Reportage and Viewbook Photography

 

Lawler Political Science Class

The professor above is a member of the Society of Scholars at the Madison Center at Princeton University, and the George Washington Professor on the American founding for the Society of Cincinnati for the state of Georgia.  He is also a member of President Bush’s Council on Bioethics.  I think the potential student will think this guy must be pretty smart because of the messy office.  And they would be right.  He’s brilliant and is one of the most desired advisers on campus.  This became a postcard for admissions.  The response was enormous so I am told.
 

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The Yale Daily News from September 23 ( http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/25313 )a story about the debut of the institution’s new Viewbook. 

Personally the most telling portion of this comes from YDN staff writer Paul Needham. “Indeed, while the viewbook is in large part free of the saccharine photography that pervades so many admissions brochures (think smiling teens throwing a Frisbee on a sunny day), students are very much present on its pages. ”  I could not have said that any better… and I have not seen the Yale viewbook yet!

Of course having the resources of Pentagram Design putting this together, it was guaranteed  to be a world-class publication.  Pentagram partner Michael Bierut, a senior critic in graphic design at Yale who headed the viewbook’s design appears to have put a strong emphasis on discovery.  Which is as it should be.

All of this is simply a matter of good planning and from the photoraphy side, a little bit of luck.  But as we know luck favors the prepared mind.  Every institution has a story to tell.  That’s what Admissions Marketing Photography should be.  Break out of the mold when you are planning your next viewbook. 

 

Paul O’Mara

www.photomara.com