Cool CV

I was doing some research on contract publishers and came across this Creative Director/Art Directors CV which I thought really stood out from most documents designed in Microsoft Word

A Recent Group Shot

I'm often asked to take group photographs of senior executives for annual reports, brochures, presentations etc.

It's often difficult to get everyone together at the same time, especially if the key people involved work at different offices in different places. One of the ways of reducing the potential complex logistics involved in arranging a group shot is to photograph the individuals seperately and then after after composite the individual portraits together in Photoshop and create the 'virtual' team photograph. Not only is this more convenient than arranging a group photographic session but also if individuals leave the team then it's relatively easy to photograph new team members and then incorporate them into the new team shot.

Below is a recent example of a group photograph that I took of an Insurance syndicate. I took a wide variety of pictures of each individual in different poses and then after the pictures were arranged in photoshop to create the team picture.

Major Teaching Hospital - Picture Library

Last week I was fortunate enough to photograph the day-to-day work of a major London teaching hospital. The NHS Trust commissioned me to take photographs for a picture library that they will be using to illustrate their annual reports, websites and brochures. It was a very enjoyable experience witnessing the skill, dedication and hard work of the the people of NHS in action

Below are just a few of over 2000 images that I took for the project.

Recent Work for the NHS

Do Companies Make Anything in the UK Anymore?

Much as I like photographing senior executives, management teams and boards of directors once it a while it would be great if I could also photograph assets or people at the sharp end of a business. I long for a job that entails going to an oil refinery, power station, factory, mine etc and getting pictures of a company's physical assets or people using their talents and skills rather than just intellectual work.

It's a real shame but the annual report market in the UK is different to the USA and is primarily concerned with presenting the business facts to analysts rather than telling the story of the company. Here is a Denver based photographer who is continually out on location doing the stuff I'd love to do.

Here also is a link to six page PDF magazine article about my architectural work.

Commissioning Photography for Corporate Communications

I'm often amazed at the general lack of knowledge from corporate communications and PR people about commissioning photography. Often a large organisation will pay considerable monthly retainer to a PR Firm to ensure that the company is perceived well by the media; but when it comes time to have the pictures for the annual report photographs then the task of choosing a photographer is often delegated to the CEO's Personal Assistant or the office facilities manager! I frequently receive requests to quote for taking portraits of the CEO or the board of directors, but the only question I get asked is how much? I get the impression that the poor PA is given the task of selecting a photographer and completely lacks the knowledge of where to go from there! Of course the first thing they do is a Google Search on local photographers and then send out an email to first people at the top of the search who appear to be able to do this sort of work asking how much. Consequently the general standard of photography in the UK for corporate photography is very poor simply because the only criteria for selection of a photographer are price.

Photography is not a commodity; it's not the same as choosing the supplier for office stationary. Good photography used in conjunction with a well designed and written report can be a highly effective tool in your company's communications strategy. So if you are in the market for commissioning a photographer then please let me know before you send out the request for quotes and I will provide you with some guidance, this will include a list of specific questions to ask photographers on both the business and technical aspects to ensure that the commission process is more objective, smoother and that you do not encounter any nasty surprises or disappointments.

Here is a link to a photographer who in my opinion takes first class portraits of business people http://benbakerbusiness.com/

 

 

Why I Use a PC

Yesterday Microsoft Outlook needed to be reinstalled and rebuilt on my computer as it was causing me a lot of grief. I know that if I were using a Mac for my main machine (as I used to) I would not have to put up with all this tinkering to get work done, but the problem with using a Mac is that all my clients use PC's. However there are compensations though such as Onenote which I love

Increasingly many of the day to day applications are on the Net. For example I use Photoshelter for management of my archives and distribution of client pictures. My clients really appreciate the ability to choose pictures, set-up a lightbox and then distribute the high resolution pictures throughout the organization without all the hassle of large email attachments.

I can see a time in the near future where my complete workflow can be conducted via a browser and a high speed connection to the web and quite frankly I cannot wait for this as I won't need to maintain my personal computer and can spend more time taking photographs rather than be the IT Guy!