Kremer Johnson Cast Unlikely Co-Stars in The Company We Keep

Kremer/Johnson’s talent has always been creating images and scenes that make you feel like you’ve walked into the middle of a story. Their character building, mixed with controlled and well-thought-out environments create intentional imagery but never at the expense of the narrative or humor. There is always a quiet absurdity that makes you pause and look again. In their personal projects, they’re able to push this even further. 

In their latest project, The Company We Keep, that instinct is stretched. The series pairs three archetypal characters with dogs that don’t quite feel right with the scene. Done tastefully and all in camera, Neil and Cory have created recognizable characters that fit in their built-out environment, but with an ironic twist through AI-generated dogs. Without pushing the image too far and becoming surreal, The Company We Keep is a series that is both fun and artful. 

Where did the idea for The Company We Keep come from?

It was a purpose-built project. We knew we wanted to make something that still felt like us. We’ve always liked building characters and crafting real environments, so the idea became: how do we introduce something unexpected into that world? We landed on pairing archetypal people with dogs that don’t quite make sense. That’s really it. It’s meant to be fun.

You mentioned archetypes. How did you land on these specific characters?

We started with a long list of character ideas and then let location guide the process. A character has to belong somewhere, so we did a pretty exhaustive location search based on what was available and within budget. As we narrowed down locations, the characters started to solidify alongside them. The locations are all real. The environments belong to the characters, so we want them to feel authentic. The light is crafted, the color is intentional, but the place itself is real.

Were you thinking about the dogs during the shoot, even though they weren’t physically there?

Yes, completely. Everything was planned ahead of time. We knew where the dog would be, what it would be doing, and how it would interact with the person. We left space for it in the frame and directed the talent accordingly.

Your work is very hands-on. What did the build process look like for this series?

Everything was done the way we usually work: camera, lighting, wardrobe, props, hair and makeup, all of it. The scenes are constructed very deliberately. The color, the light, the environment, it’s all part of shaping the character.

The dogs were generated through AI separately and then composited in. It became a process of building them piece by piece until they matched what we had in mind. It’s just another way of solving a production challenge, especially for elements, like animals, that are hard to control.

For us, AI isn’t replacing photography: it’s another tool in the kit. It lets us push ideas further and make the kind of images that probably shouldn’t exist.