Adam Flipp grew up surrounded by adults who dreaded going into work every day, hating their jobs. He was determined to never be in the same situation, and spent his life finding his true passion. He found that in photography, and spends every day doing what he truly loves.
“I travel a lot and having a partner in life that understands what I do is a big help. Without my family’s acceptance of this job it would be very difficult. I find it hard being away from them and always love returning home,” he said.
Hailing from Wellington, New Zealand, Flipp has become an industry leader in both his home country and Australia. Working with major brands like Hewlett Packard and Converse, to name a few, as well as iconic publications such as Marie Claire and Koncierge Magazine, Flipp has shown the world just what he is capable of, and he has no plans on slowing down.
One of the more notable brands Flipp has collaborated with was Nike on their Nike Free campaign in New Zealand. Not only was the photographer eager to work with Nike, a name everyone around the world instantly recognizes, but he was excited to shoot in the beautiful landscape of his native country.
“Nike is an institutional brand that has amazing history. A brand that’s been at the pinnacle of many historical sporting moments and also remains at the back bone of current sporting greats. Working for them was a goal of mine, actually a dream come true. Shooting at Piha beach was also something I wanted to do for a very long time, so there were a lot of goals achieved in one shoot,” he said.
The Nike Free campaign was not Flipp’s first time working with the sporting brand. Earlier in his career he shot another campaign centered around Nike ambassador and fitness sensation Kirsty Godso. His success on this campaign vastly impressed Nike, and they knew he would help bring Nike Free to outstanding success.
The campaign was for the new Nike Free running shoe, and Flipp shot in three locations close to Auckland, using local running athletes. This provided a unique challenge for Flipp, as he had to shoot subjects who had no previous experience being professionally photographed. The way around this was to get them doing what they love: running. This relaxed them, and Flipp took as many frames as necessary to capture just the right moment.
Flipp beautifully created countless images that are strong, impactful, and naturally convey the campaign’s ‘Forces of Nature’ tagline. He captured the athletes at their absolute performance peak and brought out the passion in them. His photos beamed with charisma and its colors and angles were flawless. Flipp’s images were featured in-store and on a range of billboards around New Zealand and Australia, as well as online and through social media. With his help, the campaign achieved exceptional commercial success with high sales for the product and revenue for Nike Pacific.
“Being able to capture in photographs what running means to these athletes was essential to the project and its success. It was my job to do this and really the success of the project relied on it,” he said.
This high-profile project brought Flipp additional commissions from Nike and other leading sports fashion brands like Puma and mega E-tailer Stylerunner. The Nike shoot also led him to shooting Kayla Itsines, who is a fitness social superstar and his work was pushed to her 11 million followers via social media.
“With a lot of top-level brands there are a lot of rules on how they should be captured. Knowing how this direction should be visualized is often hard to communicate and when you get word that you’ve achieved this there is a sense of relief but also of euphoria that’s difficult to explain. Being a creative there is so much of yourself in every job you do and when you succeed you feel it emotionally,” he said.
Undoubtedly, Flipp is a tremendous photographer that knows just how to perfectly capture an image, whether working for a brand or simply capturing a stunning scene. He has worked hard to get to where he is today and encourages all those looking to follow in his footsteps to continuously refine their skills.
“Have really good computer skills amazing people skills and endless motivation. Do a business course if you know nothing about business. Most importantly, enjoy your journey and celebrate the wins as its important to love this job as there are a lot of hard days, but the results are worth them,” he advised.