Agency: HAKUHODO, Tokyo, Japan | Client: Sensai Cosmetics | Art Director: Howard Schatz
Howard Schatz – Sensai
The Advertising Annual competition for 2015 is underway and we’re perusing through our archives to highlight some of the most outstanding work from recent Advertising Annuals. To submit work to the Advertising Annual 2015, click here.
The photo above, titled, ‘Sensai,‘ received a Gold Award in the Advertising Annual 2013. It was taken by Howard Schatz of Schatz/Ornstein Studio.
Schatz’s path to become a commercial photographer was unconventional to say the least. His first occupation was as a Retina Specialist, working full-time as a researcher, teacher (he lectured at Harvard) and clinician, according to an interview with Marc Erwin Babej for American Photo Magazine. Still, while Schatz practiced medicine, he devoted every Saturday to photography. He eventually took a one-year sabbatical from life as a Retina Specialist and never returned.
Schatz’s wife, Beverly Ornstein (the latter part of Schatz/Ornstein Studio), helped convince him to try photography full-time and, as Schatz told Marc Erwin Babej in the APM interview, “she’s probably the only Jewish woman to marry a doctor and turn him into an artist!”
The career change worked out exceedingly well for Schatz. His work has garnered international acclaim and his photographs have been featured in museum exhibitions and photography galleries across the globe. His editorial work has been published in magazines including Time, Vogue, Sports Illustrated, GQ Italia, The New York Times Magazine and The New Yorker, among others. In addition, he has shot commercial work for advertising clients including Ralph Lauren RLX, Nike, Reebok, Sony, Adidas, Virgin Records and Mercedes-Benz and has published 20 books.To learn more about Schatz’s books, click here.
In less than one year, in spring 2015, a magnificent two-book boxed set of Schatz’s work, a 25-year retrospective, will be published. It will include 830 pages and 1,080 images, encompassing 35 of Schatz’s diverse photographic project.
Title: Glamure | Agency: omdr Co., Ltd. | Client: MTG Co., Ltd. | Art Director: Osamu Misawa
Omdr Co., Ltd. founder, art and creative director Osamu Misawa and designer Tasuku Matsumura teamed with photographer Naohiro Tsukada to create these stunning images for MTG Co., Ltd. The series, titled, “Glamure,” received a Gold Award in the Advertising Annual 2014 competition.
In 1998, six years after he graduated from the School of Visual Arts, Misawa worked as an art director in New York. In 1999, he returned to Japan and founded his own company, Osamu Misawa Design Room in Tokyo. A decade later, Misawa renamed the company omdr Co., Ltd. and serves as its art and creative director.
For the past decade, Misawa has been a consistent Graphis winner and omdr Co., Ltd. has received Gold or Silvers awards in Design Annuals 2010, 2013 and 2014, Advertising Annuals 2010 and 2013, and Poster Annuals 2010, 2014 and 2015. In addition, omdr Co., Ltd. received a coveted Platinum award in the Design Annual 2013 for an editorial spread it produced for the
Nomura Real Estate Development Co., Ltd.
Additional Japanese Designers that have contributed to Graphis include Takahiro Shima,
AN Kiyoung, Tetsuro Minorikawa, Yasuhiko Kida, Takashi Akiyama and Singo Fujiwaki.
Graphis Design Masters Mitsuo Katsui, Tamotsu Yagi and Makoto Saito hail from Japan, as does Design Master Takenobu Igarashi, whose work is featured in the Design Annual 2015. Design Masters Yusaka Kamekura and Ikko Tanaka were also born in Japan.
To purchase any past Graphis Annuals or Magazines, visit the Graphis website, here.
The advertising competition features the most compelling and influential advertising of the year. Gold and Platinum awards, along with winning entries, will be published in the Advertising Annual 2015. Submit your work to the Advertising Annual 2015 competition here.
