Lupine Hammack’s In Camera Skills Create a Striking Illusion for Progressive Insurance
What has a bunch of locations, five motorcycles, two dogs, a bundle of balloons and one photographer standing in the middle of a busy intersection? As obvious as this riddle might seem, we’ll give you the answer; Lupine Hammack’s project with Progressive Insurance and Arnold Worldwide.
The ability to be dynamic is a quality that agencies and brands are always looking for in a photographer. Lupine’s vision through alchemy ensures that he can take any idiosyncratic shoot component and convert it to the hero aspect of the final visual. For his project with Progressive, the client wanted background plates that allude to the viewer being in motion paired with still-life images of motorcycles. While initially considering two photographers to take these two very different shoots on, Lupine’s experience, enterprising ideas and communication skills assured them that he and his team could cohesively solve the creative puzzle.
So join us at your boss's retirement party, your sister's dog's birthday party, your coworker’s improv show and a few other spots, as Lupine translates the feeling of whipping around town on a motorcycle to our screens. Created all in camera.
“I approach my work through a lens of alchemy; taking really simple elements and turning them into something extraordinary. What I found is that this process takes a lot of experimenting, all of which informs what tools and techniques I’ll use to achieve the final result.” - Lupine Hammack
What was your most memorable moment on this project?
One of the nights of shooting we were in a pretty dicey neighborhood and were trying to keep a low profile, in addition to having an armed security guard, so that we didn’t have any problems. Unfortunately for me, some of the angles required me to be out in the street and my producer insisted that I wear one of those ridiculous orange safety vests so that I didn’t get clipped by a car, bus, or bike for that matter. It was a fair point. So there I was trying to not be seen enough to get robbed, while also being seen enough to not get hit by a car… meanwhile, the agency team is tucked safely away in their cozy warm homes watching it unfold over zoom as if it was a live action traveling road show. Pretty hilarious. Anything for the shot, as our Art Director Jamie would say.
What did you learn on this project?
That there’s no such thing as too much testing. I approach my work through a lens of alchemy; taking really simple elements and turning them into something extraordinary. What I found is that this process takes a lot of experimenting, all of which informs what tools and techniques I’ll use to achieve the final result. It was really fun to try out techniques for the backgrounds beforehand, finding out “Yes! This is working.” or “No, this isn’t it.”, all the while getting a better and better result each time. It gave us all, including the client, a lot of confidence in the process so that on shoot days we were able to move really quickly and have lots of creative freedom.
What do you hope people learn about you and your work after viewing this?
I’m always tinkering with the ingredients, trying to make magic while shooting and what lets me set everything else down to focus on creating is the feeling that we are all on the same page. Between the agency, the client and our internal team what gets us all to a good place is trust. Being open and honest from the start about what we are all faced with to get the work created, whether its logistics, budget, moving parts within teams, etc, we’re there to listen and to help come up with solutions. Having trust in place with agency partners and the trust they build with their clients is the name of the game. The feeling that we are all on the same team working towards the same goal - that’s super special.
To see the full story, link here.