Granted, it can look like all fun and games but photo shoots are serious business with some very distinct values for everyone involved in this 20/20 community of optical dispensers, retailers, vendors and… the 20/20 team.

Imaged photos of eyewear are never in short supply as vendors, magazines, social media and all forms of communication make the case for the visual stun factor of glasses. We see frames in preview presentations at shows and eyewear showrooms, on celebrity faces and in sport situations constantly with no shortage of these images in print and online. And we know our readers experience these same images daily online and more-than-monthly via the vibrant trade and consumer press.

But taking on a self-generated photo shoot is a whole different story, and at 20/20 we build numerous photo shoots every month for our features with a backstory that involves calling in eyewear from numerous vendors, reviewing that product, selecting the frames for each and every shoot, and developing themes and trends and commentary based on that actual eyewear. No other publication partakes in that privilege to such a deep monthly degree. The team here reviews literally hundreds of frames. We try them on. We work the hinges. We handle every one of the frames with a sensitive but professional “touch” inherent to our task. We look at them in a variety of lighting situations, and during the photo shoots, we take care to show details and colorations and fit to the best of our abilities, knowing the trust you place in our decisions.

And… YES… the shoots are so much fun but the critical eye needed to assure you are getting the best of any particular frame and the concentration on the part of the photographer and our art director and the full team of editors and set stylists is a demanding task often lost in the final dramatic imaging presented on the page and online. And it would be virtually impossible to gauge the importance of the specific 20/20 trend setting underlying every photo of every eyeglass and sunglass delivered by this magazine.

We truly love the recent advances in Instagram and Facebook, giving us the chance to share some of our photographic adventures in a behind-the-scenes manner. It has added a totally new dimension to our tasks, and it enables the edit and art team a new way of engaging with our cherished readers. So perhaps it’s not all fun and games but it certainly is intensely fulfilling. Thanks for this wonderful OPportunity.

James J. Spina
Editor-in-Chief
[email protected]