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Photography Commissions - People, PR, and Editorial Photography for Business

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Commissioning Photography for Business

Many businesses today are required to represent their company in the media whether it is on a news website, blog, newspaper or magazine. To ensure that the company's services or product is shown in the best possible way, they will use a pr agency or have personnel within the company "media trained" so they can effectively communicate with the media. People who are media trained will have the skills to answer tricky questions, create interesting copy and above all produce a positive message about their company. An integral part of many press pieces is a photograph to either illustrate a product or the person being interviewed. So when a publication requests a photograph of an executive or a spokesperson, what do you do? You may think that the easiest thing to do would be to grab the nearest digital compact camera or camera phone, take a snap and get it over to publication as soon as possible, or maybe you would not provide a picture at all. After spending all that money on training staff and pr how could you fall down at the last hurdle, by producing a bad quality picture, which an editor will simply trash or even worse, print. By commissioning a professional photographer to shoot a selection of portraits in a style which represents your company's image, or brand you will have a much stronger representation in the media. So whatever the issue being discussed in the press, whether good or bad you will have an appropriate portrait to compliment the story, interview or biography. The best way and most cost effective is to create a library of personnel portraits by using a photographer specialising in this field, who can advise you on the look and style which best suits your company. Photography sessions can be booked in half or full day sessions and the photographer can shoot at your premises or in a studio. In doing this there would be continuity in the imagery, which is published by the media and always, good quality portraits, which can be distributed when required.

A&M Photography Blog

A&M Photography

Business photography commission

Follow the brief

It is always hugely important that the clients brief is followed closely so that the photography they receive is what they had envisaged. For a recent A&M Photography commission we were asked to take portraits of a team of executives in a meeting environment. The brief suggested that the subjects should look relaxed and the images should not be set up, the look should be fresh and dynamic. To acheive this we got them to have an actual meeting, in an environment which had nice natural light and with some additional lighting of our own which gave the correct feel to the photography.

A&M Photography Blog

A&M Photography

Copyright and fees

There is always a lot of confusion and debate about the copyright and ownership of commissioned photography, fees for different usages etc. The Association of photographers has some excellent guidelines for photographers and for clients looking to commission original photography. In particular there is a section called copyright 4 clients which has information on negotiating licences and also guidlines for re-usage.. There is also a section on how photographers charge which makes some interesting points about the use of digital photography opposed to film.

Corporate portrait shoot

Here is an example of a picture taken for Power Perfector. This shows a slightly different approach to a corporate portrait. We shot this outside their offices in a mews using portable studio flash.

Corporate spokesperson photoshoot - pictures by A&M Photography

Here is a great example of a corporate portrait shoot including the contact sheets which shows a good selection of different poses/crops and angles.

Creative Corporate portrait

Mark Price - Waitrose portrait

We were recently commissioned to photograph the new MD of Waitrose, so we came up with a simple but interesting idea incorporating an apple in the shot. The new MD Mark Price descibes himself as the "Chubby Grocer" so we wanted to emphasise his humour and character in this image, simplicity being the key.

PR shoot - PR Photography in London to promote a fishing competition

Never work with children or animals

I only managed to get this one shot before the fish jumped back in the water, luckily it was a good one, but as the old adage goes.....

Celebrity Snap

Posh Spice

A lookalike can always work well in a PR portrait or stunt especially if you can't afford the real McCoy. The key is that they do have to look vaguely like the celebrity they are trying to represent...there's only so much we can do in Photoshop!!

Editorial Portrait

This is an example of an editorial portrait taken for an in house magazine feature. The subject is a buyer from a large department store who is involved with selecting their Christmas Hampers. We decided it would make a nice shot to have her positioned in front of the shelves filled with the produce.

Event and Exhibition Photography

Event and Exhibition photography can be tricky if the subject matter is not very interesting and you are in a dull exhibition centre. A good reportage photographer can cover the event capturing all the aspects you require including people interacting, displays and the brands which need covering. Pictured is a shot from the Clerkenwell Design Week photo by A&M Photography.

A&M Photography Blog

A mainly picture led blog by A&M Photography posting recent commissions and personal work

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Digital Photography Club: Everything about Digital Photography
A&M Photography: Photography company based in London - people, corporate, pr and editorial photography

Corrupt Camera Card Files

Here is some useful software that saved my life after my camera card became corrupt and I lost all my files from a one off photo shoot. The software is called ZAR and this is the link ZAR RECOVERY