The Art of the Personal Project is a crucial element to let potential buyers see how you think creatively on your own. I am drawn to personal projects that have an interesting vision or that show something I have never seen before. In this thread, I’ll include a link to each personal project with the artist statement so you can see more of the project. Please note: This thread is not affiliated with any company; I’m just featuring projects that I find. Please DO NOT send me your work. I do not take submissions.
Today’s featured artist: Ian Spanier
During Covid, like many of my peers, I was restless to work. ASMP offered a free Covid Compliance Officer training, so I took the course to better understand what might become the new normal for our industry. I wanted to show my clients and potential clients that I could still produce work safely, and I also wanted to challenge myself with a lighting style I’d been eager to explore. That idea became MoTo, a portrait series of motorcycle riders.
I chose my subjects based on their motorcycles, but in most cases, I focused solely on the riders themselves. Personal projects have always been a vital part of my creative process. They allow me to explore how I see the world and keep my hands and mind engaged between assignments.
By 2023, work had fully returned, and I considered the project complete. Then, earlier this year, I was sharing my portfolio with Bill Foster, an Art Director at AV Squad. He’d seen me arrive on my bike, and our conversation turned naturally to motorcycles. When I showed him MoTo, he offered to connect me with a friend in Phoenix from the Los Santos MC, a motorcycle club with a sixteen-year history. The idea took off quickly. Before I knew it, I was meeting the President of the LSMC in Ventura and, after gaining approval, was invited to photograph not one but two chapters of the club during their fifth anniversary gathering.
Shooting on location always presents challenges. The MC’s clubhouse was more spacious than my living room, where most of the original portraits had been made…I decided to focus solely on a black background instead of white, keeping the setup lean and efficient since I had just two hours and more than fifteen subjects to photograph.
My lighting setup was simple: two Westcott X-Drop Pro black 8×13 backgrounds, a Westcott FJ800 strobe with a 24-inch Rapid Box beauty dish as the key light, and an FJ400II behind the camera with a seven-foot shoot-through umbrella as fill. I wanted the new portraits to carry a moodier tone while still feeling connected to the original work. All images were captured on a Canon R5II with a 24–105mm f/2.8 lens.
Just when I thought the project had reached its end, it found new life—and pulled me right back in.
To see more of this project, click here
Suzanne Sease is a creative consultant and former ad-agency senior art buyer. She works with both emerging and established photographers and illustrators to create cohesive, persuasive presentations that clients can’t resist.
Suzanne offers something rare: an insider’s perspective on how client’s source creative talent. Her deep understanding of the industry is underscored by her impressive resume: 11 years as senior art buyer at The Martin Agency, seven years as an art producer for Capital One, and stints with the art-buying department at Kaplan-Thaler and the creative department at Best Buy, where she applied her expertise to reviewing bids to see which were most likely to come in on budget. Over the years, Suzanne has worked with a wildly diverse range of clients, including Seiko, Wrangler, Bank One, AFLAC, and Clairol Herbal Essence. Now, as a consultant, she is equipped to problem-solve for her clients from an unusually dynamic point of view.
As a longtime member of the photo community, Suzanne is also dedicated to giving back. Through her Art of the Personal Project column on the popular website aphotoeditor.com, she highlights notable personal projects by well-known and up-and-coming photographers. The column offers these artists excellent exposure while reflecting Suzanne’s passion for powerful imagery.
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