the best laid plans…..

Recently, I took this photograph for Fairfield Insulation Co. Emily Johnson-Russo, of mootsa design was working up a marketing campaign for the company. By the way, Emily is terrific to work with and she is a great designer as well  – do check out her website and blog.

The company wanted to replicate an image that was taken in the early 1950’s, shown here:

We scouted out the location a few days ahead of time. The assignment was to shoot the employees in their warehouse space in Norwalk. The warehouse is a big, cavernous and dark space – a nightmare to take pictures in. There’s a large overhead door leading into the warehouse. My plan was to have the truck and the people right in the doorway so we could use the sun to partially light them. I’d fill in with strobe lights and shoot from the parking lot, about 30 feet from my subjects.

Everything was set and I felt comfortable with the plan for the shoot. But…

On the day of the shoot, it was raining – steadily. I couldn’t very well have my camera and lights out in the rain. So, we went to Plan B and moved everyone back towards the rear of the space, so I could get just inside the doorway. Thankfully the space was big enough to accommodate the move.

But I worried about having enough light. My big studio lights could have handled it easily, but what I brought with me were three small Nikon speedlights (SB 900’s). It took a while to figure the lighting setup, which is why I always come extra early for a shoot like this.  As shown above, we had plenty of light.

The Fairfield Insulation folks are a great group and act like a big, happy family. It was a pleasure and privilege to photograph them.

Images for a Website

Part of my photography business is helping clients create images for their websites.  I recently did a project for Patricia Phelan, an attorney who concentrates in special education law and advocacy.  Her web designer had given us specific images to create for the website. The first one, above, was Patti having a conference with a client family.

The second image, to the left, was Patti sitting at her desk, talking on the phone with a client. The lighting for this one was fairly tricky. We turned off the fluorescent office lights (which tend to make people look green) . It was a gloomy day, and thus very little window light was available to light the image. So, we had to light the scene from scratch. I used three strobe lights, which had to be set up to be invisible in the shot, but also not bounce reflections off the diplomas, the computer screen or Patti’s glasses. This took a bit of trial and error.

Then, we shot Patti with her own family, in an atrium with lovely plants on the ground floor of her office building.  The clients who hire Patti are not just looking for an attorney; they are looking for someone who is compassionate and understanding of the issues around special needs children – and Patti Phelan has these qualities in spades.

 With these pictures, we are trying to show a bit of Patti’s personality, so that potential clients will feel comfortable approaching her for representation. 

Once the website is up and running, I’ll put a link to it on this blog. For me, this was a special and fun project, in part because Patti is a dear friend. If you, gentle reader, are thinking about photography for your website, please keep me in mind! Here’s one last image from our shoot, a headshot with a bit more of a formal feel than the other images.

Corporate Headshots

I don’t care for the term corporate headshot. Couldn’t we say professional portrait?  Headshot seems quick, impersonal, haphazard.

Whatever we call it, some of my work involves photographing people for businesses large and small. This picture was one of four taken for the partners of a financial services firm, that will be used on their website.

A business portrait usually tries to project the the style and culture of the organization. If we see a picture of an executive on a website or in an annual report that works well, we get a sense, sometimes subconsciously, of what the business is all about. The photograph literally puts a “face” on an organization that might otherwise seem, well, faceless.

Bigger companies put a lot of time and effort in these pictures. Think of images you’ve seen of CEOs of big corporations. The expression on the face, the body language, the clothes, what’s shown in the background, the colors – everything is designed to  instill us with an impression about the company.  None of this is left to chance.

My work in this area is mostly with smaller firms. Usually I have a bit more freedom in deciding how to portray the person. My goal is to avoid a look that appears contrived or staged.  Bringing out the subject’s personality is key. And a smiling, open and welcoming appearance, such as in the gentleman above, will hopefully make just the right impression on the viewer.

If you have a need for portraits for your business, I hope you will think of Blake Robinson Photography.