Nate Dorn is a freelance photographer busy working on editorial, commercial and fine art projects in Atlanta, Georgia. Together, with his brother Travis, they are DornBrothers. DornBrothers and producer Chris Lazar frequently work together on creative projects. In 2013 the pair came up with the idea for a “pin-up style” calendar for Village Garage and Custom, an auto repair shop. They soon found themselves coming up with concepts for other stores, restaurants and bars in the area, a “unique little pocket” of Atlanta called East Village Atlanta. They released their first Village Calendar in 2013. The 2014 calendar, shown here, has a movie poster/pulp comic theme.
The community calendar highlights the business owners and neighborhood personalities, and Dorn says it has become a source of pride for the neighborhood. Dorn explained a bit about the project via email:
“The Argosy (named after a pulp mag) decided to have a nautical theme, with a school play-type set up, so they had a crafts night with their employees and everyone made their own hats, weapons, cut out the cardboard waves, made the paper boat and fish. I cut out the back wall and Photoshopped in the sky. The shoot was really ridiculous and fun. The Glenwood loved the idea of a Boardwalk Empire/Gangster Squad look, so everyone borrowed 1920s style clothing and [the wife of] one of the owners’…was a hair stylist so we started early in the morning and just played around till we found the right angle. The most surprising shoot was the Midway Pub, we had planned to set up this National Lampoon style shot, but when we go there, they informed us that they had changed their mind and decided to go ‘Teen-Wolf’ on us. I looked over and they already had one of the bartenders in make up and were glueing tuff of hair on his arms. Though really clever, I had to rethink the lighting set up, location, and positioning of 8 people. It turned out to be one of my favorite shots in the calendar!”
Dorn says he’s “had tremendous amount of fun working with real people, connecting ideas and design, adding some great pieces to his portfolio, and [admittedly] cashing in on some free bar tabs.”
