Visions, a Blog

New Balance NYC

10 Ways to Get More Value from my Photos

My portfolio is your portfolio. For more than twenty years I’ve partnered with design firms, architects and retailers to create images that showcase their brands, concepts and visions. It’s rewarding to see my images being used in ever more interesting and creative ways.

I want to make sure that you are making the most of my images.

Here’s a list of ten ways that the results of our partnership can be further used in order for you to create more value from your company’s investment.

1.  PR/Marketing –Nothing grabs people’s attention like a beautiful image.  Showcasing a state of the art innovation creates memorable marketing, industry buzz, and can get consumers talking.

2.  Sales presentations-Showcase past work to future clients. From web portfolios to one-on-one presentations, using high quality imagery not only presents your products and services in the most professional manner, it also elevates your brand.

3.  Trade Show presentations-Many companies rely on trade show presentations to showcase innovative designs and ideas.  Do you have the images you need to effectively communicate your viewpoint thus making you the expert?

4. Awards and competitions-My photography has garnered more than 100 awards for my clients within various competitions.  This exposure not only serves as a congratulatory note to team members and clients, but also increases the opportunity for additional media coverage.

5.  Real estate kits aimed at property management companies-Enhancing store concepts for the better mall and property management companies serves not only to acquire space with better malls, but better spaces within those malls as well.

6.  Visual merchandising/store planning guidelines and standards-Educating decentralized store associates on how to present consistent visual standards across sites, guidelines can help you differentiate your concept in today’s highly competitive retail environment.

7.  Prospective franchise materials-Showcasing new design initiatives for franchise materials and sales kits raises awareness among existing and perspective franchisees.

8.  Sharing best practices  - Consumer product and apparel companies, as well as retailers, use photo documentation of merchandising programs and floor sets to raise the bar for in-store execution and encourage increased sales performance.

9. Annual Reports/Investor Presentations-CFO’s and investor relations will frequently use imagery in order to entice investors and present new initiatives to investors, analysts and lenders.

10. Copyright/patent/trademark registration uses-Corporate attorneys will frequently use photography as documentation for copyright/patent issues.

Use equals value.  How do you use my images to increase their value to your company? Can you add any ideas? I’d love to hear from you.

Design Lighting

A recent discussion within a photography forum concerning lighting had me thinking.  A photographer wondered how much lighting is needed for a site.  Many on the forum felt natural was the way to go, while others felt that creative liberties should be allowed.

As a photographer of retail spaces, I’ve always tried to light within the confines of the environment, but still have the textures, colors, and necessary merchandising and graphics play their part.  Woods and stones in particular will almost always need supplemental lighting on them in order to showcase their natural beauty.   Even still, I try hard to have any supplemental lighting match the store choices.

Other considerations on my end are tied to focal points within the image, merchandising as well as consumer walk-thru spaces.  Highlighting these allows a viewer of an image to see what I call the design intent of a space.  By focusing on these details I feel my photography visually aligns what a designer had intended a site to look like to the actual images.

Global Shop

Global Shop will be held from March 10-12 in Las Vegas.  Last year I didn’t have the opportunity to go and missed it tremendously.  It’s always nice to visit with friends and colleagues, discover new opportunities, and talk with people in the industry.

This year however, I will be there and am looking forward to once again meeting with people in the industry.  I am actively in the process of making appointments to meet with anyone in the industry whom I may be able to help.  If you’re planning on attending, I would love the opportunity to meet with you-even for a handshake!  No matter if you are a designer, retailer, publisher within the industry, manufacturer, vendor or all around curious spectator please feel free to contact me via email, text, or phone for a hook up!

Competition Season

Award season is quickly approaching!  Deadlines are quickly coming up and it’s time to start thinking about what it is that competitions mean to firms and their employees.  This is the opportunity to showcase the work that your firm has dedicated itself to for the past year.

The documentation of your design intent is a very important part of your competition package.  What is it that makes a winner stand out from the rest of the entries?  Great photography enhances the viewers perception of the space.  Only through properly photographing the design intent can your audience fully appreciate the thought process you’ve put into your projects.

True photography is not about documentation.  It’s about energy, space, and lighting.  Creative camera lighting and techniques showcase the textures, graphics and overall flow of a retail space.  Take a look at a few of the many award winning projects that I’ve photographed and I think you’ll see what I have in mind for your project!

I’ve added an award portfolio for you to view images from sixteen of the many award winning projects that I’ve photographed for my clients.  If you would like to see more images from any of the projects, please feel free to let me know.

I’m Excited!

I’m excited!  Every so often we all get to turn over new leafs and step beyond where we’ve been.  This new website is an extension of just that.  I feel that Fourth Floor Interactive, the designers of my new site, has put a vibrancy into my work that I’ve not felt in awhile.  Look at the same images everyday and it numbs the mind, but Jennifer has worked hard to help me realize the freshness my work has.  Thanks so much for that Jennifer, you are a talented and gifted craftsman!

A few words about what you’re looking at.  This site is intended to by updatable, vibrant and current.  Please help me keep it so.  I wish to make this site not only a showcase of my photography talents, but to show the respect I have for my clients and their work.  One thing you will notice is that each featured project is pretty much shown in its entirety.  I feel that by showing an entire site the viewer better understands my thought process and talents.  I feel that I understand how you present what you do, and I use that understanding to create images that help you sell yourself, feature your work, and create more work for yourself.  Only through successfully doing that can I in turn do it all over for you once more.

Thanks to all my clients for allowing me the opportunity to answer my calling.  You all do great work, sorry I can’t feature everything, but I will be rotating projects out on an ongoing basis, so return again.  If there’s a project you’d like to see, well, I’ll take suggestions.

After the Shoot

Just realized that I’ve not finished what happens after I shoot. Sorry about stepping out for so long, but no one complained. Anyone really read these anyways?

After the shoot. Once home, I spend just as much time on the computer working with files as I do on the shoot. In fact, it’s nearly one to one as far as time goes. If I spend eight hours on site for a shoot, I pretty much spend the same amount taking care of files and preparing them for delivery. Nothing is sacred once the camera shutter is released. On the computer I color and density balance, clean up requested unnecessary elements, clean up any dust spots as well as dirt missed on floors and walls, then prep all files for delivery and archiving.

I like to email a contact sheet of the processed images to my client to see before I Fed Ex the DVD to them. This allows them to see the images in a more true form and to make requests if necessary before I send the images. The delivery would be a CD or DVD of 8 bit high res files in the Adobe 98 color space. I also include low res jpgs due to the fact that many people in marketing have computers which may not be able to read the hi res files. These people can use the lo res images immediately in presentations if need be. If prints are requested I would then print them and deliver with the final disk.

One thing I tell all my clients is that I appreciate the opportunity to work with them. I love what I do and am always happy to make their projects look the best I can. If there are ever any questions, please don’t be afraid to contact me at any time! And I mean that.

This image of M Passion was photographed for Amerlux, a lighting company that has created some wonderful new LED lights for the retail industry.

Trimming the Fat

During this downturn one thing I’ve been focusing on is my health. I’ve managed to lose 38 lbs so far and I really feel better. One of the repercussions of it though that I never thought would happen is that I seem to be cold much more often than I used to be. I guess the body fat seems to make one a little warmer.

Now, I’m not telling this to receive pats on the back. I was thinking about it this morning and I really see an analogy to the times. As companies are trimming their fat, there seems to be a tendency to become cold. As a whole, people just don’t seem to want to reach out as much. I just find it much harder to communicate with many people during a downturn, when I feel it should be the opposite. This is when we should all stick together and let each other know how we’re doing. We need to build the foundations of our relationships.

As a photographer, I may not be able to do much for you. Lack of projects? Lack of money to document? That’s ok. Believe me, I’ve cut my spending back as well. The folks at the Apple Store don’t even know who I am anymore. It doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t stay in touch with each other and allow each other the opportunity to help where we can.

I guess this entry is not about retail photography. It’s about our relationships. They are so much more important. Take care of yourself, but let me know how you are doing. I do want to hear about it.

I’m off to Florida for a week long vacation. The sun will feel great. And when I get back-well, let’s chat.

Retail Photography

Retail photography is more than retail architecture. It should be more about how the design intent of a space is handled. Working at Fitch for twelve years beside designers gave me an insight that I feel many photographers do not have.

I have learned what it is they see when planning spaces for consumers.  Many times, due to things beyond their control, sites are not completed the way they intended when they were sitting at their desks drawing away problems and visualizing grandeur. I’ve walked through many sites with designers listening to the “designer bitch”. My job was to circumvent that and produce images that were representative of what it was they had in mind while they were sitting at the drawing board.

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Trying a little harder this time…

I plan on working with this a little harder than in the past. Please look here a little more frequently than every six months and I promise to do what I can for you. I’ve been working pretty hard on marketing and am planning a New York City trip on March 31-April 1st 2009.

If you work in a firm that designs retail interiors within the New York City greater, please call me, I would love to get together with you.