Nathan Schroder is a Photographer from Dallas, Texas who began his interest in the medium at a young age. It wasn't until he left school, though, that he started to take elements from his influences to infuse his work. With more time to spend shaping his vision, technical skills and image creation skills, he began to develop a full understanding of his interest as a Photographer.
Shooting both in the studio and on location, Schroder draws much of his influence from the space around him, sometimes creating an image based solely on a location. For his commissioned pieces, he states the first and most important step it to ask the client their vision for the project, and then to build a story around it. He creates his images, "as a way of telling stories and conveying ideas." He also stresses the importance of keeping his clients feeling confident that their project is understood and in good hands.
Candles, Nathan Schroder, 2008. size unknown. http://www.nathanshroder.com.
Nathan Schroder's philosophy is that Photography is 75 percent preproduction, 10 percent shooting and 15 percent post-production. So far with the work that I do, that's certainly true. However, after further investigating, I found he has a lot of terrible cliches on his website (ie. "The way he sets up a photograph to tell a story - to capture its essence - turns an empty parking lot into an elegant spacescape.") Capture its essence and spacescape? I hope someone else wrote that for him. I don't know how seriously I should be taking him as a conceptual artist, but he's got some great advertising images!
Prairie Vodka Advertising Series:
Wolves, Nathan Schroder, 2008. size unknown. Commissioned advertisement for Prairie Vodka. http://www.nathanshroder.com.
Schroder's Prairie Vodka advertisement series was one of my favorite portfolios on his website. The ad agency OLSON created the vodka's first-ever print campaign with the slogan "Let the Prarie In", and hired Nathan Schroder as their photographer. He was to create print ads of polished models in an elegant setting next to stuffed animals that represent the prairie.
The agency stated that,"when you explain the concept, models and stuffed animals, it can come across as a little corny, but Nathan got it right away and in fact had done some shots featuring taxidermy. He brought the sophistication and drama that we were looking for."
Bison, Nathan Schroder, 2008. size unknown. Commissioned advertisement for Prairie Vodka. http://www.nathanshroder.com.
I guess the real reason I chose to research this artist was to recognize the technical perfections of his sets. I think he has an amazing grasp on scene setting, and his lighting skills are the perfect mix of dramatic low light and well exposed image. I need to learn from him.
http://www.nathanschroder.com/
http://www.commarts.com/fresh/nathan-schroder.html
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