"Published in Inked Magazine (November 2016) — US circulation of
181,000 with global digital distribution across 110 million monthly
pageviews."
Editor Rocky Rakovic reached out specifically because he wanted
something outside Inked's standard aesthetic. Christy Mack was
returning after time away to recover. The cover needed to signal that
nothing had diminished her. The Concept A stark juxtaposition between
the hard-edged beauty of the desert and the softness of the human form
— with the snake as the through-line connecting her to her most iconic
imagery. The visual argument: she's back, unchanged, unbroken. The
Reality Six hours. A living room in Las Vegas. No location, no set,
minimal crew. The entire desert environment was built from scratch —
composited from my own stock photography library and original 3D
modeling. What reads as a large-scale production was built entirely in
post. The Result Published November 2016. One of Inked's most visually
distinctive covers. US print circulation 181,000 with global digital
distribution across 110 million monthly pageviews.
inked magazine Cover + Interior Spread November 2016 Circulation:
181,000 Editor: Rocky Rakovic Photography, Art Direction & 3D
Composite: Molly Ryan Herb
Sand Storms, Horsepower & Determination
TOYO TIRES — EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED
A mid-shoot sandstorm erased the landscape and forced the entire team
to shelter. What it left behind was better than what we planned for.
Mother nature doesn't care about call sheets — knowing when to stop
fighting it and start shooting it is the whole job.
Toyo Tires Dakar Rally Campaign 2014 Promo Campaign Drivers: BJ
Baldwin • Robby Gordon Location: Dumont Dunes, CA • Concord, NC
Photography & Campaign Still Content: Molly Herb
Some Give You Hours Some Give You Seconds
Commercial portrait campaign — History Channel's Pawn Stars × Las
Vegas Casino Crossover Promotion
Two minutes. That's what I had with each cast member before they were
due back on set. Billboards, taxi cabs, casino advertising, and online
placement across Las Vegas — all of it depending on what I could
capture in that window. There's no room for discovery when the clock
is running. You know what you need before you walk in, or you don't
get it. Sometimes you have no other choice but to allow experience to
take the wheel.
wandering the west
Finding peace and solace amongst natures greatest creations.
Story & Photography By Molly Herb
It was shortly after 8 p.m. on Christmas Eve when I reached for the
windshield wiper lever, nudging it higher, only to realize it was
already maxed out. As fast as they’d go. Not nearly fast enough. Damn.
The rain came down in sheets, gum-ball-sized bursts exploding against
the glass, smearing the road into abstraction. No shoulder. No margin.
Construction barrels squeezed the highway into a single narrow lane,
their blinking orange lights mocking me as oncoming headlights
detonated into white blindness. For brief moments, I just hoped the
road stayed where it belonged. I’d been on the road for hours, heading
west somewhere past Gallup, New Mexico—the last familiar name on the
map—into nowhere with my twelve-pound, self-appointed navigator Coco,
half chihuahua, half Velcro, fully uninterested in directions. We’d
just closed the year at Cityview Magazine. I was wrung out. Empty.
Ready to exhale.... I’d lost track of how long I’d been on that road,
white-knuckling forward, shoulders locked, music turned down as if
silence might sharpen my vision. Then, just like that, the rain
stopped. The road reappeared. My shoulders dropped. A Chevron glow
surfaced in the distance like a mirage. I didn’t need gas. I didn’t
need snacks. I needed to stop driving. Inside, before I could even
speak, the young attendant looked up and said, “A lot of people sleep
in their cars here. You’re good.” I thanked him quietly and retreated
to the back of my car, grateful beyond words, as there were few
alternate choices than this tiny gas station.
Cityview Magazine Western United States Travel Story 2800 Words 25,000
Print Circulation 1.2 million monthly website visits. Story &
Photography: Molly Herb
From News Stands to Readers' Hands. Judging a book by its cover it's
what it's all about
Great creative direction doesn't come from chasing the perfect shot,
the perfect light, or the perfect layout. It comes from building the
right conditions to allow people to shine, to create, to imagine.
I approached Cityview with a simple premise: time spent repeating
steps isn't creative work — it's assembly line work, and assembly line
work can be automated. I built a pipeline from story submission to
layout to publishing — XML intake, InDesign automation, seamless
one-step web publishing — that freed my creative team from preparing
to be creative to actually being creative.
Cityview Magazine 25,000 Print Circulation 6 issues per year Cover
Concepts & Layouts: Molly Herb Editor in Chief: Nathan Sparks
Managing Editor: Kirk Edwards
Case Study
