Tim Gruber and Jenn Ackerman use both photography and video to tell stories for editorial and commercial clients. 
As a freelancer you rarely get the rush of working on deadline. My last assignment for Education Week gave me a taste of that rush again. I had to shoot a portrait of a student just blocks from our house and have the photos turned around that same afternoon. It was a great feeling! It was also nice to get a glimpse into the school our kids might one day be attending. A double bonus!
A few photos -
Fall behind winter is my favorite season in Minnesota. There’s not much better than the crisp morning air with the warm sun providing a sparkle for the dew on the grass that glistens like a diamond. Of course you can’t have fall in Minnesota without golden corn and a pumpkin patch or two. So this assignment for the Wall Street Journal about the pumpkin harvest was the perfect way to spend a fall day.
A few photos -
Recently I had the chance to work on two fun assignments for the US News & World Report. One of those two took me to Gundersen Lutheran in La Crosse, Wisconsin where I photographed Mike who has receiving chemo treatment for a rare form of lymphoma.
I had no idea Mike was to be discharged that afternoon until I arrived. It made for what could have easily been a depressing story into a joyous one. I spent an exciting afternoon with Mike and his wife Mary and an endless stream of hospital staff coming in to give their well wishes. It was easy to see the staff truly cared about Mike and he would be missed as they said their good-byes and shared an abundance of hugs. In the little quite time we did have we discussed our love for MPR(Minnesota Public Radio) and the usefulness of having an iPad to pass the time in a hospital.
The only sad point in the story came days after our assignment and finding out that the wife of Chris Stauffer, spokesperson for Gundersen Lutheran, died in a moped accident. Even though I only worked with Chris for a few brief hours I knew from the start he was a great guy. He understood what I was trying to do and was very hands-off and made sure I had the time and space I needed to capture heartfelt and telling images. Seeing what I saw from the Gunderson staff that day I know Chris was surrounded by love and support during a very tragic time.
On a day that I found myself at Target buying a new backpack before leaving for our trip to Brazil and a fresh box of #2 pencils I joked with Jenn that it felt like I was back to school shopping. Then ironically enough I get an email from Erica at The Wall Street Journal asking if I can photograph back to school shoppers that afternoon at Target. Hours later I was back at my local Target photographing families back to school shopping.
A few photos from the assignment –
One of my goals for 2011 was to get my work seen in more galleries. This summer I’ve seen that goal become a reality.
Work from my Island project is currently hanging in three different shows with a fourth on the way. Here in Minnesota you can find the work at the Eco Byways show at St John’s and St Ben’s University. My work was honored with a honorable mention. A photo from my island project can also be seen in the Visual Arts Minnesota show where it was a Juror’s Choice winner.
If you find yourself in Texas my work is also hanging at the Houston Center for Photography, which I had the pleasure of visiting for the opening and was really impressed both with their space and the photo community in Houston. It was a wonderful show curated by Ariel Shanberg from The Center for Photography at Woodstock. Jenn told me great things about Ariel after meeting him at Review Santa Fe so it was nice to put a face to the name. The opening came at a great time for me since I’ve been shooting in the Outer Banks on and off this summer and will be returning soon so it was nice to get a fresh perspective from Ariel and others at the opening. Definitely check out the show if you have a chance. See the photographers and work in the show on the Houston Center for Photography website.
My work will also be hanging in the Photo Center NW show in Seattle curated by Karen Irvine from the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago.
I was flattered to find an email land in my inbox the other day congratulating me on being selected into the 2011 PDN Photo Annual Contest. Word on the street has it over 3,000 photographers applied? I was happy to be one of the chosen.
The project awarded was The Island project I’ve been working on. It’s always great to have your work acknowledged
but it’s even sweeter when it’s a personal project shot on film that means a great deal to you.
Here are some scans from the project that I’ve yet to share. I hope you enjoy them.
To see a full edit of the project so far see the gallery on the fine-art section of our website.
“Individually we are one drop. Together we are an ocean.”
At times it’s easy to lose sight of just how therapatic the camera for me can be. It’s easy to get caught up in the chase of being photographer. Sometimes you feel like you can never catch up.
These photos for me are my way of breathing in the warm salty air and letting my mind get lost in the echoes of the waves crashing. I look at them today and I’m taken back to the warm ocean air and feel the cool sand on my bare feet. It’s just me, a camera, the powerful Atlantic and not a thought racing through my head.
Perhaps John F. Kennedy said it best though.
I really don’t know why it is that all of us are so committed to the sea, except I think it is because in addition to the fact that the sea changes and the light changes, and ships change, it is because we all came from the sea. And it is an interesting biological fact that all of us have, in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch it we are going back from whence we came.
As a kid I had a phase where my favorite things to watch on TV were the WWF and monster truck racing. After all what 7-year old boy doesn’t love watching the likes of Hulk Hogan and The Macho Man Randy Savage screaming non-sense at one another and settling their problems by slamming chairs over their opponent’s head. To follow that up I’d watch monster trucks turn cars into pancakes. My favorite monster truck was The Grave Digger.
So you can imagine my delight when on my way to the Outer Banks for the first time we passed the headquarters of The Grave Digger. After years of driving past it I finally decided to stop and make a photo.
For a few seconds when I was out making this photo I felt like that 7-year old boy again.
The new year has started at a great pace for me with an incredible portion of my time dedicated to shooting. I recently spent more time working on my favorite little island off the coast of North Carolina. Over a few weeks I burnt through nearly 50 rolls of film during what is the off-season on the island. The off-season also happens to be my favorite time to spend on the Outer Banks. With the island free of tourists it’s easier to get lost in your thoughts and become totally immersed in your work.
Enjoy these latest scans:
We were in DC last week to shop our new books around. (Thanks for the hospitality Kleinfeld!) One of our meetings was with Michael Wichita at AARP. Who despite having to leave the next day for NYC, spent the majority of his night engaging us in a great discussion about everything from photo books to dream assignments. In talking about dream assignments, Michael asked if there was anything we could work on what would it be? Perhaps you have a dream assignment that you have been cooking up for awhile, but it left me stumped and had me thinking about it for the rest of the night.
Only a little later did it dawn on me that the things I’m working on now are my dream assignments. Nobody assigned them to me. Nobody is telling me how to shoot it and by when. Both projects I’m working are very personal. They are about places and people I care about deeply. Both are rooted deep with family history and a desire to make sure my kids have a visual reference to their past. I’m able to work at my own pace. Shoot what I want when I want. The only constraints or weight I feel from these projects are self-generated.
I’ve also realized that I feel most at home with my Hasselblad. For some reason I don’t feel the pressures I do when I’m shooting with a 35mm. My head isn’t polluted with thoughts of working moments or layers. With the Hasselblad my definition of a moment has shifted. I’m no longer chasing things. I’ve slowed down and let things find me.
Thanks Michael for helping me realize that my dream assignments are in fact the personal projets that I am working on right now. I hope that as I pursue new personal projects that this continues to be a trend.
What is your dream assignment?
A new image for The Island project.