Jordan Hollender is happiest when he is on set. To be in a place its where he gets to create, collaborate and connect with people. And that mission is easy to see in the piece he chose to talk about today, a video called Derek and the Art of Windows.

Jordan Hollender is a photographer based in New York City, and he's one of those people who is so great to work with because you can tell he loves what he does. Jordan's work has appeared everywhere, from Fast Company to ESPN to Smithsonian magazine. 

Host Dan Morrell sits down with Jordan to talk about photography as a line of work, what he learned creating this video piece, how it differs from his traditional photography ethos, and living life outside of the box. 

My Finest Work is a production of Dog Ear Creative and is produced by University FM.

What makes Jordan work distinct?

14:36 - I'd like to think that I'm completely unique—a hundred percent unique in my approach to my art, and there's aspects of how I work that might be unique to me. And let's say, I guess my life experience is going to make my approach, the places I've been, the people I talk to. My insecurities, vulnerabilities, passions, and confidence all inform my process and how I'm going to create.

Photography is a gateway to confidence

03:12 - Photography was a way to find confidence and comfort within adolescence and growth. And that was what probably made me fall in love with it. It was the art, but at that point, it was less about the art, more about the confidence, and more about finding something I could do that I enjoyed.

On how Jordan’s passion for photography evolved over the years

27:10 - There's been a big shift in how I tell a story and where the passion is going to come from now, whether it be in the post or during the shoot. But my passion shifted and I care a lot less about having people tell me they love the work. 

The courage to live in uncertainty

13:13 - The way that I approach life is outside the box, and that takes courage. And to see someone else living with that courage in much more extreme circumstances helps to inform confidence, helps to inform that you're not alone, and helps to make you realize that there's a real uncertainty about all of this, about every day we walk through.

Guest Profile:

• Hollenderx2
• Hollenderx2 instagram
• Jordan’s LinkedIn

His Work:

• Derek and the Art of Windows

Everyone who is a content creator dreams of going viral online one day. But what actually happens on the other side, once your art is everywhere? This happened to EmDash when Beyonce & Jay Z blew up the image they used on the cover of a 2018 Kappa Kappa Gamma Magazine Cover with Meghan Markle.

Em Dash is Erin Mayes and Kate Collins met when they were both working for Pentagram Design in Austin Texas. Most mornings, Kate’s 1972 yellow International Scout broke down—and Erin offered the 5’11 Kate a tight ride in her Mini Cooper. 

Those Austin, Texas, commutes eventually led to a partnership in EmDash, an award-winning design agency, whose clients have included everyone from the National Geographic Society, Simon & Schuster, Texas Observer to Denison University, the University of Texas, and Harvard Business School.

Today, they talk to Maureen Harmon & Dan Morrell about that from Illustrator Tim O’Brien in an effort to avoid the expected—and what really happens when you get that Beyonce bump.

My Finest Work is a production of Dog Ear Creative and is produced by University FM.

On what makes a great magazine article

15:23 [Erin] Our ultimate goal is for the magazine to go to the bathroom. And if you can, with the cover, make it interesting enough that somebody wants to hold onto it and they want to make sure that they read it, like that is the goal. And however we achieve that goal is, how we go about it.

Why is print still important?

25:23 - [Kate] It's something that is you're not gonna skim it and just read the headline. You can actually sit and have a relationship with it. 

Alt quote on magazines & staying power

24:40 [Erin] It doesn't take any effort. Like when you get a magazine in the mail, it's there and it's in your hands and you're already a part of it. 

On working & doing business with your friends

04:58 [Kate] We had everybody tell us it was the worst idea. We had accountants and people be like, don't do this. If you value your friendship, don't become partners. And it was the best decision I could have ever made, she’s the best work wife ever. 

Storytelling through alumni magazines

10:07 [Kate] There are good stories in alumni magazines; why not push the boundary and make them so people actually want to pick them up and read them? So we're always trying to keep that in mind as we attack something, and then we love collaborating with other people.

Guest Profile:

• EmDash’s Website
• EmDash on Instagram

His Work:

• Tim O'Brien Works
• Apeshit Music Video
• Kappa Cover Art
• Image of Beyonce and Jay Z with Meghann Portrait from British Music Awards

Photographer Eric Hatch has covered the world. He's photographed fragile environments from above the Arctic Circle to New Zealand, as well as the countryside in cities of Europe, Tahiti, and much of the United States. He's an architectural photographer with a special interest in infrastructure, and he also creates award-winning black-and-white environmental portraits.

Eric puts his values right up front in his work. And on the latest episode, host Maureen Harmon talked with Eric about two of his most well-known photo series, Faces of Addiction, which gives voice to those in addiction and recovery, and Glaciers In Retreat, which documents the beauty and demise of Earth's glorious masses of ice.

He shares the methods behind these 2 projects, working in photography with bad vision, shares stories from his travels to Utah and Alaska, and tells us a bit about writing his memoir.

My Finest Work is a production of Dog Ear Creative and is produced by University FM.

On working on things that have social impact

21:30 - There's a difference between being artistic and being committed to the art involved in your work. I don't do portraits anymore. I mean, I will do black-and-white environmental portraits, like faces, but I don't go out and sell them. I'm not after them. I'm after things that matter—that have social impact.

12:03 - What I try to do as a photographer is capture not only the reality of the scene but the feeling that I was feeling with it.

Glaciers as a subject of his finest work

07:45 - So it's my finest work because I've gotten better in the 12 years I've been doing it. It speaks to what people know as an intellectual reality unless they're living in a catastrophe. But it doesn't speak to what we're losing this project does, and I hadn't realized it was a project until I'd gotten a fair number of glacier shots done.

Guest Profile:

• Faces of Addiction Photo Series
• Glaciers in Retreat Photo Series