Corporate Photography By Madman

NATURAL STYLE WORKS FOR CORPORATE EMPLOYEES TOO!

Guess what! You and your employees are people too! Just because you own a business or work for a big business, doesn't mean that you are automatically "easy to photograph". Many business owners hate having their photographs taken for the same reason that, when they go home, they don't want family photos taken! Peter's methods for bringing out the star in you applies equally well to corporate photo shoots.

CORPORATE SERVICES:

There are many corporate services that Peter provides. These include all photography for:

• Advertising
• Annual Reports
• Architectural
• Calendars
• Magazine covers/Magazine articles
• Manuals/Instruction sheets/CD/DVD's and inserts
• Packaging
• Promotional event recording
• Staff photos for magazines, newspapers, business cards
• Still art photography

See below for more details on each of these.

Take a look at some of my work, or ask for a free initial consultation where I can show you samples of work used by a wide range of corporate organizations. Or ask to be sent a Large Envelope of my services, mention you are interested in Corporate info, I will include a list of corporate clients and can show you samples of the work done for them.

THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX

Do you run a garage? Do you want to make it more appealing to your customers? How about photographs of your mechanics with their families! How about photographs of some of the finest cars you are working on?

Do you do special community services? Do you want to have professional photography that you can proudly display on your reception walls and web site?

SPECIAL NOTE FOR SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS:

If you want to show your employees you really care – what better way than a gift that they will continue to remember for years to come. A Christmas “bonus”, Birthday gift, Secretaries' Day gift, Anniversary gift they will both enjoy and treasure literally for years! As a smaller company, you know how much meaningful gifts like this mean to your staff. If you are outside the Calgary area and book several* or more sessions for the same time, the setup fee will be waived and only economical travel costs will be charged. Let me know when you might want to do them and I’ll get a quote for you. How far will I go? Well, so far, the furthest to date is Switzerland . * Several: If you are located in North America, several is 3 to 5 sessions depending on the flight length. In Europe or Asia several means a minimum of 7 sessions.

SPECIAL NOTE FOR LARGE BUSINESS OWNERS/MANAGERS/BOSSES:

If you want to show your employees you really care, that you have the small business entrepreneurial spirit – what better way than a gift that they will continue to remember for years to come. Just like smaller companies, a Photos by Madman session makes the ideal Christmas “bonus”, Birthday gift, Secretaries' Day gift or Anniversary gift they will both enjoy and treasure literally for decades! Show your staff that you really do have the entrepreneurial spirit. If you are outside the Calgary area, just as for small businesses, the setup fee will be waived and only economical travel costs will be charged. If you prefer to handle the travel costs directly, that is also acceptable.

SPECIAL NOTE FOR CORPORATE MARKETERS:

Would you like to offer a “Photos by Madman” family session as a prize in a contest? Would you like to give a “Photos by Madman” family session as a reward for your top salesperson/salespeople? Would you like to give a “Photos by Madman” family session as a bonus for “signing this week” or just as a special gift when customers buy your top product or purchase more than a certain dollar amount in a year? Or – do you have something else in mind? Call, write or email us and we can discuss these opportunities.

Advertising

Advertising covers a wide range of opportunities to promote yourself and your products. Most of the time, the photography should be related directly to the text in the ad. For catalogues, still art will often involve mostly still art (see below) but not always - for example clothing fashions are most often shown at their best when worn by models.

Annual Reports

You Annual Report can be more than just an information package. This is an opportunity to showcase your company to your shareholders as well as clients and potential clients in more ways than just financial. Your staff and executives can be put forth in the best, most professional way. Or, if your company prides itself on being casual, then casual pictures that instill confidence. Do you have a special process, some special or new machinery? What is it about your company this year and next year that sets you apart. It is one thing to write it in text and numbers, but you know that pictures will tell a much stronger picture and will lead more people to read the text to find out more about the pictures.

Architectural

Do you need pictures of building, building you built, buildings your offices are in, pictures of your offices? Do your current pictures have buildings that look like they are falling over? Do the walls of your inside shots seem to be leaning or bowed out like a pork barrel? Does the ceiling appear to be falling down? If so, chances are your pictures were taken with a normal camera (film or digital) with a so called 'normal' or 'wide-angle' lens. If you look at my gallery you can see excellent examples of both types of architectural photographs - its all a matter of choosing what you want. You can also look at the barns that are falling over, but that is not because of the camera - they really are falling over!  In many cases people wanted to have straight lines and buildings that are standing up instead of falling over, if so a view camera which has lots of movements of the lens and back (left, right, tilt, shift and so on) is what is needed to achieve the desired results. For example, the building in the Corporate Gallery that is the S3J magazine cover was taken using my view camera. Notice how the building stands tall and firm.

Calendars

There are two common ways companies or organizations arrange for photography for calendars.

1. Stock photos. This means taking photographs of interest that already exist. From the galleries on the left you can see representative samplings of the stock photography I have available.
2. Custom photos. For example, Honeysuckle Hollow Teddy Bears, 1 Teddy bear per month.

The photos in a calendar are often thematic. For example - all Teddy Bears, or all vehicles of a certain type, equipment used by your company, all mountain or landscape scenes, all brightly colored fish. Indeed, some families choose to take 12 of their family pictures and use these to build a thematic calendar for their friends and relatives.

The photos in a calender can also be an eclectic combination. For example, calendars put out by photo magazines are often 12 completely unrelated photographs.

For most corporate and organizational needs however, if you are going with an eclectic group of photos, you will want them to tie back to your organization in some way. In this way it is somewhat themed - "your organization" being the theme, but it is a lose theme that allows for a wide range of photos.

Magazine covers/Magazine articles

Are you preparing an article for a trade publication? Are you being featured in a magazine and the magazine has asked you for photographs that illustrate you or your company? Do you produce an inhouse magazine or newsletter that needs sprucing up? Peter has had his photography placed in several magazines, and many of his photographs have been used to grace the covers of magazines. This type of photograph, can add impact to readers of the articles.

Manuals/Instruction sheets

A picture is worth a thousand words they say. Well, yes, sometimes it is. However, to be honest as both a photographer and an author, I believe that the combination of a few words and a good picture is much more likely to be worth a thousand words. And -- if that thousand words has to be spoken by one of your staff, or written down in an eMail or fax, and if you have to repeat those thousand words for every 9th or 10th customer... A picture can be worth 100's of thousands of words - to your bottom line, in saved support costs, in happy, successful customers which results in sales both to them and those they talk to. Talk to Peter about what types of pictures and words would help your customers the best.

Packaging

If your package is going to sit on a shelf for people to buy, it may seem unfair or unfortunate, but the better looking package is much more likely to sell than the plain boring package, even if it is low cost. If you don't believe me, think about all the different no-name brands. When they first came out, they were very plain. Where I and my wife shop, they came in Blue or Yellow with White or Black boring text. But both of these no-name brands have started to get fancier and fancier packaging until now where they have full color drawings and photographs. And you know that companies like that would not keep making their packages fancier and incur the costs if it wasn't worth it.

If you are a "small volume" producer, there are ways to keep the packaging costs reasonable while still having the benefits of color and drawings and/or photographs. Talk to Peter about your needs.

Promotional event recording

Most of the time, corporations are happy with just a few snap shots taken by employees at corporate promotioal events, be they an employee only function or a function for customers. But there are times when you want higher quality photography of the event. For example, if the event photographs are going in a newsletter that reaches your customers, or if you plan to have photographs of the event in your boardroom or reception room. In these cases it is well worth Peter's services to give you the coverage that will give you the benefits you want.

Staff photos for magazines, newspapers, business cards, internet 

Do you really like the "motor vehicle" photographs that most people use of themselves for advertising? It amazes me how many people will spend a huge amount of time and effort to write an article that will add prestige to the company and employee - and then they submit a photograph taken by their Aunt Hilda under fluorescent lights or with a flash that leaves that big dark splotch behind them, or they submit a photograph taken on their last holiday - the one with the tree growing out of the top of their heads. Others will use the Wall-mart 19.95 special where they rush in, have their picture taken - and they don't look professional or relaxed. Take a look at the galleries to see how average people can look when they are relaxed and have their pictures taken in the "Photos By Madman" way.

Still art photography

Still art referst to taking photographs of objects that don't move while the picture is being taken. This allows for lighting setups to be as simple or complex as needed to achine the effects you want. The Photos By Madman studio is set up to take wonderful pictures of your products, paintings and other "still art." In parts of the studio there are all the tools and supplies for making up a wide range of props and such that are often needed to show off your products in the "best light." For example, see the simple, yet effective display at HoneySuckle-Hollow (all photography on this site by Photos By Madman)