The Work That Made Me: The Kaplans
Known for their bold, playful style, the Kaplans are a husband-wife duo represented by Laird and Good Company.
They are experts at capturing tabletop, accessories, food, beverage, beauty and technology. Laura Kaplan drives the creative strategy while her husband Sam brings their vision to life from behind the camera. When not obsessing over shots, The Kaplans are obsessing over food and hanging with the two humans they created.
Name: Sam & Laura Kaplan
Location: CT + NYC
Repped by/in: Laird & Good Company
The ad/music video from my childhood that stays with me…
The Kaplans> This would easily have to be ‘Sabotage’ by The Beastie Boys. We have to say that pretty much all of Spike Jones’ music videos from that era were always a draw. They really stick in the mind as exceptional pieces of work.
The ad/music video/game/web platform that made me want to get into the industry…
The Kaplans> For us it wasnt really about a specific ad - neither of us really knew growing up that this was an option as a career.
For me, Laura, I remembered seeing work by Marilyn Minter that really pushed me into visuals. For me, Sam, it was Jerry Uelsman; as a high-schooler with access to a darkroom, his work was catnip and started to open my mind to the magic of good post-production.
The creative work that I keep revisiting…
The Kaplans> This Is Just To Say by William Carlos Williams
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold
My first professional project…
The Kaplans> Our first project was a fast-and-furious shoot for a new Budweiser can that was designed with Anomaly. The can was a bow-tie - enough said.
The piece of work that made me so angry that I vowed to never make anything like *that*…
The Kaplans> For us, any work that has a great concept but poor execution feels like a bummer. That feeling of a missed opportunity to make something just a little bit more interesting is something that we never want to feel. I’m sure we could come up with some examples, but the feeling sticks more than the projects themselves.
The piece of work that still makes me jealous…
The Kaplans> Joel Kefali’s ‘Shishito’ spot for DoorDash. It is just so well executed and the creative is genius.
The creative project that changed my career…
The Kaplans> Pits and Pyramids - a series of miniature topographic pits and architectural pyramids made with food. It was our first series that really felt ownable and fulfilling. It was big on Tumblr, ha!
The work that I’m proudest of…
The Kaplans> We don’t think we’ve made it yet. We tend to be really critical of our own work so it can be hard to look at something and be really proud without picking it apart and thinking of everything you would do differently the second time around. We do love some of our personal work like our Falling Fruit or Crispy Chicken spot where we made something on our own, with a shoestring budget and made it fun.
I was involved in this and it makes me cringe…
The Kaplans> We’ll never tell.
The recent project I was involved in that excited me the most…
The Kaplans> That would have to be Casamara. We had creative freedom, a cool looking product, and a super open client: the trifecta for great work.
