Photograph By Shane Van Boxtel/Image Studios
For this special anniversary issue, Insight flipped the camera on Image Studios’ Shane Van Boxtel, the photographer behind every one of the magazine’s 180 cover images. (And yes, he photographed himself for this feature.)
Over the past 15 years, Van Boxtel has photographed the New North’s most powerful and influential business leaders for the cover of Insight, but his career in editorial and commercial photography spans more than three decades.
Insight: How did you become Insight’s principal photographer?
Van Boxtel: Insight co-founders Brian Rasmussen and Margaret LeBrun had a relationship with Image Studios, which has always had multiple photographers. Everybody has their main interests. I was very much into photographing people from the day I walked in the door and even before that. Editorial was my main thing. In 2008, I had been with Image for 12 years, but I was still the new guy. I was under the wings of many very established photographers, but I was given the opportunity to start shooting for Insight. It was an opportunity to do something I was pretty sure I loved. I don’t think it’s for me to define how or why it happened, except that my bond with Jeff Amstutz and Michael Miller from A2Z Design [who provide Insight’s art direction] was strong from the beginning. To Margaret and Brian, that was most important — that our relationship was positive, and it always has been. All those planets kind of aligned and it made sense that I kept doing it.
When did you discover your passion for photography?
I took a photography class as a student at UW Oshkosh just to kill some credits. I had a camera I bought at Best Buy and a couple of lenses. I liked to take pictures of my friends, but I had never taken any art classes in high school. That wasn’t a thing in my family. You don’t become an artist — you go to school to get a business degree and get a job. But my instructor Ray Spicer asked me if this was my major and I said no. He pulled me aside and said you should think about pursuing this; you have a gift. From there it made sense. Being surrounded by creative people felt more like home than being in a business class. That didn’t feel anything like who I was; it felt like what I had to do. I always wanted to do things that were nontraditional. I liked the weird side of things, the creative side. I inundate myself with imagery from wacky, creative people. It inspires me to not do the first thing I think of, but maybe use that first idea as a jumping off point to push myself to be more creative.
What’s your favorite thing to photograph?
I enjoy architecture and industrial photography. But because I pursue it not only in my work but in my free time, “people” is at the top of the list. I love that communication and interaction. There’s so much about it — working with people I know and love, working with strangers and making them feel comfortable, generating new conversations because I’m meeting a person for the first time. It’s all fascinating. It makes work more than work.
We all know everyone hates having their photo taken.
They really do. I’m the dentist of the creative world.
So how do you disarm subjects enough that you can capture them authentically?
Be calm. Be comedic. I try very hard to come at it from their perspective. I hate having my picture taken as well, so I get it. I think it boils down to knowing how they feel. And honestly, I’m genuinely curious about anybody who is asked to come into the studio and be photographed. This is a great opportunity for me to learn.
What makes a great portrait?
Lighting is number one. And body language. It comes down to making the subject feel comfortable and almost forget what’s happening, and putting them into a situation where they will create effortless expressions that I can capture at that moment. No matter who you are, you could be running a company with 1,000 employees, you are just as nervous in front of my camera as anyone else.
Last year marked your 25th anniversary with Image Studios. What is it about photography that keeps you doing it?
The relationships I have with the people I photograph during the shoot and keep afterwards is one of my favorite things. The Kate Burgesses, the Cathie Tierneys, the Tim Bergstroms. I get to now have a friendship with them that means a lot to me. It’s like coming across a new band you’ve never heard of and it’s like, “Oh my god, I love them.” When I can walk away and think about how much I appreciate that person because of our interaction and see it carry on when I run into them at an event or get hired by their company for something else or getting a random message from them, it validates what I do.
Do you have a favorite Insight cover of all time?
That’s nearly impossible. Dean Gruner’s cover [February 2013] was my first favorite, but prior to that there were many creative breakthroughs and successes that I loved. I feel like the fourth issue’s cover was a benchmark for me in the way that when [business leader and sustainability advocate] Paul Linzmeyer was being pushed around a greenhouse in a shopping cart, I felt like I reached a point in the magazine where it wasn’t their magazine anymore. I can make it mine. I can make it fun; I can ask people to be fun. And the editor, art director and subjects themselves appreciate it. The [August 2008] issue with retired FVTC President Susan May is another one. From the time I put her on that motorcycle in the college’s entryway and made it look like she was cruising down the highway, scarf blowing in the wind, she and I had a connection. Every time I think of it, it makes me smile.
So 180 Insight covers later — do you ever get tired of it?
After 15 years, I never get tired of it. Sometimes it gets exhausting. Sometimes it’s hard. But I don’t ever get tired of it.
