need to have a strong sense of color,” Bower-Wright ex-
plains, “and a very bold, clean sense of imagery.”
Whenever possible, Hemispheres hires photog-
raphers who are local to the “Three Perfect Days”
destinations.
“Local photographers are going to know the landscape best, they’re going to know the areas that are
quirky or really beautiful and undiscovered, and give us
something that we may not be able to find on our own,”
Bower-Wright explains. “We have a great photo editor
and she has a lot of resources, so we’ve been lucky that
we’ve been able to find the level of talent that we want.”
Mexico-based photographer Holly Wilmeth recently worked for Hemispheres on a “Three Perfect Days”
story on Mexico City. Wilmeth was introduced to Adler
through her agency, Aurora Photos.
“They’re absolutely fabulous,” says Wilmeth of
Hemispheres. “For me it’s always: How much freedom
do you get as a photographer to shoot the way you’d
like to shoot? Or if you get a list, what is it they’re ex-
pecting? With Hemispheres, it was just pretty much
fun, very straightforward, as in, ‘This is what we’re
looking for and if you can go out and do that, come
back and show us what you have.’”
Edwards’s U.S. Virgin Islands story last year was also
for “Three Perfect Days.” “The general assignment was
great,” Edwards recalls. “Go out and shoot your travel
stuff the way you want to shoot it.”
Bower-Wright says that she and Adler like to “give
[photographers] space to do what they do,” and “open
up the door for more ideas, better ideas” from the pho-
tographer. “As a magazine focused heavily on travel
we absolutely need stunning images to showcase the
© HemispHeres /both photos by peter Frank edwards
Christine Bower-wright: “we love showing big,
beautiful landscapes ... we can hire great photographers
and we want to show off their talents also.”
highlighted locations and to communicate our edito- rial concepts. We really value the people who work with us to achieve our visual goals, so we always try to be collaborative with our direction and open to their ideas whenever possible.” The cover of the magazine, which ties into the “Three Perfect Days” feature, is one area where the Hemispheres team is more specific in their require- ments. “We always want [the covers] to be attention grabbing,” Bower-Wright says. They achieve this by creating graphic images that combine artistry with a sense of place. Edwards’s cover for the magazine was a look up the mast of a yacht at sunset, while Wilmeth’s, which had to invoke Mexico City, was a close-up of a colorful, pat- terned garment made using traditional beadwork. The graphic covers are the result of a redesign for the magazine, which took place in May 2011. Prior to that, the magazine was using illustrations on its cov- ers, but decided to switch to photography for a better sense of place and a stronger tie-in to their signature “Three Perfect Days” feature.
both photos © sameer parekh
Above: The opening spread for “Three Perfect Days: U.S.
Virgin Islands,” with photography by Peter Frank Edwards.
Left: Photographs by Sameer Parekh, which will appear in the
“Three Perfect Days: Delhi” feature in the March 2012 issue.
