STEVE HOLLOWAY [ PHOTOGRAPHS ] - Drop Top Road Trips

Pre iPhone Images. Film and Digital.

A portfolio and bio from before Drop Top Road Trips. Begins with my first images and continues until I retired from shooting full time.

UPDATED JULY 14, 2022. The Photographs.

WRITTEN & PHOTOGRAPHED BY: STEVE HOLLOWAY

Even as early as elementary school, I’ve seen myself doing what I do today, creating images and telling stories.

What will you take away from this post?

While this is a deep dive into one person’s career path, I hope your take away will be that it’s also a model that adapts to any career path.

That, even when your interests, dreams, goals and aspirations seem unattainable, there is always a way. A way to learn what you need to know. To turn your life into an ongoing series of learning moments. To develop a skill set. To do whatever comes next. To keep working until you’re able to do what you want to do.

The Photographs.

Steve Holloway [ Photographs ] focuses on pre iPhone film and digital images produced up until the time I retired from full time commercial work.

These Pre iPhone images are still Shot on iPhone (sort of).

These images, originally shot on film or with DSLRs, are now Shot on iPhone. How? Think copy work. The original photographs used here were taken from portfolio page designs that were output on Fuji Photo Paper to use for agency, designer and client calls (above).

Copied on iPhone.

Using iPhone for copy work. For reproduction here, I used my iPhone 11 Pro Max to rephotograph images from the original portfolio pages. (Read the full story Copied on iPhone at the end of this post.)

My career has been divided between two disciplines: design and photography.

First, as a photographer creating fashion images for print advertising, product images for catalogs and corporate images for financial advertising and annual reports.

I started studying advertising, copywriting and design and how they work together with the image. I knew that, if I understood this relationship between images and message, I could create better photographs.

Then I found that I enjoyed creating and organizing content as much as I did creating images. That led to founding Holloway Associates.

Holloway Associates was a marketing and design firm producing radio and television advertising for regional retail accounts and designing publications, corporate identity packages, point-of-sale displays, and collateral materials for home lighting control and athletic shoe manufacturers.

Holloway Associates Shoots.

Standing out in a changing media environment.

This first set of images was shot in the early eighties for Holloway Associates’ new account pitch presentation.

The images were tasked with personifying the crowded media problem advertisers and marketers were dealing with even then.

Cable television was bringing HBO, MTV, TBS and CNN into our homes 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Talk radio was available throughout prime time on multiple channels. Outdoor advertising went from limited showings to market saturation. Newspaper, magazine and professional publication advertising were each growing. FM radio had created its’ own market. AM radio was still strong. Plus direct mail marketing was expanding like crazy.

Add all of that together and it was easy for a message to get lost.

Holloway Associates specialized in creatives that stood out from the “background noise”. Addy Award winning advertising and collateral materials used by corporations, manufacturers and retailers for local and national campaigns.

The Saville Series (below) was created as the intro sequence for Information, The marketing challenge of the eighties our multi-projector, audio/visual prospecting presentation.

THE SAVILLE SERIES / HOLLOWAY ASSOCIATES MULTI-PROJECTOR PRESENTATION / © STEVE HOLLOWAY

This is one of my favorite sets of images.

Its simplicity helps tell the story. One day. One model. Two locations. Three clothing changes. Ambient light supplemented with quartz light sources.

Photographed at a private residence and in the offices next to Holloway Associates. Illuminated with Bogen quartz lights through Translum and diffused with petroleum jelly smeared on a UV filter in front of the lens to add atmosphere by creating directional diffuse “light beams” coming from light sources. Shot on Nikon F3 and FMs, one with a Polaroid back, using 24mm f2.8, 43-86mm f3.5 zoom and 50mm f1.4 lenses. Exposed on Ektachrome 400, push processed to ISO 1600 to add warmth and bring out some grain.

LELA B’S / HOLLOWAY ASSOCIATES CLIENT: THE CROCKETT HOTEL / © STEVE HOLLOWAY

Photographed for the agency account, The Crockett Hotel, the image was used in collateral materials and in newspaper and magazine print advertising.

Again, illuminated with Bogen quartz lights through Translum and diffused with petroleum jelly smeared on a UV filter in front of the lens to add atmosphere. Photographed on a Nikon F3 plus an Nikon FM with a Polaroid back using a 24mm f2.8 lens. Exposed on Ektachrome 100, push processed to ISO 400 to add warmth and bring out some grain.

Within two years:

Holloway Associates grew into a full-time, in-house contract with Voss Products providing advertising, marketing and design services for their medical device and environmental sampling device product lines.

Back to shooting full time.

After ten years I returned to shooting full time. Images included here are taken from portfolio pages created from those shoots.

A new start, a new portfolio.

To return to shooting full time, I worked with Elyse Weissberg to develop a new portfolio targeted at larger agency, design firm and commercial accounts.

Elyse was a photo rep based in New York City and known nationwide for winning top accounts for her clients. She also consulted with freelance photographers throughout the country acting as their editor, showing them how to identify markets, develop portfolios and win enough high-paying work to survive and thrive.

Getting an objective, professional outsider’s look at my work in progress was a first for me.

Getting it from a top rated New York based photo rep was, well, unnerving. What if she saw my pages and told me I was wasting my time? That I should find a different career?

Fortunately that didn’t happen. Elyse saw things in my work that I hadn’t. How the images could work together to tell an emotional story.

I would ship pages to her for review followed by phone conferences to shape and focus the finished portfolio.

(For a full profile, read Elyse Weissberg in Influences at the end of this post.)

If you can get outside input on work you’re getting ready to take to your prospective market, always, always do it. The only hard condition is to find a professional that actually does what you’re going to do. Not some generic seminar, pod cast or on-line class. In my case, I was going to show portfolios to get assignments. My consultant’s primary business was as a photographer’s rep showing portfolios to get assignments in New York. She knew what the most demanding clients in the country were looking for and responding to.

My costs for the consultations totaled $1,000.00. Was it worth it? In my very first agency showing, the Art Director got to the last page of my portfolio, picked it up and left the room. When he came back, I found out he had taken it to the Managing General Partner and told her she had to see this book.

That first showing and contacts from that first agency account generated assignments for Bromley Communications, The University of the Incarnate Word, Page Barteau Catering, Incarnate Word High School, Job Corps, Medicare, Cutting Edge Communications, Taylor West Advertising, Beldon Roofing and remodeling, IBC Bank, Edwards Aquifer, Voss Medical Products, Voss Products and Vipore Filtration.

CHRIS NO. 1 / © STEVE HOLLOWAY

Photographed on location. Illuminated with Bogen quartz lights and Translum diffusion. Nikon F3, 43-86mm f3.5 zoom. Exposed on Vericolor III ISO 160.

LAYING AROUND / © STEVE HOLLOWAY

Photographed on location. Illuminated with a Norman 400 watt second battery powered flash with modeling light head in a 45” Wescott Halo round softbox. Nikon F3, 43-86mm f3.5 zoom. Exposed on Vericolor III ISO 160.

CHRIS NO. 2 / © STEVE HOLLOWAY

Photographed in studio with two Westcott self contained flash units through 8’ x 8’ and 4’ x 4’ Dean Collins light panels. Vello FreeWave Wireless Triggers flash sync control. Nikon F3, 43-86mm f3.5 zoom. Exposed on TRI X ISO 400.

IAN NO. 2 / © STEVE HOLLOWAY

Photographed in studio with one Westcott self contained flash unit in a Westcott 28” Apollo Softbox and silver fill reflector. Vello FreeWave Wireless Triggers flash sync control. Nikon F3, 43-86mm f3.5 zoom. Exposed on TRI X ISO 400.

RIVERWALK NUMBER 4 SAN ANTONIO TEXAS / © STEVE HOLLOWAY

Photographed on location. Nikon F3, 24mm f2.8. Long exposure on TRI X 400 push processed to ISO 800.

GULLS / © STEVE HOLLOWAY

Photographed on location. Illuminated with one camera mounted Quantum Instruments Qflash T2 400 Watt Second flash head with modeling light and external Turbo battery. Nikon F3, 43-86mm f3.5 zoom. Exposed on Vericolor III ISO 160.

STEVEN / © STEVE HOLLOWAY

Photographed in studio. Illuminated with two Westcott self contained flash units with 8’ x 8’ and 4’ x 4’ Dean Collins light panels. Vello FreeWave Wireless Triggers flash sync control. Nikon F3, 43-86mm f3.5 zoom. Exposed on TRI X ISO 400.

SKATERS / © STEVE HOLLOWAY

Digital Evolution.

I chose an interesting time to go back to shooting full time. Not six months before, the Olympus E 10 hit the market. With a 4 megapixel image sensor, the E 10 was the first digital SLR designed for commercial work. The E 10 was followed by the Olympus C 5050 with a 5 megapixel CCD sensor then the Canon EOS 10D with a 6 megapixel CMOS sensor.

CUTTING EDGE COMMUNICATIONS WEB IMAGE / PHOTOGRAPHED WITH THE OLYMPUS E 10 / © STEVE HOLLOWAY

OLYMPUS E 10: The Olympus E 10 was my first digital camera. Introduced in 2000, it was also the first digital SLR designed for commercial assignment work. The Olympus E 10 had a 4 megapixel CCD image sensor. The images it produced had harsh skin tones and lacked all of film’s finesse and smoothness in faces, eyes, arms and hands.

That didn’t matter.

Starting literally the day the E 10 became available, every ad agency, design firm and commercial account insisted on digital images.

Why? Because it eliminated the time involved and cost of film, processing, color separations and proofs. It was faster and cost less.

And those images got used for everything from collateral material to full page magazine advertising to full size, outdoor billboards.

JOB CORPS STUDENT RECRUITMENT MATERIALS IMAGE / PHOTOGRAPHED WITH THE OLYMPUS C 5050 / © STEVE HOLLOWAY

OLYMPUS C 5050: Next, in 2002, came the Olympus C 5050 with a 5 megapixel CCD image sensor. Not perfect but a larger file size and better image capture sped up post production turnaround.

EDWARD / PHOTOGRAPHED WITH THE CANON EOS 10D / © STEVE HOLLOWAY

CANON 10D: Then, in 2003, Canon introduced a game changer. The EOS 10D with 6.3 megapixel CMOS image sensor. CMOS instead of CCD image capture technology. The detail and skin tones you could achieve with CMOS was phenomenal. The digital noise and debris were virtually nonexistent and you could scale images up to almost any size.

After the 10D, I upgraded to the new Canon EOS 20D with 8.2 megapixel CMOS image sensor in 2004 then added a new EOS 7D with an 18 megapixel CMOS image sensor in 2010. I shot with the 7D and 20Ds until I retired in 2017.

BROMLEY COMMUNICATIONS FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF THE INCARNATE WORD / ANCHOR IMAGE FOR THE FACE OF TEXAS CAMPAIGN / © STEVE HOLLOWAY

Almost overnight, this anchor image of the student in the hallway began appearing in television spots, on billboards, transit adverting, in newspapers and magazines. And it kept appearing over the next three years.

The Face of Texas Campaign.

For their 2009 student recruitment campaign, The University of the Incarnate Word turned to Bromley Communications.

While some projects seem to blend in with the daily routine of shooting, this one didn’t.

It was my first project with Bromley, a local agency with national accounts.

Bromley brought ideas and creative direction to the process that translated to significant work.

BROMLEY COMMUNICATIONS FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF THE INCARNATE WORD / THE FACE OF TEXAS CAMPAIGN / © STEVE HOLLOWAY

If you don’t know who Bromley is, here’s a brief timeline of how they grew from local to national prominence:

1981: Lionel Sosa starts Sosa & Associates.

1985: Sosa & Associates names Ernest Bromley Chief Operating Officer.

Bromley, who grew up in Mexico, had noticed some Hispanics only spoke English, some only spoke Spanish, and some spoke a mixture. Bromley’s idea became the start the agency’s unique approach to Latino consumerism using a marketing strategy of producing bilingual commercials.

1987: Sosa & Associates was named Domino’s Pizza’s first ever Hispanic Agency of Record.

1988: Bromley produced the Coca Cola commercial that featured Tejano star Selena.

1989: Sosa & Associates was named the Burger King Hispanic Agency of Record.

1990: Ernest Bromley became a partner and Sosa & Associates became Sosa, Bromley, Aguilar & Associates.

2000: After several mergers and partners, Bromley Aguilar & Associates became simply Bromley Communications.

That same year, Bromley won the San Antonio Convention and Visitors Bureau account, becoming the first Hispanic agency to be named General Market Agency of Record for the city of San Antonio. It’s a relationship that lasted 12 years and helped position San Antonio as a top vacation destination.

2001: Bromley was named the Payless ShoeSource HispanicAgency of Record.

2002: Bromley was named the Coors Brewing Company Hispanic Agency of Record.

Bromley was a perfect match for The University of the Incarnate Word’s new multi-nationality, multi-denominational campaign.

Working together with Bromley’s Creative and Art Directors, we created this extraordinary set of images for local and regional newspaper and magazine advertising and to combine as stills to video for local and regional television commercials.

BROMLEY COMMUNICATIONS FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF THE INCARNATE WORD / THE FACE OF TEXAS CAMPAIGN / © STEVE HOLLOWAY

THE UNIVERSITY OF THE INCARNATE WORD TEXAS / GRADUATE AND PhD STUDENT RECRUITMENT MATERIALS / PORTFOLIO COVER PAGE / © STEVE HOLLOWAY

CUTTING EDGE COMMUNICATIONS FOR MEDICARE TEXAS / HEALTHY LIFESTYLES CLIENT STOCK FILE IMAGES / © STEVE HOLLOWAY

THE UNIVERSITY OF THE INCARNATE WORD TEXAS FIEK SCHOOL OF PHARMACY TEXAS IMAGES FOR ONLINE ARTICLE / © STEVE HOLLOWAY

CUTTING EDGE COMMUNICATIONS FOR MEDICARE LA / STILL PHOTO SHOOT ON VIDEO SET FOR COLLATERAL MATERIALS / © STEVE HOLLOWAY

CUTTING EDGE COMMUNICATIONS FOR MEDICARE NY / IMAGES FOR BENEFITS PROGRAM MATERIALS AND PRINT ADVERTISING / © STEVE HOLLOWAY

TEXAS BRIDE MAGAZINE FEATURE ARTICLE JEWELRY SHOOT (LEFT) / PHOTOGRAPHED ON LOCATION / VIPORE FILTRATION TEXAS CATALOG, TRADE SHOW BOOTH AND DISPLAY ADVERTISING IMAGE (RIGHT) / PHOTOGRAPHED IN STUDIO / © STEVE HOLLOWAY

THE UNIVERSITY OF THE INCARNATE WORD TEXAS / ALUMNI PUBLICATION COVER STORY / SWIMMER WITH AN EYE ON THE OLYMPICS / © STEVE HOLLOWAY

TAYLOR WEST ADVERTISING FOR BELDON TX / TOWER LIFE BUILDING / IMAGES USED AS CLIENT ICONS FEATURED IN SERVICE AND CAPABILITIES MATERIALS / © STEVE HOLLOWAY

TAYLOR WEST ADVERTISING FOR BELDON TX / BJORN’S, NORTH STALL MALL COWBOY BOOTS, TRINITY BAPTIST CHURCH / IMAGES USED AS CLIENT ICONS FEATURED IN SERVICE AND CAPABILITIES MATERIALS / © STEVE HOLLOWAY

Individual high angle portraits taken throughout client’s facility. Lighting was matched from setup to setup creating a stock file that allowed the agency to drop out and assemble group images to target different markets.

CUTTING EDGE COMMUNICATIONS FOR JOB CORPS OKLAHOMA / ELECTRICAL TRADES TRAINING / STUDENT RECRUITMENT MATERIALS / © STEVE HOLLOWAY

[ PHOTO: RIVERWALK NO 2 ]

International Bank of Commerce, Texas. Individual portraits taken at branches throughout South Texas using a portable studio were combined with images taken on locations significant to each market’s business to produce targeted materials.

Maybe my best example of street photography. The baby carriage moving through on the left side of the frame. The motorized wheelchair sitting still on the right. And life rushing through in between.

Digital Equipment Notes.

First digital images photographed on Olympus E 10 or C 5050 with Olympus fixed lenses. Later images photographed on Canon 10D, 20D or 7D with Canon 24-70mm F2.8 and 50mm F 1.4 lenses.

Ambient light supplemented with two Canon Speedlight 430EX IIs and/or two Westcott self contained flash units used together with an Westcott 28” Apollo Softbox, 30” Apollo Strip Softbox and/or a 45” Halo Softbox.

Additional light control with Dean Collins 8’ x 8’, 4’ x 8’ and 4’ x 4’ light panels.

Remote field pack consists of two Norman 400 watt second flash heads with modeling lights and external 400 WS batterys and one camera mounted Quantum Instruments Qflash T2 400 Watt Second flash head with modeling light and external Turbo battery.

Flash sync control with Vello FreeWave Wireless Triggers.

UPDATED JULY 14, 2022. Part One: The Photographs. READ MORE Part Two: How it started for me. READ MORE A shift in the market turns into an opportunity. READ MORE My second pitch. READ MORE Time for a change. READ MORE Going back to shooting full time. READ MORE Becoming proficient with Photoshop. READ MORE Copied on iPhone READ MORE Influences. Here are mine. Who are yours? READ MORE