One of the benefits of working for an agency is that sometimes you get to work on really fun stuff. From 1995-2001 I was the Senior Art Director at Bonsib Inc., a full-service advertising, marketing and PR firm in Fort Wayne. Bonsib was around for over 75 years. Sadly it's gone now, but there was some excellent work that came out of that agency, and many talented people still working in this industry got their feet wet there. Back in the day (boy, that makes me sound old, doesn't it?) Rinker Boats was one of our clients. Rinker was a boat manufacturer located in Syracuse, IN. Every year we'd go up to Dewart Lake (a tiny lake) and shoot boats. What a great gig, right? Yes, it was. The only bad part is that we always ended up shooting in October. Not boating season, exactly. I'd bundle up in a hoodie and a jacket while our talent tried to look like they were out for a refreshing boat ride on the lake. Once we got the transparencies (pre-digital dark age photography) back I'd have to go into Photoshop and clone out the goose-bumps.The catalog featured here is from 1999. We were supposed to have gone up to South Haven, Michigan for the cover shoot. At the last minute those plans were scrapped and we ended up shooting on Dewart. We, the shooter Tom King (www.tomkingphotography.com) and I, got up at the crack of dawn for this beauty shot. I had to go into Photoshop and rid the windshields and fronts of the boats of morning dew. The cover has a nice, rich UV coating and a dull spot varnish. If you squint, you can imagine these boats are on a much bigger lake, can't you?
