THE XPLORING BRIEF

The digital revolution has made photography accessible to everyone as the digital camera market is developing faster than other creative media, both technically and creatively. People now have an ever-expanding choice of tools to create their pictures while one product innovation is chasing the next. Everybody is able to document their lives and to explore their creative potential without taking any risks. Not only have people been empowered to create more images of their lives but also to share them and collaborate with others. Photographs have become the new social currency that people are trading on social networking sites to influence others and express their identity. It’s a universal language everyone can understand, but the quantity of images has taken over the quality of photos leading to digital inertia. Digital cameras are becoming commoditized in the megapixel and price battle. Consumers are trying to stay on top of the digital camera swamp as they are stuck in a tyranny of choice. What all camera brands are failing to do is to create an emotional connection with people who may not be passionate about photography as such, but use digital cameras in their everyday lives.

The purpose of this Xploring project is to uncover a strategic insight that will help us lift people’s rational barriers and take us to a powerful organizing idea.

Areas of Curiosity:
- The rise of creativity in people’s everyday lives
- People’s hidden creative talents
- How people reportage their lives in pictures
- How people’s see the world through their camera
- People’s passion to preserve their experiences on pictures
- What makes a good camera for ordinary people


THE XPLORING TASK
Xploring is based on a very simple principle:
If you want to understand how a tiger hunts, don’t go to the zoo...Go to the jungle.

Xploring is much more than gathering information, it means going into unknown territory. Taking risks, perhaps taking a wrong turn. It means following your gut and listening, really listening. It means trusting your instincts, over and beyond the facts given. Knowing that when you do, you'll see more, understand more.

We will spend the next weeks with real people in the real world to understand the things that matter to them when taking pictures. Our Xploring journey will take us to people living in Germany, Poland, Russia, Italy, Spain and the U.K. We will go to their homes, spend a day with their families and friends, share their personal memories, connect with them through social networking sites, go on a night out, play with their cameras, listen to their stories, and observe their creative abilities…etc.


13 July 2009

Everyone 's a Photographer

Tom and I want to learn more about the hidden secrets of good photography and meet Ian, a professional advertising photographer, for coffee. He has a laid back and very approachable personality and seems more than happy to talk to us about his favourite subject. He tells us that he used to be a creative director for over 10 years before he decided to change his career and try and make money with something he was passionate about. "It's a lot of fun being paid for a hobby. With photography you experience something different every day. It never gets boring." We want to know what he thinks about the digital revolution and the amount of images floating about on people's desktops and on the web.
"Everyone is a photographer now. It just adds more value to good photography, but it is also more difficult to stand out. Digital images don't look and feel like real life like proper film images do. However, Nikon digital cameras have a quality that is close to film and thus close to real life! But digital cameras make you lazy. You just take as many images as possible until you get it right." We want to know what it takes to take a good photo and are encouraged by Ian's advice.
He believes that a camera is just a tool and that it is up to you how to use it. You just have to take control of your camera and practice. "It's like a muscle that you have to train. You have to photograph things to see what they look like!" So that's it? That's all you need to do? "Not quite. In the end it's all about passion and the ability to see the extraordinary in the ordinary."

Insight:
Taking better photos is a skill everyone can learn, the camera is just a tool for experimenting.
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