Dream Big was the brand campaign of Visit California. For it, Friends of Friends profiled people based in California whose lives are shaped by the coast and the outdoors.
A photographer in Ventura. An interactive art director in Silicon Valley. Three brothers behind a fashion label in Los Angeles. The Ventura story also became a short documentary, conceived, directed and produced by FvF Productions.
Dylan Gordon photographs surfing, skating and motorcycles. He is on the road for most of the year. Ventura is where he comes back to, a coastal town with a close community of surfers, photographers and filmmakers.
The film packs a whole summer into one day. An early surf at Surfers Point. A motorcycle ride inland to a swimming hole in the mountains around Ojai. A campfire with friends.
His studio is a converted mechanic's warehouse. He shoots Polaroids there and makes books and zines, prints meant to outlast a feed.
There's no ego and no competition in Ventura.
Stefan Schuster moved from Germany to the Bay Area in 2015 for a job. Before that he was creative director at MoreSleep, the agency behind Freunde von Freunden.
The family found an Eichler house in Sunnyvale, in the middle of Silicon Valley, and filled it with design classics brought from home. Free time moved outdoors. BMX at the Santa Clara P.A.L. track, the skate park at Lake Cunningham in San Jose, surf at Capitola Beach.
So much more happens outdoors.
Raan, Shea and Stenn Parton grew up in Santa Barbara and now live in Los Angeles. Their label Apolis links small manufacturers around the world to a wider market. Jute market bags made in Bangladesh. Alpaca knits from Peru.
The story moves between their concept store Alchemy Works at Lido Marina in Newport Beach, a design market in West Hollywood and an evening surf near Santa Barbara.
L.A. really celebrates passion more than pedigree.
Three portraits for Visit California, published on Friends of Friends in summer 2016. Each story combined a written interview with a photo essay. The Ventura story added an eight-minute film.
The content was made with specific audiences in mind and shared with media partners internationally.