Still Images In Great Advertising, is a column where Suzanne Sease discovers great advertising images and then speaks with the photographers about it.

When I am looking for work for this column, I check out the blogs of various agents to see what they have done recently.  I went to the blog for Bernstein & Andriulli and saw this interactive website for A&E’s two-night movie “Bag of Bones, an adaptation of the best selling by Stephen King.  The dramatic black and white images shot by Joachim Ladefoged catch your eye and then you start to see them move.  You can check out more of these subtle but creepy images at http://darkscorestories.com

(click images to see gifs move)

Suzanne:  The subtleness of this campaign had to be a lot of fun to work on.  Did the creative group allow your input to the subtleness of the creepiness?

Joachim: Yes, the creative group wanted my input.  As every professional creative director and agency does they show up well prepared and with a clear idea about what they want, so it is a cooperation between me and the creative team.  It’s my job to provide creative solutions and to help make the best pictures for the client.  In the cinemagraph with the butcher and the knife blade reflecting the light, the creative director said to me that she was in tears because it was so much better then she had ever expected.  When that happens it is a lot of fun!

Suzanne:  How were these shot to get the animation of the subject’s movement?

Joachim: The moving images are cinemagraphs that were shot with video.  Since we worked with video, I was acting as a film director asking the people to do some very precise movements. The post production plays a big part in the final images.  The editing process is where the video is turned into a into a moving gif.

Suzanne:  Do you think your work “Albanians” was an influence to you getting this assignment?  Was that a personal project?

Joachim: The “Albanians” is a personal book project and I do think the body of work played a big factor for me getting this assignment.  The client was looking for a reportage photographer with black and white photojournalistic stories. However, it is always very important that you understand how to work with a crew on set and you know how to transfer the reportage experience into setup images to create pictures that look like they were shot as they happened.  So while I think my reportage work got the agency interested it may have been my commercial experience that ended up convincing them.

Suzanne:  You have a wide array of areas in which you shoot but do you feel as if your photojournalistic background and your Danish style help you secure assignments?

Joachim: At age 25 I was hired as a staff photographer on the best and most creative newspaper in Denmark. They gave me a lot of creative freedom to do what I wanted and this is where I explored different ways of approaching photojournalism.  Having a true photojournalistic background has given me access to a wide variety of subjects from sports to politics.  This opportunity combined with my internal desire to experiment with photography is what keeps me motivated.  I love shooting a wide array of assignments and I love trying out different styles and techniques.

Note: Content for Still Images In Great Advertising is found. Submissions are not accepted.

Joachim Ladefoged has worked as a professional photographer since 1991 and is a member of the international photo agency VII. Today he works for editorial clients such as The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, National Geographic, MARE, Newsweek, The Sunday Times magazine and TIME. He has received numerous awards for his work from institutions such as Visa D’Or, World Press Photo, POYi, Eissie, and Agfa, as well as Picture of the Year in Denmark. He has been named one of Photo District News’ 30 emerging photographers to watch and he has participated in the Joop Swart Master Class at World Press Photo.

APE contributor Suzanne Sease currently works as a consultant for photographers and illustrators around the world. She has been involved in the photography and illustration industry since the mid 80s, after founding the art buying department at The Martin Agency then working for Kaplan-Thaler, Capital One, Best Buy and numerous smaller agencies and companies.


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6 Comments

  1. wow, those little subtle movements are really creepy! Well done.

  2. Hell yeah. I’ll read the words later, but those gifs are amazing.

  3. There’s been an iPhone app for a while now that allows you to create cinegraphs (they call them “cinegrams”):

    http://cinemagr.am/

    If you look through some of the best of the user uploaded cinegrams, you can see some really creative stuff that is easily on-par with these images (although the original still images are often lacking).

  4. These are super cool and kind of creepy. I love them!


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