Photographing two Think Tank Photo founders

Think Tank Photo founders in my Lisbon Studio.

It’s not every day you get to hang out with friends who live halfway around the planet in California, let alone do it in my hometown of beautiful Lisbon. So I was over the moon as you can imagine when I got a message saying they were coming into town and we want to hang out. I started planning restaurant ideas and some fun bars and sights to take in during their visit. I invited Deanne Fitzmaurice and Kurt Rogers to my studio for an impromptu portrait session, you can see the results below. 

Deane and Kurt are founding partners of my favourite camera bag company, Think Tank Photo designs camera carrying solutions for working professionals.

Their products are born from the collaborative efforts of professional photographers and product designers, working together with a common goal — to create the most inventive and effective solutions for all photographic situations. They go to great lengths to listen to their core customers (that’s how I got invited to the ambassadors program)and translate their feedback into everything they create.

The company was founded in January 2005 by designers Doug Murdoch and Mike Sturm, and photographers Deanne Fitzmaurice and Kurt Rogers. Deanne Fitzmaurice won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for photojournalism in 2005.

“Think Tank”, which is defined as an idea producing organization, perfectly describes the company’s culture and mission of creating inventive new carrying solutions. Think Tank has created a string of innovations since 2005 unmatched by their competitors.

Quality is in the details. We take great pride in knowing that our products can handle all types of conditions that may occur during a photography assignment. Our philosophy is simple: our products should help photographers “Be ready before the moment.”™

 

Check the portraits down below.

 

 

Deanne Fitzmaurice – Photographer Deanne is a Pulitzer Prize-winning documentary photographer and multimedia storyteller based in San Francisco, California. Known for her behind-the-scenes work, she is a regular contributor to Sports Illustrated and ESPN the Magazine and is an assignment photographer for National Geographic as well as numerous other publications.
Deanne has been published in TIME, Newsweek, The Economist, Der Spiegel, Stern, GEO and Men’s Journal. She is a Nikon Ambassador and has also partnered with foundations and non-profits including NPR, UCSF, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the James Irvine Foundation. Deanne has also created multimedia pieces for clients including MSNBC and the ACLU. Her commercial clients include Apple, Nike, Netflix, Mazda, Target, Avon, Microsoft, and Coca-Cola.
You can find out more about the amazing Deanne on her website and Social Media https://www.deannefitzmaurice.com/
Kurt Rogers – Photographer: As a longtime photographer for the San Francisco Chronicle, Kurt has seen the photography world change radically over the years. From the days of chartering airplanes to send his film back to the newspaper to editing film on the flight back from a 49ers game, Kurt’s ability to adopt new technology and “get the story” made him an ideal contributor to the Think Tank concept. In fact, Kurt originally designed his own camera carrying solution in the back of his car, drawing the attention of other photographers who were struggling to travel with an immense array of camera gear.  Today, Kurt is one of our leading evangelists, promoting Think Tank products at events around the world. He also contributes his vast talents to multimedia productions featured at trade shows, in retail stores, on websites, and through social media outlets. When asked, “What’s next in photography?” Kurt will tell you that storytelling will never go away. Whether it’s a still image or a full-length feature film, it’s about the moment when all the elements all come together to create magic.

 

I also got to take pictures of Ru Freeman in the same day!

Ru Freeman 1
Ru Freeman – author and journalist
Ru Freeman 3
She is born in Sri Lanka and her work has appeared in various international media such as the New York Times and the UK Guardian. She is the author of the novels A Disobedient Girl, and On Sal Mal Lane. In 2014 her novel On Sal Mal Lane got the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize for Fiction. 
Ru Freeman 2
She was hanging out with Deanne and Kurt when they came to the studio so I took the opportunity and got some portraits of her.
Ru Freeman 4
If you want to know more about her work and read some of it go to her website http://rufreeman.com/about-ru-freeman/

Here is a short BTS video from Deanne’s photo session.