We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Michael Nalley. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Michael below.
Hi Michael, thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.
With a background as an advertising Creative Director/Art Director, I Approach a photo shoot, like I would as a branding person. Particularly if it is a project like developing a brand’s image library. This allows me the knowledge to capture the images the client needs, but recognize opportunities that might arise that are consistent with the brand’s overall objectives. This will result in often the most unexpected images. Along the same lines, it helps me recognize images that might be cool, but are essentially off brand. If it’s an interesting image I’ll probably shoot it anyway, I just won’t include it in the client’s library.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I went to art school at the University of Michigan and double majored in advertising/design and photography. For a while it was unclear if I would pursue commercial photography or advertising. Ultimately I chose advertising because as an art director I would get to come up with the ideas. As a photographer, unless you lived in a rarified world like an Avedon or Albert Watson, photographers largely executed. To the degree the photographer is artful, they can often bring something to the image that the art director didn’t consider. A talented photographer can make a mediocre art director better. But more times than not, it’s just executing the AD’s idea.
I moved to New York and got a job at GREY Advertising and then another agency as an assistant art director. As for photography, I was constantly shooting for myself and I met many photographers on shoots who very gracious with their time and I learned a lot. Eventually I moved to LA, Portland and Seattle working for a number of agencies. Along the way I started shooting a few projects for advertising clients. In 2005 I became the Creative Director on Holland America Line for DDB. Within a couple of years I went from art directing large brand shoots to pulling together a crew and shooting for that client as well as other mostly travel related clients.
In 2011 DDB closed and I oened my advertising group called Wax Exp. We continued to work for Holland America and other new clients like basik855, a Cambodia based company that produced high-end fashion accessories and Maasai Honey, a non-profit in Tanzania dedicated to creating a sustainable business for Maasai women. We eventually picked up Windstar Cruises, and in addition to the advertising and branding, myself and photo crew did shoots in Vietnam, Morocco, Mallorca, Italy and the Caribbean.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
I’ve always been interested in the interplay between creatives and non-creatives. Whether the non-creatives are the account people in an agency or the actual business clients. It’s ironic that creatives and non-creatives have to work together to complete a shared goal. For creatives I believe it is important to understand what is driving the non-creative. What are they trying to get accomplished? What pressures are they under? Who do they need to answer to? If you can understand these issues and make the business person feel heard and understood you have a better chance of selling them on a creative idea they may originally feel pretty risky.
To non-creatives it’s helpful if they understand that creatives often take their ideas very personal. You don’t have to agree or sign off on an idea, but it is important to be respectful of the idea. Also I have found the most creative creatives are often not the best at articulating their idea or why they did what they did. They just did it because they know it’s right. Drawing out the creative will be helpful.
And this takes us back to creatives. Realize you are not talking to another creative. See paragraph 1.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
Word of mouth has been the best source of new business for me. Creating a track record from one to the next. Social media does a great job staying in front of current or past clients, but I have rarely had someone who knows me only from coming across me in social media call me up with a job.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://michaelnalleyphotography.com
- Instagram: @michaelnalleyphotography
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelnalley