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Adam Long is an advertising Creative Director at Industry, in Portland, OR. He's worked on campaigns for such esteemed brands as Nike, Jordan, Facebook (now Meta), Sony PlayStation, Yeti, and The World Cup. Plus, he helped an entire city (Portland) rebrand itself after its reputation was damaged during the pandemic. Listen as we discuss his nurturing as a Creative Director by former Wieden + Kennedy creatives, how he values personal projects, and lots more.
Adam Long, Creative Director at Industry, (worked on Nike, Jordan, Facebook/Meta, Sony PlayStation, Yeti, The World Cup...).
Check out Adam’s sweet creative direction and filmmaking work on his portfolio site. It’s a great blend of clients and approaches.
I’m your host, Neil Binkley, Founder of The Personal Photography Project. We are a resource for art producers, photo editors and all creatives to discover photographers (and their licensable images) through their personal work.
A sampling of the different brands that he’s done work for, which can be seen on Adam’s portfolio site:
We discuss a bunch of talented photographers (click links to see their work):
Adam’s wonderful illustrations, that he posts to Instagram:
Not to mention, Adam’s award-winning, short films.
In our discussion today, Adam and I talk about many things. If your podcast app shows chapters — well check ‘em out, because I added them! Otherwise, here’s a list of topics discussed, plus you can click on the timestamp to jump to that part of the interview (but OF COURSE, you’re listening all the way through the episode…):
[00:00:00] Adam Long: Bio
[00:04:18] Is Portland Still Weird?
[00:06:37] Faking it before you're making it
[00:07:19] Shooting 16mm vs Video vs DSLR Motion
[00:08:58] Larger vs. Smaller Agencies
[00:10:08] Filmmaker to Art Director to Creative Director
[00:11:18] Mentored by former Wieden + Kennedy creatives
[00:12:19] Advertising that's fake
[00:14:39] Making travel ads for a "controversial" city
[00:17:12] How Adam works with photography and photographers
[00:23:47] He values a photographer's personal work
[00:26:18] The value of personal work, for any creative field
[00:30:03] Are printed things still valuable?
[00:32:11] Finding photographers on Instagram
[00:35:10] Is Photography being used more, less, or about the same as 5 years ago?
[00:36:30] Photographers who direct or DP as well?
[00:37:37] His Portfolio
[00:38:57] This interview is a little different than talking with Art producers
[00:42:36] Anything that he wishes photographers would do more of?
[00:43:50] Does he look at photographers' portfolios anymore?
[00:46:30] The variety of work he's done
[00:49:29] How often does his work end up on social?
[00:50:05] The power of video
[00:52:20] Memorable things on social media
[00:54:42] Does he like being contacted by photographers?
[00:55:18] How often is he in an office these days?
[00:56:49] Projects that stood out to him on The Personal Photography Project
[01:04:41] AI in photography
[01:08:19] Creatives are artists, too
[01:10:05] What he'd do, if not a Creative Director
[01:10:48] He's also a talented illustrator and filmmaker
Are.na (social media for designers, discussed during our Pinterest discussion). I'm curious to try them out. One, because Adam recommended them. Secondly, they have a compelling concept: they will never show advertising. "We are the only social media company whose only customers are the people who use it."
You can see the rest of our Photopod episodes here, or by subscribing on your podcast player of choice: Apple, Google, my favorite: Overcast, Spotify, etc.). Plus: subscribe to our newsletter, below, for reminders when new episodes are out!
Please drop me a line with questions, feedback, and ideas for future interviews! And if you're somoene who hires or otherwise supports photographers, and would like to be considered for a future interview, please contact me as well!
Photopod is the official podcast of The Personal Photography Project: a destination for Photo Editors, Art Producers, and other Creatives to explore a growing archive of photographers' personal projects to source talent & license photos.
