Shooting ‘A Day in the Life of’ is something I do quite a lot for marketing departments and PR agencies. Clients want natural looking photos that give a sense of the person we’re following, and the key is I have to make the photos look realistic.
Usually, it’s a PR agency that gets in touch, with a planned marketing campaign that includes a feature in a magazine or blog about the person, and my job is to provide a variety of photos that will accompany a written article. The important thing is that I can provide a wide variety of shots that show the subject at work, so the photos have to look as natural and realistic as possible. Now, that doesn’t mean that they’re not directed – in fact, there’s a real knack to giving direction so that the photos look natural! – as a better looking photo usually needs a bit of planning and directing for best effect. I’ve included a few examples of what I mean in this blog post.
This was a typical ‘day in the life’ assignment. I was following Steven carrying out his duties as manager of a Royal Mail Sorting Office. The feature had been written, and I needed to provide some accompanying photos that, basically, showed Steven interacting with colleagues and at work in his office. I also shot a few straight-to-camera portraits too like the opening photo (even if they’re not specifically requested, I like to provide them as they are useful as photos in themselves, and for other uses beyond the article or feature).
Preparing to write this blog piece eight weeks into Lockdown has made me reflect on whether it’d be possible to do this kind of work at the moment? The answer is, yes I think so. It would require some tweaks to comply with social distancing requirements, but then at the moment people would be doing that anyway wouldn’t they? So, when you think about it, it’d be an accurate reflection of the times to include photos that had more distance between people than those here. And it’s always been possible to shoot portraits from more than 2 metres away. In fact, the optimum distance is probably 3 to 5 metres anyway. I’m also fully equipped to turn up with a face mask, gloves and sanitiser, to keep risk to an absolute minimum. It’s going to be more important than ever to do some effective marketing after businesses have been on pause for months, and PR activities like this will play a big part in creating that sense that businesses are back, and things are proceeding as before. So, as more and more businesses are returning to work, I’d be perfectly able to do shoots like this; and more than happy to.
Professional photography really is about so much more than pointing a camera. The intent of the images, the message they give out, the story they tell, are all hugely important aspects of how you should market your brand. I’m always happy to talk ideas, so feel free to get in touch.
