Sometimes photographer Michal Venera gets inspired by the rolling landscape out the windows of his northern California studio. Sometimes he gets inspired by the neighbors. “Bob runs the ranch next to my land,” says Michal, “and they just don’t make them like him anymore.”

During one of Michal and Bob’s occasional evening walks, Michal broached the idea of doing a little filming. “Bob is old school, salt of the earth” he says. “He just goes about his business, doing what needs to be done without any fuss. I wanted to capture that simplicity and strength on film.”

Well known for his lifestyle and product-focused commercial photography, Michal often finds himself drawn to people and portrait work for personal projects. “Everybody has a story,” he says. “And if you’re open and patient and respectful, sometimes they’ll let you tell it in photos.”

In his travels around the globe, Michal has befriended mountain men in Montana, school children in Africa and proud locals in Cuba, capturing highly impactful portraits along the way. Shooting photography on his own time allows him to experiment with lighting and composition, inspiring new creativity in his commercial work.

“Bob really didn’t get why I wanted to follow him around taking photos and videos,” says Michal. “He didn’t think there was anything that special about him. In this era of endless selfies, that attitude alone is worth capturing.”

You can see more of Michal’s commercial and fine art photography and film right here.

On her latest shoot for the Corelle family of products, photographer Christina Schmidhofer managed to be in four places at once. “There was so much to shoot, we had four sets going all at the same time,” she says.

With hundreds of shots required for a website relaunch, Corelle looked to Christina to set the look for all their brands, including Pyrex, CorningWare, Chicago Cutlery and Snapware. “Organization was a big challenge, because there was a ton of merchandise,” says Christina. “We actually had to rent a second studio to store it all.”

Christina’s deep brand experience and strong portfolio across categories drew the client all the way from Chicago to shoot in San Francisco. Some even brought their kids, who got incorporated into the action. “The clients would get so excited with each new photo,” says Christina. “That was the best part of the whole shoot.”

The two-week effort kept a crew of 15 busy capturing both still and stop motion photography. “We were charged with expressing ‘the extraordinary meets every day,’ and this shoot definitely reflected that!” laughs Christina. To keep the mood light and refreshing at the end of the long days, Christina served up her famous Aperol spritzers for clients and the team.

In the end, Christina shot over 400 images for the website, which is already live. “It was a fun shoot with a big team,” she says. “We got stunning images and ate so many delicious chocolate chip cookies. It was a win-win.”

You can see more of Christina’s commercial and editorial portfolio here.

Illustrator Shane Johnson creates logos, characters and superheroes for well-know brands and agencies. But his new work is for his most critical audience – kids. Regarding his latest editorial and educational assignment, Shane explains, ”I became an illustrator because I loved comics. I still love telling a story in pictures.”

Commissioned for a classroom reader, the drawings depict the story of sisters who cook up an elaborate plan so they can spend more time with their hard-working dad. “Inevitably, the plan goes wrong and lessons are learned,” Shane says.

Typically, the story lines are final when Shane receives them, but he gets a lot of freedom to create the visual world where everything takes place. “The diner was the main setting,” says Shane, “so I started by roughing out a full floor plan to tie in specific scenes. It was fun bringing it all together – I even designed the diner logo.”

Given his background in character work, it’s no surprise that developing the people was Shane’s favorite part of the job. “The client had a clear vision for the family, but all the secondary characters were left to my imagination, so I got to make my mark,” he says. You can see more of Shane’s commercial and editorial work here.

In a career that spans decades, brand consultant, designer and illustrator Filip Yip has created countless logos, icons and illustrations celebrating the female figure. And while they are vastly different in style, they do have one thing in common. “They have to tell the story of the brand, and do it immediately,” says Filip of his creations.

Having worked on everything from instructional icons to global brand marks, Filip is adamant that communication has to come first. In fact, after training and working in design for many years, he earned his MBA in order to help him understand his client’s communication needs even better.

“For me, design is a puzzle to solve,” says Filip. “Every line and every color should be working toward a common goal.” He’s brought this combination of creativity and marketing discipline to clients including Budweiser, Safeway, Nestlé and FedEx.

But when it comes to illustrating women, Filip has a secret advantage. “I grew up with my grandmother and have my own daughter,” he laughs. “They inspire me. I want every woman I conjure up to be special in some way.”

You can see Filip’s diverse and highly awarded portfolio of work, including characters, corporate identity, icon systems and more right here.

Sure, photographer Michal Venera expected there to be challenges while shooting website photos for Cruz Tequila near Jalisco, Mexico. Remote terrain, local gangs, bribe-happy officials, Michal had prepared for them all. He was not, however, expecting snow.

“They said it hadn’t snowed there in 15 years,” Michal laughs. “You really don’t want to show agave under a bunch of snow.” With only two days to shoot and some locations rendered unusable, Michal and his digital tech quickly adjusted their game plan.

Michal is no stranger to thinking on his feet. A veteran of countless on-location shoots, he’s partnered with marquee clients like Pottery Barn, HP, Wells Fargo and many others, bringing his inviting light and strong composition to lifestyle, portrait and product imagery.

Known for both still and motion work, Michal excels at finding the story in each moment. “These guys, they put a lot of care into what they do,” Michal says. “You can feel it when you look at the photos.”

He should know – in addition to his robust photography schedule, Michal is also a farmer, maintaining an olive grove in northern California and pressing his own olive oil every fall. His barn functions as an on-site studio full of fresh air and natural light.

“I love living out there. I love working out there,” he says. “You can breathe.” Which is precisely the feeling you get from so many of his photos. Check out more of Michal’s commercial, editorial and fine art portfolio here.