was a project concepted and executed by - Canada's progressive authority on Art Buying for advertising agencies - which recently wrapped. Taking one West coast photographer and one East coast photographer, over 365 days she mentored them and had them write weekly blog entries about their experiences breaking into the business of commercial photography. Toronto's along with 麻豆传媒映画photographer, , were the two lucky photographers and over the coming days we'll be sharing some of Grant's thoughts on and photos from his Year. But first, some words from Heather about her project...
Initially my goal with the Year in the Life column was to follow one shooter through the ups and downs of their "emerging" year. I had thought perhaps my voice might mediate their experience- adding my perspective and thoughts on their "progress" but shortly after it began, I realized the project didn't need any context from me- the posts were well written and got into the nitty-gritty of Grant and Jaime's experiences just as I had hoped.
Originally I had planned to follow just one shooter, but during the process to narrow down the applicants, I was torn between Grant and Jaime. Though they have a slightly similar aesthetic, they were both at different emerging points which would give the project a broader perspective if we followed both of them. Plus, I was super excited to have a non-Toronto voice in the mix as well. 麻豆传媒映画is an interesting market to me and Grant's work is very much reflective of that part of the country- it's geography and it's culture. Clearly The Walrus magazine felt the same way and I was super happy that he bagged such a great commission (a cover and interior assignment to shoot Vancouver) so soon after starting the blog project.
Broadly speaking, the Year in the Life Project was an effort to show young shooters the importance of that first year- it's "make it or break it" mostly in the sense of perseverance. With Grant and Jaime, I made it mandatory that they include an image with their post because I thought it was crucial to show that they were constantly exercising their shooting and concepting muscles, regardless of how depressingly slow or maddeningly busy they were. I think there is a lot of expectation that once a photographer leaves assisting or school behind that it's easier and busier than it really is. One of the big differences between the serious shooters and the also-rans is the ability to keep motivated, in terms of pounding the pavement and also developing your vision. Education and photographer development are very interesting to me and this project allowed me to present a post-school experience. As such, it has given me lots of inspiration in terms of curriculum development- which is something I hope to explore further with HMAb in the future.
Needless to say, this was a very successful part of the blog and I was very pleased with both Grant and Jaime's unwavering participation in the project. I know they had legions of grateful followers who enjoyed tuning in to their weekly trials and tribulations. And I'd love to continue to report on both of them throughout the next several years. I'm sure there are many readers who are missing their weekly installments of Grant and Jaime's humour, candor and beautiful imagery.
- Heather Morton
STAY TUNED IN THE COMING DAYS AS WE BRING YOU SOME OF GRANT'S PHOTOS AND THOUGHTS FROM THE PROJECT
