Corporate Portrait Blog

Daniel Gilmore - Artist

Corporate portraits aren’t always about business people in suits - a corporate portrait is about relating you and your business to the public.

Daniel Gilmore is an artist so I produced something a little different to the usual expectation of a business portrait. But consider this, Daniel is a fine artist, but he’s still in business, he still has an audience to convince.

Perhaps it might be interesting to portray artists in suits and business executives in jeans and t’s - and why not Google is a t’s business, so we’re told. Maybe a portrait like Daniel Gilmore’s would work for Eric Schmidt? If you want to see what Google’s doing at the moment with their corporate portraits - http://www.google.com/corporate/execs.html

I’m thinking they should call me!

Let’s try it out - Six degrees of separation - can anyone, anyway, anyhow help get my corporate portrait blog in front of Eric Schmidt?

Rachel Gill - Aspect Mortgages

Is corporate portrait photography the most demanding area of photography?

Rachel is a mortgage broker, based in Preston, Lancashire; she needed a positive image for her website.

The image brief: It needed the right feel for her and her business - friendly yet businesslike. She meets most of her clients in their own homes, so she couldn’t appear too intimidating, but it was vital that she did appear professional.

Sounds easy, these issues are not unique, they’re issues I solve on a daily basis - It’s what I do.

However, I count this as one of my best images. I could revert to Uni-Arty-Speak and write a dissertation on this image and the way it engages, the tension of the framing etc. For me it just works so well - I could quit corporate portrait photography for ever knowing I’ve produced this image.

However this, and most corporate portrait images, was not an easy image to capture, here’s why:

1. Rachel found it difficult to relax in front of the camera. - along with most portrait subjects.

2. She got embarrassed being the centre of attention.

3. In repose, her expression was too thoughtful, yet she has a great sense of humour, the merest smile instantly takes over her face and becomes hearty laughter.

4. Instead of being herself, she responded the way she thought one should when being photographed.

5. Corporate portraits need to communicate a precise and positive message for a business, using a sitter/subject who is often doing this for the first time in their life.

6. Uniquely, Rachel’s husband, Richard, was also having his portrait taken and she was very aware that he’s uber-photogenic, which compounded her self-consciousness.

Is corporate portrait photography the most demanding area of photography? I think so!

What also intrigues me is the different feel of the colour and the monochrome images. I have my thoughts, which I’ll add later, but I would like to get some feedback first - so add your comments, Plain-Speak or Uni-Arty-Speak, let me know which image appeals to you and what the different images say.

Alex Wotherspoon The Apprentice 2008

Alex Wotherspoon appears to be a confident young guy, and he is, but it hasn’t always been that way - as a student he confesses to a degree of shyness that’s surprising.

It was apparent though, during this shoot, just how confident and comfortable he has become in front of the camera, he chats away casually, holds for the shot, then continues chatting without pause or hesitation.

It was my usual corporate portrait shooting style: discuss with the subject what they want to convey in the image, help the subject feel relaxed and comfortable with the concept, set up three basic shots and shoot till I’m happy with the body language.

It was not a lot of work with Alex, but then he was signed up by a leading model agency immediately after his ‘Apprentice’ appearance.

How has fame changed Alex’s life? Well, he has to put up with the ‘You’re Fired’ finger a hundred times a day and, of course,  everyone asks him the question: “What’s Alan Sugar really like?” I didn’t do the you’re fired finger bit but I did ask the Sugar question, Alex answered it quite candidly, so if you want to know what he thinks Alan Sugar’s like  - just ask him yourself.

Working with Pros now and again is great, but sometimes I wonder if they’ve a set range of expressions they recycle, but with Alex I feel he was sincere and personality-wise he’s an A-list Celeb.

Either way, I’d like your comments on this image. Tell me what you feel we’re trying to convey in this image?

Natasha Kaplinsky Channel Five Newsreader

Ok so this isn’t a new image, in fact it’s part of a series of images I took a couple of years ago when Natasha was still with the BBC. They say newsreaders are just ‘hair and teeth’ but I would be inclined to say ‘hair, teeth and EYES’. The greatest thing about Natasha is her intelligence, it shines in her eyes, giving them, and her,  immense life and personality.

It’s a curious thing that many people assume models are stupid, but the truth is that without wit and life in their eyes people just don’t sparkle. One of the benefits of being a Corporate Portrait Photographer is that (nearly) all of my subjects have a fair degree of intelligence too - they’re halfway to a good image before I take out my camera.

One little gripe I do have - before adding this image to my blog I did a quick trawl round Google Images to see what other images of Natasha were out there and I found a copy of this one linked to someone’s blog - and no credit or link to me, or my website, for the use of my image either - I thought that was simple web courtesy - if you steal/borrow an image give a credit.

I’ll put a new page of my set of Natasha Kaplinsky images on my website soon, so you can see what a great subject she is. Almost an ideal subject. I’ll add the link ASAP.

I look forward to hearing your comments on this corporate portrait image.

Mike Brown, Copywriter - Corporate Portrait

I was introduced to Mike Brown of Word Forge by his SEO consultant (he acknowledges the need for a strong image as part of a succesful website even though it doesn’t help with Google ranking). Mike has recently joined the ranks of the self-employed as a copywriter after several years of being a cog in the government machine.

My technique with Mike was to talk to him about how he approached his clients, find out what they expected him to produce for them and the image that would get that message across. I don’t have a formal studio and I generally shoot ‘on location’ so it’s sometimes difficult when a ‘business’ consists of a laptop, a mobile phone and a kitchen table.

I took Mike into my boardroom, sat him on the edge of the boardroom table with his laptop just creeping into shot. I chose three ‘poses’ and shot about twenty images. Mike relaxed and went with my direction, his image shows an intensity of expression that I think surprised him - it communicates a determination and a solidity of purpose - most people consider writers to lack those two traits, yet he still appears friendly and approachable.

Mike’s comments

Particularly love the second of the images – not least because I appear to have shed several stone as well as the ruddiness of my cheeks! Alan - you’ve taken the only good image of me in history. It’ll be used for every occasion from now on!
These are excellent – many, many thanks.

It was a succesful shoot, remember your website photography is vital to the success of your business. What do you think?

This corporate portrait is of Jane Mexborough.

It’s always interesting to discover why clients choose a particular photographer - Jane was unsure about having her portrait taken, but after she found my website she felt comfortable with me and my work, she liked my style.

On the day of the shoot we spent about twenty minutes discussing her life and work until we both understood what we expected to achieve before I even picked up my camera. We agreed that the roof of her office building with views across London was the ideal location - it set her in her business environment.

Jane does a lot of public speaking at events and seminars throughout the world. Her topic is re-engineering older buildings, such as 60’s tower blocks, to make them more environmentally friendly thereby extending their useful life. She needed and image that would work at various situations - magazine and press, web, brochure, video screen etc. I provided her with several diffferent crops from the chosen image.

The softening and de-saturating  takes the emphasis away from the very interesting background, keeping Jane as the main subject yet maintaining her position and role at the centre of the City of London with all its connotations.

Corporate portrait photography is so satisfying, what do you have to say about it?

Mike Holman BNI Corporate Portrait

I took a series of portraits of Mike Holman, he’s the guy who runs the NorthWestUK area BNI referral network. He needed something that gave him a presence for his public speaking roles. Taken in a bit of a hurry at a ‘travel lodge’ style hotel, he was apprehensive, amazingly so, considering he can stand up infront of 500 or more people without hesitation or nerves.

Incredible how some people fear the camera, I put it down to seeing so many ‘dodgy’ images of oneself - why do friends always show you your worst images? Movie stars etc only see their best images and assume they always look good.

Anyway, my role is to make a great image of you - to make you feel good about yourself - and to make your potential new clients feel good about you too.

I think I’ve achieved that here. What do you think?

More Mike Holman corporate portraits to come.