Three Questions with Nosyeux
Nosyeux: What fuels your passions?
Me: My passions are not so much fueled by anything as I am fueled by my passions.
Read the (short) interview here
Posts tagged work.
It might be small but I am still happy to have my picture of Parker Posey make the latest issue of W Magazine.
My Mom and I shoot some new work for the boys over at Armstrong and Wilson to highlight their line of pocket squares. If you have not heard of these guys they are putting out some of the best squares out there and you would be remiss to ignore them. Outtakes here and here.
Yesterday three people were arrested in Florida for, get this, feeding a group of homeless people. When I read the article I thought, “huh, that is fucking insane”, so Jayson and I made this little website to highlight just that.
Check it out, because in a world where you can buy a flamethrower and marry your 1st cousin you should be able to feed someone in need. Please reblog and spread the word.
James Nord for sale ›
Some of my pictures for Image Source’s Rights Managed collection are live. I have not gotten my model releases in order yet, so they are just landscape and travel. Check it out though.
**Note, these are really just for commercial use, if you ever want to buy a picture for personal use drop me a line.**
Fueled by Stumptown coffee from Schiller’s, Travis and I finally finished up Pretty Good Summer. To be sold in the coming week.
Invisible Internet
I believe that markets move and evolve into orderly hierarchies. This product is better than that one, but certainly not as good as others. As a consumer, the market helps to define you and narrows your purchasing decisions, that is the idea at least. Sex does the same thing right? You learn growing up where you stand in the pecking order of attractiveness and charm. You use that knowledge for two things, first to avoid embarrassment by trying to attract a mate outside of your ladder rung, second is to make sure you are getting the best you can. While the idea might be unsavory it is at work. Suppliers and demanders learn their limitations and power and generally accept them.
So I was thinking recently how this translates to the internet. In here, the barriers to entry don’t exist. Want a blog? Here you go. Need a Twitter? Easy. In it’s infancy there were no ladder rungs here, no organization. Problem is that the internet is a market and it needed to regulate, it needs its Invisible Hand. The Invisible Hand states most basically that producers are free to produce what they please, and consumers free to consume, and that the market will organize the two groups and create hierarchies. What’s interesting in our space is that many of us are not fighting for revenue but recognition. In the market of clout content becomes king. So as the Invisible Hand is looking to either push people to or take people away from your corner of the internet ask yourself what are you producing? Where does the demand for your unique content lay? Do you inspire people, or turn them on? Do you make them hungry or make them cry? These are all needs that can be fulfilled by stories, but a story you must tell. There might be a market for sloppy story telling, but you can bet the Invisible Hand won’t find it.
SOCIAL MEDIA IS DEAD!
If you read any marketing blogs you see this headline every month or so. Another big brand tried social media only to have it blow up in the their face. Things became more interesting recently when it was annonced that Pepsi has fallen into third amongst soft drinks (behind Diet Coke). This coming a few months after Pepsi engaged in one of the largest social media campaigns ever with Pepsi Refresh.
So what happened? Marketing is moving from push to pull right? This is all supposed to be about conversations, not directions. Why then did this not work? Is social media “dead”.
Well, as you might guess, I think those crying to put social media on the stake are sensationalists, and just like Tiger Woods’ career, it is anything but dead. In my opinion, Pepsi’s misstep was to have social media be the crux of the campaign. If you look at Fortune 500 marketing campaigns as a car social media is the exhaust note, it amplifies and adds to the experience but it is not (yet) the engine. If Pepsi’s failure proves anyting it is that social media is in it’s infancy, not death. If it proves anything it will be that Pepsi is a bit early in abondoning TV.
BASECAMP
I feel like they are falling out of favor amongst young professionals (I switched to Action Method, as did Chad). Did 37 Signals spend so much time talking about how great they are that they forgot they actually had to keep being great?
Part of the consulting gig I am on is about trying to tone down the clients advertising and introduce some understatement to an industry dominated by screaming. Plastic surgery centers traditionally advertise “tits, tits, tits” but my thinking is we can talk about the transformation the patient undergoes: from someone who lacks confidence to someone who has it. I want them to think they are going to wake up a new person, because that is exactly what they are banking on.
Here is one of the images from my pitch. {image borrowed from}
I was asked my Director of Strategy to come up with a new brand statement for Image Source. Something that would drive everything that we did as a company and push us to be a better brand.
I struggled with it for a while, trying to figure out what role a commercial photography company could take in people’s lives. See we want to become a place that people want to visit, not one that they have to.
I settled on the idea of inspiration, that we would become a place that challenged people to do “Work Worth Remembering”. Everything in this world is disposable, and if we could all strive to create extraordinary things then maybe we could shift the tilt of our creative world.
I often need to see my ideas played out before I can decide if I like them, so Amy was kind enough to come out to Far Rockaway Beach to help me with this.
I don’t know if Image Source is going to go with this concept. It might be a bit overdramatic and arrogant, but I like that idea that we might ask you to do better, try harder.
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Title: Is That Clear
Artist: Nick Waterhouse
1,051 plays
Nick Waterhouse - Is That Clear
A demo off the EP that Nick will be recording in (hopefully) less than one month. Killing it.
I believe sometimes in life you can be drawn to things without having much understanding of why. When I first listened to “Some Place” by Nick Waterhouse and the Turn Keys, I dug up the contact info for the label and emailed Nick to say I thought he was doing something brave and admirable. Fast forward two weeks and now I am proud to say that I am part owner of Pres Records and will be helping Nick nights and weekends with marketing, branding and promotion of his fantastic band.
I have never worked in the music industry (much like I never worked in the photography industry as of 8 months ago), all I know is Nick is one of the good ones. He sunk every dime he has into this single and no corners were cut, no vision spared. I got into this because his passion is contagious and I want to help bring that to as many people as is possible.
So on that note, we are happy to report that the first pressing has completely sold out! Don’t fret though, we have just ordered a re-pressing of the single and are taking pre orders now (on iTunes here). If you order a single and follow my blog just send me an email and I will make sure a print of one of my photographs finds it’s way to you for free.
So follow our label’s tumblr, twitter and facebook. I think great things are afoot.
HIGHLIGHTED LIFE
THE PERSONAL TUMBLELOG OF JAMES NORD:
the author of this blog is:
accidental photographer
amateur cyclist
sartorial stickler
hustle disciple
ask me anything
