The right combination of talent, creativity and social media "savoir faire" propelled local photographer Andrew Doran into a new professional class this summer after capturing the attention of influential New York ad agency JWT.
Doran is the photographer behind the time lapse images of Live at Squamish hitting the airwaves as part of a Microsoft media blitz to promote its search engine, Bing. The images can be viewed on Youtube by searching "Bing is Beautiful."
"It's certainly my first project in that sort of scope - national TV ad campaign - so for me that's hopefully the first of more similar types of jobs to come," he said.
Doran's boon is Squamish's boon as millions of TV viewers become familiar with the town's picturesque surroundings by watching 56 hours of time lapse images of last summer's music festival while the ad describes how Bing can help people decide whether to attend Live at Squamish or the Austin City Limits music festival.
The commercial's exposure may have hit its high mark when it was shown during a NFL Monday Night Football broadcast, which reaches an audience of upwards of 15 million.
"I'm really pleased about how well it features Squamish. Really excited about that," said Doran.
Doran said the project "kind of fell into my lap" when JWT execs came across his time lapse footage on Youtube of the 2009 Sasquatch festival in Washington state's Gorge at George venue.
The Sasquatch footage wasn't long enough, but undeterred, Doran pitched another idea hoping to achieve two goals.
"I told them that I didn't [have other footage], but there was a festival coming up in a week or so in my hometown and I was going to be there anyway and if they wanted, I could shoot some time lapse for them to take a look at," he said.
The agency agreed and from there it was a whirlwind five days to get everything together.
"Thanks to the organization of the creative geniuses at JWT in New York," said Doran, "we were able to co-ordinate my five-person local team, a Vancouver producer and assistants, rental gear from the four corners of the continent, co-operation with brand.LIVE, the concert promoters and put it all together to actually shoot the time lapsed 56 hours from Saturday morning at 5 a.m. all the way through to Monday when they were packing up."
More on the hectic pace and technical achievement can be gleaned from Doran's blog at andrewdoran.com.
The result made for a compelling ad, and better yet, it pleased the client.
"I never actually talked directly to the client, only the ad agency, but they said that everyone there was really happy with it."
Doran moved to Squamish about four years ago when he decided to settle down after 12 years in Whistler.
He said he's pleased to promote a community he believes is on the rise.
"I'm excited about the future of Squamish," he said. "I think there's lots of potential here. The way that we're headed I think is the direction of the type of place I want to live in. It's going to be, I think, everything that you want without having to live in the big city."
Doran also has a penchant for fine art and his abstract photography is currently on display at the Foyer Gallery in the Squamish Public Library.
"Often, I feel that as a photographer, I notice small vignettes of beauty that get overlooked in the everyday, as well as the spectacular shows nature puts on for us," he said. "I try to capture some glimpses in abstract to communicate the awe I feel when I catch a glimpse of hidden magnificence."
