower’s presentation “Optimizing your Brand’s story”, he moderated a panel of journalists & PR agencies for winery specific marketing tips. Here’s a summary of quotes on the importance of photography: “Those with the best pictures win, if you’re only going to do one thing this year for your marketing, invest in photography & partner with a photographer that understands your brand and their style reflects your story” “Images are the new headline. 90% of info transmitted into our brain are visual, visuals transmit 60,000x faster than text, and photos are so easy to share.”

Since 2009 I’ve increasingly expanded my expertise into building video b-roll libraries for wineries &  tourism organizations.  One of the key lessons I’ve learned in video is that you can never have too much video b-roll to use for projects. More planning is needed to create video b-roll libraries, but the same principles apply – timeless, sense of place, storytelling video clips with compelling visuals to captivate the viewers attention.

When carefully planned, video and photography can be captured on the same shoot; this is especially relevant for events like harvest, spectacular sunsets or sunrises, and lifestyle shoots involving many models and styling where it would be cost prohibitive or impossible to reproduce the same scene on different days. Several cameras can be set up to capture the action from multiple angles, including time-lapse, drone aerials, adding camera motion with a slider or jib, etc, and ideally two shooters work in close tandem with similar aesthetics for each scene.

Examples from my Drone Reel of wine regions around the world, each with a distinct sense of place:

I’ve compiled main tips I’ve learned in the past two decades from photo and video requests from magazine editors, designers, and tourism organizations:

#1 request – Sense of place. What does this mean? A photo or video of a vineyard can look like any other vineyard around the world unless care is taken to focus on the land’s unique aspects in the best light. It’s very challenging to tell a compelling, unique story in just one photo, but with reduced editorial space and attention spans this can be the critical deciding factor if you get coverage.

Mt. Hood is an iconic backdrop to many of Oregon’s wine regions, and with people in the landscape it helps the viewer visualize creating this experience for themselves.

This aerial photo of Penner-Ash winery & estate vineyard has been on two magazine covers, the opening spread in the Wine Spectator Oregon story, and countless other stories and marketing collateral:

Acura 2010_COVER WS Dec 07 feature #1Aerial photography & video is one of the best ways to convey a sense of place

Aerial view over Soter Vineyards, Willamette Valley, Oregon

Aerial view over Soter Vineyards, Willamette Valley, Oregon

Dramatic weather or lighting always captures attention:

Early winter storm at Maryhill winery in the Columbia River Gorge, Washington

Early winter storm at Maryhill winery in the Columbia River Gorge, Washington

Harvest moon at Doubleback vineyard, Walla Walla, Washington

Harvest moon at Doubleback vineyard, Walla Walla, Washington

[Read more…]

Aerial photography Tips for drone, helicopter & airplane shoots

I’ve always loved heights. I’ve progressed from a kid climbing trees and the roof of my house, to my first trip as a teenager parasailing, to skydiving, paragliding, to hundreds of photography shoots from helicopters and small craft airplanes. There’s nothing to compare with the thrill of experiencing a birds eye perspective.

Recently I’ve added a drone to my kit, though I must admit I was hesitant at first. I’d worked with a phenomenal team of aerial cinematographers, Dane Henry and Sean Haverstock for our Washington State Wine videos: http://lumariaproductions.com/work/wa-wine-consumer/. And I’d seen firsthand the expertise to operate high end octocopter drones with movi image stabilizer kits capable of carrying DSLR cameras and a two person drone/ camera operator team. As much as I’d love for my clients to have the budgets of projects like this Red Bull rock climbing project in Lebanaon, that is not the reality for most boutique wine clients. https://www.danehenrydigital.com/blog/2017/1/25/t7swubm1394hwfgylgb0s60ticmgpo

Then in 2016 with the release of the latest DJI phantom 4 drone, I was convinced on the DJI’s quality and ease of use for video. While I’d primarily purchased the drone for video aerial work, I was pleasantly surprised by it’s capability for still photography.

I’m often asked by clients how to best capture aerials of their properties, and to compare the pros and cons of drones vs helicoters vs airplanes. So here’s examples of my work, and my thoughts on each type of aerial photography.

Drone Photography examples:

Drone shot over pinot noir grapes being harvested at Cristom vineyards

Drone shot over pinot noir grapes being harvested at Cristom vineyards

Drones excel in close proximity, and shorter duration aerial photography. I’ve done helicopter photoshoots over many vineyards and sadly seen the workers literally run or hide from the helicopter in fear of INS immigration raids. Not to mention the noise and dust even from a small helicopter at 20 feet above the ground is quite distracting for the subjects. Though I have successfully captured several large group photos at groundbreaking wine events, I can’t imagine flying over a winemaker dinner at close proximity without major disruption!

Drone shot over Brooks Vineyard

Drone shot over Brooks Vineyard

In addition, when I need to capture both aerial and ground perspectives for time sensitive activities such as harvest, I’m able to cover both in quick proximity and with less budget than landing a helicopter and paying for standby time. My drone was also helpful on a recent snow day in Oregon, where I wasn’t sure if the vineyard was completely covered in white and I also needed to quickly capture ground views before the snow melted.

Drone shot over Montinore wine harvest

Drone shot over Montinore wine harvest

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Portraits – tips for maximizing impact and exposure

Portraits can vary greatly in style, content, and emotion depending on the end goals for the use of the photographs. I’ve put together this checklist with descriptions and examples to help identify which style preferences is right for you – environmental, action, beauty, character, attitude, or group.

ENVIRONMENTAL PORTRAITS

Environmental portraits are most commonly used in editorial publications. The content of these photos tell a story – the background, props, or action is inexorably intertwined with the subject. Context is key, and the caption of the photos is usually the first thing read and most remembered. This is the type of portraiture I most enjoy; with my educational background at Northwestern journalism school and over 15 years of working with publications I’ve photographed hundreds of environmental portraits for magazine covers and feature stories. Capturing unique sense of place portraits can also be one of the most challenging styles – creating an engaging story in one photo takes more time and consideration than capturing a portrait with a generic background. However it can be the most valuable for exposure – with editorial space shrinking there may only be space for a single image to tell your story vs a series of photos. And a portrait with a lot of information included is more likely to run large so the reader can view the details, and lead a story if there’s room for type over part of the image.

Kyle MacLachlan with Pursued by Bear winemaker Dan Wampfler for Wine Spectator

Kyle MacLachlan with Pursued by Bear winemaker Dan Wampfler for Wine Spectator

Environmental portraits also give insight to a more authentic side of the subjects personality. People tend to be most comfortable in their natural environment, and this energy reflects back to the camera. Effectively using natural and portable studio lights on location, determining the the most flattering angle for the face & body, and finding or creating the most engaging scene are all equally important.

Celebrity portraiture can often be highly stylized in controlled studio settings, however overly retouched photos can be unbelievable and make the subject seem unapproachable. Once the portrait is captured minor retouching is ok, but the strength of the image is captured in the camera. While filters and highly processed retouching effects maybe fine and fun for instagram or personal prints, most non-fashion style publications want the personality of the subject make the strongest impact, not the style of the photographer or retoucher’s effects.

Kyle MacLachlan with Pursued by Bear winemaker Dan Wampfler in Walla Walla for Wine Spectator

Kyle MacLachlan with his Pursued by Bear wines in Walla Walla for Wine Spectator

Actor Kyle MacLachlan has been beautifully photographed by the most famous portrait photographers and stylists in the world, and can can easily take on any character or personality. So we decided on a more natural approach to differentiate his Pursued by Bear wine label in magazine articles; it was important to show Kyle’s connection to the vineyard and relationship with winemaker Dan Wampfler with a sense of place photo. For his own Pursed by Bear label, we could be a bit more playful and include the product – who wouldn’t want to join Kyle with the second glass of wine?

Drew Bledsoe with Doubleback winemaker Chris Figgins for Wine Spectator Magazine

Drew Bledsoe with Doubleback winemaker Chris Figgins for Wine Spectator Magazine

Former quarterback player Drew Bledsoe stands at 6′ 5″, and renowned winemaker Chris Figgins is a fit but compact 5’8 – so to capture a portrait of them together minimizing this height difference I chose this angle of the vineyard, giving Drew a pole to lean against and Chris a rock to place one leg on – the angle of the clouds further complement the subjects and creates a dynamic background. And sometimes portraits are non traditional, without the subject looking at the camera – this lifestyle scene focuses on emotion and intimacy, and has been widely used in promotional publications for the Washington wine industry.

Drew & Maura Bledsoe at his McQueen vineyard, Walla Walla, WA

Drew & Maura Bledsoe at his McQueen vineyard, Walla Walla, WA

 

Janis Pate with her dog Cooper, Arlyn Vineyard

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The art of creating effective Wine Image Libraries

I’m regularly asked for tips by wineries, marketing folks, public relations firms, and wine associations how to create an effective image library.  Specific needs include utilizing photos on websites to inspire consumers to visit, in press releases to gain more editorial exposure & in advertising campaigns to increase awareness for the region.

In Cole Danehower’s presentation “Optimizing your Brand’s story”, he moderated a panel of journalists & PR agencies for winery specific marketing tips. Here’s a summary of quotes on the importance of photography: “Those with the best pictures win, if you’re only going to do one thing this year for your marketing, invest in photography & partner with a photographer that understands your brand and their style reflects your story” “Images are the new headline. 90% of info transmitted into our brain are visual, visuals transmit 60,000x faster than text, and photos are so easy to share.”

I’ve spent the past fifteen years creating over 100 image libraries for wineries & tourism associations, where my background as a photojournalist has helped me craft an impactful story through imagery. Magazine editors & designers have given me the following guidelines for many of my assignments, I’ve consolidated these tips to four main points:

#1 request – Sense of place photos. What does this mean? A photo of a vineyard can look like any other vineyard around the world unless care is taken to focus on the land’s unique aspects in the best light. It’s very challenging to tell a compelling, unique story in just one photo, but with reduced editorial space and attention spans this can be the critical deciding factor if you get coverage.

Mt. Hood is an iconic backdrop to many of Oregon’s wine regions, and with people in the landscape it helps the viewer visualize creating this experience for themselves.

This aerial photo of Penner-Ash winery & estate vineyard has been on two magazine covers, the opening spread in the Wine Spectator Oregon story, and countless other stories and marketing collateral:

Acura 2010_COVER WS Dec 07 feature #1examples of dramatic weather or lighting:

Aerial view over Soter Vineyards, Willamette Valley, Oregon

Aerial view over Soter Vineyards, Willamette Valley, Oregon

Early winter storm at Maryhill winery in the Columbia River Gorge, Washington

Early winter storm at Maryhill winery in the Columbia River Gorge, Washington

Harvest moon at Doubleback vineyard, Walla Walla, Washington

Harvest moon at Doubleback vineyard, Walla Walla, Washington

[Read more…]