Despite the limitations imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Dimitri Scheblanov A'05 of the photography duo Herring & Herring found the period a fruitful one for his collaboration with his partner, Jesper Carlsen. He said, “This gave us the opportunity to recalibrate and work in a way we had never done before. We shot separately, taking on a lot of commercial work, while teaching ourselves new skills.” For Scheblanov, that meant learning a great deal about product photography while Carlsen focused on photographic landscapes on film. Then they teamed up for a campaign for Tumi, the luxury luggage brand, that melded each of their “new found skills,” as Scheblanov put it, to “create a project we are very proud of.” The results are stunning images of wheeled luggage with a titanium frame set against roads running through dramatic desert landscapes, photos that speak to the mobility, beauty, and adventure of travel. 

Scheblanov’s high-profile work has its roots in his days at Cooper where he felt compelled to live up to the school’s standards. He recalls redesigning the Pioneer, Cooper’s school newspaper, as a deeply meaningful experience while a student: “We re-imagined the entire publication and made it something that was talked about by teachers and students. It also tested my powers of persuasion in convincing a rather conservative newspaper staff that we should turn the newspaper into a poster. It felt great to be making an impact on the school by doing exactly what felt like the right thing to do.”  

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