Back already, and our second week carried the same great energy as before, with this session hosted at Green Frog Photo! Jeff Hage and Mark Stegeman honored us as guest advisors for the night, and we met our next client as well (more to come on that soon). Jeff is one of the owners of Green Frog, a multi-disciplined and highly talented photography studio located in the off of 131 near Ann St. Mark Stegeman is the ‘solo-preneur’ of Stegeman creative; Mark is ‘slightly fanatical’ about his work and driven to produce some of the best creative for his clients.
We had the opportunity to hear Jeff and Mark’s stories, and understand how they leveraged their careers to be where they are today. Young creative would be amazed at the stories that Mark had to tell, he went to Kendall College of Art and Design when computers weren’t used day to day in the classroom; as a result he started with the true fundamentals. Imagine designing a concept with markers, not Creative Suite! Imagine having to order a type-set overnight, and assembling it with scissors and patience instead of InDesign…
Jeff shared a few “Do’s and Don’ts” with our group. Here are some of my favorites:
(Do) Think!: Have the answers to the questions I’m going to ask. You know I will ask them. If I don’t ask them, find out why I didn’t. You’re in charge.
(DO) Have a plan: Know what you want (to get out of the shoot). Not having a plan will waste the time we could use (to shoot or try variations on the idea). The plan can be “let’s try a few things.”
(DON’T) Be Lazy: We all want to take the short-cuts and do less work. It will bite you when you can least afford it.
(DON’T) Sell a Ferrari like a Yugo: Remember what quality is and where your client or your own product fits in the quality scale. Good enough is never ‘good enough’. Don’t use crappy images or let people that aren’t qualified work on your projects. It hurts your reputation and your clients.
There was actually a lot more on his list, and all of it was golden. These are elements that transcend just the photo-shoot side of the list. Think about how you can put these into your daily routine. Have a plan, don’t be lazy, and when you’re working on a concept in class truly understand the brand that you’re working with. Jeff’s right, a Ferrari isn’t a Yugo; in fact those companies spend millions of dollars to make sure you know that!
These pictures were taken low light on an iPhone, so excuse the quality (in no way do they stand up to the work of Green Frog Photo!) but take a look at snapshots of our night! Creatives, if you’re interested in the portfolio’s of Mark and Jeff’s companies they are Here and Here respectfully.
(Look at 1/3 of all the great concepts we had for the Creative Crawl!)
(Intent reflecting on our concepts, we’re here to learn!)
Contributed by: Andrew Rushmore
