Nikon - Point of Departure

I always expected that I would reinvent myself. I never thought it was unnatural. It comes not from dissatisfaction, but rather a craving to always be excited, challenged, even nervous about what I’m doing.

Recently I started using my photojournalist style for fashion and advertising. As advertising looks more and more to editorial for inspiration, I see the opportunity to combine art and commerce, to do interpretive, personal work that’s more abstract and emotional.

When I’m doing fashion and advertising, I’m using the skills I learned as a photojournalist. I may direct, set up a scenario, but then I let it roll. The models get caught up in what they’re doing and forget I’m there. I tell them, "Don’t run the poses. I want to photograph what you’re like as a person – just be you". It’s not your typical fashion shoot.

My belief that the creative life is marked by change comes from my early study of artists, whose creative lives I saw were tied to great shifts in viewpoints and style, and from work I did documenting the dramatic changes going on as corporations adjust to the global economy. I realized that their world also reflects what is required in a creative life. Their motto is "Change or Die". You see it on the walls in these companies; it’s graffiti in the men’s room. It holds true in art, too; you have to dig down and adapt.

Most photographers would be content with success in one field, but Doug Menuez has demonstrated mastery of many forms as he’s moved from newspaper and sports photography to editorial, photojournalism and corporate reportage. Recently he has begun to pursue fashion and advertising.

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"I want the action to look like a found moment, like it’s just happening. I don’t want everything to have that staged, neat, pressed-pants look." For these shots for Eddie Bauer clothing, Menuez told the models to "trash the clothes – just go ahead and do what people do." N90s, 20-35mm f/2.8D AF Zoom-Nikkor

"We shot this at a working ranch in Santa Monica for Smith and Hawken. We’d scout around, trying to find interesting people doing real things. These were the sons of the people who owned the ranch." Menuez says he likes working with non-professional models; "I’ve made a niche out of it." N90, 35-70mm f/2.8D AF Zoom-Nikkor

In 1986 Menuez began a two-year photo essay project for Life magazine, documenting the start-up of Steve Jobs’s computer company, NeXt. Jobs ultimately withdrew his support; unable to conduct interviews to accompany the photos, Life killed the story. Here, Jobs describes his vision to NeXt employees at a company retreat. F4S, 85mm f/1.4 Nikkor

From Menuez’s book, Defying Gravity, a chronicle of the development and introduction of Apple’s Newton "personal digital assistant." "At a Newton demonstration, Apple was going to show Newton’s fax capability. They lost the phone line connection. The demo’s producer just fell on the floor. Apple’s p.r. person phoned for help, and they got the line back." N90, 24mm f/2.8D AF Nikkor

"They were going to build a billion dollars worth of NeXt products with ten people; no human hands would touch the assembly line. This is a production engineer reacting when something went wrong with the line." F4S, 24mm f/2.8D AF Nikkor

From a series of "fashion portraits" taken for Beauty Truth, Menuez’s 24-page self-promotion piece designed to showcase his approach to fashion and advertising. F3, 85mm f/1.8 Nikkor

"I met him while covering a story for USA Today. He’s the captain of a small car ferry in the Sacramento delta. He’s been on the ferry for 40 years, and I did a little photo essay on him. I asked him if anything unusual ever happened and he said yeah, they’d flipped the ferry once – too many cars on the aft deck." FE, 24mm f/2.8 Nikkor

"This is the exact image I saw in a dream. The next day we were doing a studio shoot for a client, and I had to take this picture to rid myself of the nightmare." N90s, 35-70mm f/2.8D AF Zoom-Nikkor

"One of the more surreal pieces I did for the fashion portfolio. In 1970, when I was first falling in love with photography, I got a Nikon F, and when I went out to shoot fashion for my portfolio, I took that old camera along as a reminder of that magical time." Nikon F, 85mm f/1.8 Nikkor

"Street shooting fashion," Menuez says of this photograph taken on the Santa Monica pier for his portfolio. N90, 80-200mm f/2.8D ED AF Zoom-Nikkor

Taken on and near the Santa Monica pier, these photos are featured in Beauty Truth, Menuez’s self-promotion piece. N90, 35-70mm f/2.8D AF Zoom-Nikkor

Another image taken for Menuez’s fashion portfolio. Nikon F, 85mm f/1.8 Nikkor