Photographer Alan Jensen wrote me the kindest email today! It is so encouraging to hear from a photographer as most that I share on this site are ones that I spent hours finding — not the other way around. It feels good to have days when the most wonderful submission arrives — I didn’t have to work for it! :) Alan is an Australian photographer who recently relocated to nearby Amsterdam with his partner, Cath Conroy who is an equally talented photographer. Here is some of Alan’s work for Real Living magazine…
I’d love to receive more submissions from talented photographers, especially those who specialize in still life and interiors since highlighting their work is something that I enjoy doing as I don’t think photographers receive as much credit as they do for all the beautiful work we see in magazines that we usually credit the magazine itself. Behind the scenes you have so many talented people and I want to highlight them more and more for two reasons: I’m inspired by beautiful photography and learn from it and secondly, I want others to think more about what they see, study images (dissect them even), learn from them and also to acknowledge the person behind the glory shots as so many of those you find in magazines have portfolios online — just google them and see what you find!
Thank you Alan for writing to me (and Pia too!) and welcome to northern Europe!
(images: alan jensen photography)
Tags: photographer
December 9th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
gorgeous! Its amazing how real his work is… that second image really made me happy… thanks Holly!
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December 9th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
the first photo is amazing! I love the deep purple!
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December 9th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
I’ve often wistfully thought…it’d be so much easier to come up with frequent loveliness for my blog if I received press kits like the top design bloggers. It’s even more inspiring to know that even with all your success, you’re independently going out there looking for new content.
And, yet, as a former PR person, I’m happy to see evidence that sometimes outreach is very welcome and right on target.
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December 9th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
B – Oh I am SO glad you said this. I have to admit, 99% of submissions from publicists do not make it on decor8 because I’m so particular as to what I show here. The 1% that does make it usually did because the publicist really knows my blog and my aesthetic and so what they’ve shared was an instant “like”. The other submissions that I receive number around 2,000 weekly. However most of them are not addressed personally to me, they begin with Dear ____, or Dear Blogger, or Dear Decor8 Team, or something that shows me that they do not read my site and usually when I look at the links and photos they’ve attached it is even more apparent to me that they do not know anything about me and what I like or show here. It’s disappointing to be honest. Be HAPPY that you DO NOT have to sort through press kits all week, it takes up a lot of time and creative energy to sort through it all to find those precious pearls, like Alan Jensen whom I’ve featured here who so nicely wrote to me personally. I am THRILLED to feature those who reach out to me personally and who really know what I do here well enough to know whether I’ll click with what they are doing or not. I independently seek content on a daily basis, I sort through hundreds of websites, stacks of books and magazines, I shop and flip over vases and things to find brands and links, I love the THRILL of the hunt. I plan to travel in March/April to some of my favorite cities here in Europe to do more scouting, and I plan to hit some design fairs here next year to do more of the same. I also attend many fairs and things here currently — forever sourcing. I live for this stuff. :)
THANK YOU for bringing this up. It makes me happy to talk about this!
December 9th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
I love the photos you have on the site and appreciate all the hard work you go to sourcing them. They’re a total inspiration to me and really helpful with my aesthetic and photographic journey. I hope more people do forward their stuff to you as I’d love to see more.
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December 9th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
Holly – Thanks for responding and sharing your perspective! As I alluded to in my comment, I used to work in PR, and I could go on and on about this topic for hours. :)
I like to think that I targeted my pitches and was never guilty of sending out what amounts to spam, but it’s a sad reality that clients often push you to send info to larger and larger lists. And sometimes it’s simply impossible to do the research that you know you should do, especially if you’re just starting out and not comfortable pushing back yet. Sometimes I’d simply not send a release to a press contact and mark “left voicemail” on my pitch lists because I could tell that it was all wrong right off the bat. While this may be wrong, the alternative is just as bad. I now publish a small newsletter for my association, and I get the craziest press releases. I cannot image having to go through 2,000 of them in a week!
I have noticed that many of your finds are obviously products or designers that you’ve hunted yourselves. It’s really obvious in the way you write…and how you detail what lead you to this or that.
Phew! Sorry for taking over the thread with such a long comment. :)
B´s last blog ..Marathon Sewing
December 10th, 2009 at 3:10 am
I would like to live inside his pictures, that’s for sure.
January 6th, 2010 at 11:06 am
Really gorgeous … these images breath the queensland lifestyle – just stunning and heart warming
Sandra Darling xoxo
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