The Art of the Personal Project Archives

2019-01-082019-01-29

New for 2019 –It’s All About The Hustle; Part II

Andy Batt’s Bad Choices Project on Patreon

For the past four years I’ve been working hard, doing many of the things (concepting, writing, sketching, backstory-ing {yes, it’s a word now thankyouverymuch}, art directing, creative directing, regular directing, retouching+compositing, and mostly/lastly photographing. The difference is that this time it’s for me—so the good is that I get to do whatever I want, the not as good, but still good, is that I get to do everything. Or at least, it all has to start with me—and with a project of this size, I’ve happily delegated, assigned and collaborated– because what’s left is still an IMMENSE amount of work.

The while thing is called Bad Choices — it’s dystopian post-apocalyptic story/world/show, and it’s all flowing out of my head—characters, backstory, locations, events—all the things necessary to building a story universe from scratch.

I’ve shown the work here and there, private portfolio reviews, to a few people and places and have gotten a lot of encouragement from those interactions. So now it’s going Big(ger)! Now it’s got stuff to buy (art prints! poster prints!) over at our Big Cartel page, it’s got it’s very own crowdsourcing fundraiser page on Patreon (that makes it InternetReal™, right?) and I’ve actually printed the very first graphic novel from the Bad Choices world, called Misled No. 1 (Purchase and free PDF link coming in another post! Stay tuned!)

You can see a lot of the work on www.andybatt.com/badchoices — and you can read all about the hard work on my Patreon page—that’s where I’m hosting the process blog, covering anything that comes out of my head, and anything you all want to know (hint: you can ask questions over there)

Thanks for reading

-andy

Check out the for sale stuff here: https://andybattphoto.bigcartel.com/badchoices

Check out the Patreon (and throw a dollar+ in the hat if you BELIEVE): https://patreon.com/badchoicesproject

2018-07-26

Reflections on the Grand Canyon

Next week Andy is heading out to float the Green River, through Stillwater Canyon in Utah’s Canyonlands National Park. This made me realize we’ve never shared the images he created on his 18 days floating the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon.

Here’s a small selection of the work, along with a short interview I did with Andy. You can see the full gallery of images here.

What was it like being on a trip where photography wasn’t the main focus?

It’s nice to experience the world without worrying about finding/making images—but it’s hard to turn off that vision, to stop ‘seeing pictures’. For the most part I gave myself specific times to do photography, and the rest of the time was spent without a camera, or just making snapshots—mementos of the trip and not ‘art’.

What was it like being off the grid for 18 days?

Two different views as the rain moved in.

It’s great to be disconnected from devices, the internet, phones—that’s amazing. It’s the issue of power that was tricky—being a digital photographer in the wilderness creates all types of issues for charging up batteries—from packing in multiple pre-charged camera batteries (expensive) to having a solar panel to recharge in the field (slow and time consuming).

How did you decide what to photograph? How did you choose your subjects?

There’s a few games I always play when I’m out hunting landscape. I’m looking for shapes and alignments of distant objects and features, or repeated patterns and juxtapositions of lines and angles. I also look for disappearing moments; the light in the Canyon is amazing, but fleeting. It’s being sensitive to how the light is moving and changing—which in the Grand Canyon is all the time. Have a camera ready and photograph it “now’ because it will be gone by the time you dig your camera out of the bag.

From a wash right outside of Page, Arizona

Slow shutter on the Colorado River from camp.

How did you tackle the scale of the Grand Canyon?

The scale in the Canyon is beyond human—you build your impression by looking all around you because you are surrounded by amazingly huge and formidable forms. You can’t possibly photograph the complete vista, so I’m looking for ways to evoke a sense of wonder and place without burdening myself with an impossible assignment. Even “small’ features in the Grand Canyon are gigantic.

Of course, the literal idea of scale is possible using the same tricks that photographers of the early west used—include a body in the image for scale.

Looking at these images now, what comes to mind?

I want to go back and photograph the Grand Canyon again—I learned a lot about my process and seeing light + shape in that amazing place. Seeing these images with fresh eyes makes me happy.

Obligatory double rainbow parting shot, for those that made it to the end!

2018-06-282018-07-02

The cinematic world of Bad Choices

Andy created a dystopian world inhabited mainly by strong/interesting/dimensional female characters. This project is called Bad Choices—which is also the name of the town at the center of this conceptual story.

He set his goals high: “I was tired of photographing happy people holding

happy products and pointing at happy screens. I wanted to challenge myself, get outside of my comfort zone”.

One of Andy’s shots from a shoot for Best Buy

He went well beyond any comfort zones. Andy’s photography always tells a story regardless of the assignment, but to create a personal body of work that he could really sink his teeth into he needed something bigger. Many of his personal tastes and inspirations comes from the world of sci-fi, so he decided to start there. The project began as a character study with 12 different actors, and quickly became a full blown dystopian screenplay with overlapping story lines.

From each actor study, Andy started by painstakingly concepting and creating the key poster art for each character. One by one, the story has slowly revealed itself. He’s taken the project through 2 artist retreats on Anderson Island— using mind mapping, film research and creative brainstorming, all funneling in to the creation of the conceptual photographic scenes.

Stacks of inspiration for the Anderson Island retreats.

He knew he couldn’t attempt this project by himself, and so he reached out to a crew of talented artists to ask them to contribute to the project. He first reached out to Hair and Makeup Stylist Terri Lodge to help flesh out and design FX driven makeup to represent each of the characters.

Terri went all out with the special effects. Featured here is Katie.

Mandy is looking like she had a bad day.

Costume designer Rebecca Therkelsen was then quickly brought on to collaborate with Andy on the costuming, digging into the backstory of each character, to create a unique wardrobe for each of them.

‘I want the worst hazmat suit. One that no one would actually want to use.’ ~Andy

Art Director and Prop Master Ron Skrasek jumped at the chance to play in a post-apocalyptic world. His ability to transform words into key prop and set pieces have been critical to the visual storytelling.

Location scouting for our very first scene of Bad Choices.

Andy did a rough sketch of his idea for a road sign.

Camera Assistant Galvin Collins was brought on as a key resource, contributing to all areas of production, including prop-making.

Day before Isabel’s shoot, we realized we didn’t have shoes for her wardrobe. Galvin to the rescue, he made these overnight!

Naturally, Therese was responsible for logistics and project management, with critical help from Production Assistant Misty Post, who also worked as a prop wrangler and prop maker.

Designer Adam Murdoch also gave significant time and guidance to Andy and the project. His combination of graphic design and brand experience gave the project an immense amount of focus. Adam’s unique process created an amazing brand story and design for Bad Choices.

Adam presented us with a huge variety of branding options. It was inspiring!

What’s next for Bad Choices?

We are very excited to announce that in less than 2 weeks, we are shooting a new phase of the project, this time with the support of Lensbaby. Andy will be shooting with some of their top secret gear, and we’ll be taking the talent to the location. We can’t wait to add to this project. Until then, you can see all the images from the world of Bad Choices here!

6 of 7 completed character portraits from the series. 5 more to go!

And now I have a treat for you. Because you just read the entire post! That deserves a bunny!