COOPERMADE: Landscapes of Imagination

Image
landscapes of imagination

Dimitri Scheblanov 
Tumi: Perfecting The Journey by Herring & Herring shot in the Mohave Desert using Fuji GW690III + Kodak Portra 400

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.”  

 

Image
give now

 

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.