Cat Herding, Part Three-Brand Awareness

Well, it's been a great ride.  Here is the third installment of my Cat Herding Series.   This was so much fun to work with such unwilling subjects.  

This all started with me trying send some specific messages to potential clients about my understanding of their needs.  With branding being the buzz word of the day, it needed to be addressed.  What better play on words than to actually use a branding iron for the connection.

The copy that Lara Lowman, my wonderful wife, wrote for all of the segments works so well, with this last one being no exception.  Here is a link to the whole piece, if you didn't get it.  

By the way, we really didn't actually brand these little guys, Photoshop did it.

http://www.bardwrisley.com/mailimages/CatHerding_V3.html

Stay in touch!

Cat Herding #2

Here we are with our second image from the Cat Herding series.  As you can see, the world of cat herding can be pretty dirty and exhausting, particularly when it is a 100 degrees.  But despite the challenges it is rewarding as you can see by the expression on Monica's face.  Job well done!

We are feeling blessed that those hot days are passed and it actually cool at night these days.

Tomorrow shooting some portraits for a consulting firm and, if you can believe it more CATS!  This time for the Austin Humane Society's new calendar.  Then off to Atlanta to shoot for IDI and Cousins Properties.

Herding Cats

This summer was a busy one! I took the chaos of moving and turned it in to a promotion that was just sent out last week. If you didn't get it, here it is. Big events like moving and large production assignments are like herding cats.

My friend Monica Faucheaux, the beautiful woman in the image, and I were having coffee one morning...she was needing some new imagery for her book and I was trying to come up with a promotional concept for the fall. I wanted something that said "Texas" to cement in the folks in the Texas market that I was present. It needed to powerful, production heavy and, even more important fun...if it ain't fun, it's just not worth doing. Herding cats popped into my head as we were talking, and off we went.

So during the hottest summer in Texas history, me, Monica, Tara Cooper (makeup), Destry James and Brenda Lindfors (assistants) along with the help of our cowboy in residence Dan Mitchell with the location provided by Kaare Remme, in San Marcus, we shot a series of three images to tell the story for the "National Cat Herding Association." In post production, we secured the help of Whitney Hanson at the Austin Humane Society to help us wrangle a few of the furry beasts for a shoot there. Allison Hughes came in at the end to help with the Photoshop work.

All in all, everything went purrfect during and after the shoot, and of course, the folks at the NCHA were thrilled! Be looking for the next two installments.

Catching up

It has been a busy year with a lot of travel, mostly from Austin to Atlanta, but also to Dayton, Orlando, Rome, and Florence. I guess one of my new years resolutions should be to keep up with this blog.

As promised, here is the group shot of Peachtree Planning we do almost every year for their annual advertising campaign.

I suppose going to Italy was one of the years highlights to celebrate my father-in-law's 80th birthday. Visited Rome (the Pantheon, above), Florence and then landed in a small farm called Caminino where we stayed for a few days enjoying the relaxed atmosphere and good food. Caminino is a family owned olive orchard and vineyard. The original building was started around 1060 A.D. Here is an image from the orchard with an fortified out building.

The new year is starting off well. Leaving for three assignments in Atlanta next week for Equifax, First Data and an individual portrait as well.

I have produced a book of my commercial portrait imagery that should be going to press soon. This will give me a good tool to introduce myself around Austin.

Let's talk soon.