Tuesday 22 March 2011

Corporate Photographer

I have been supplying corporate photography in London for over 20 years. I have noticed over the last few years that my client base has started to change. When I started as a corporate photographer in the late 80s all my clients were design agencies. Currently I would say that only 10% of my clients are now agencies. This must be the result of clients being able to source photographers via search engines etc and miss out the agencies. Is this a good thing? On the one hand I have a wider client base now, but do find that I have less contact with the creative process than before.

Corporate photographer Grantly Lynch

I have also found that the type of work has changed. In the past most of my photography was for annual reports or brochures, now it is mainly for websites. Again this has benefits for me as websites can be refreshed changed with ease and with little relative expense compared to printed material.

The thing I have gained from this change as being commissioned as a corporate photographer working in London is that you must get a good idea from the direct clients as to what the aim and objectives of the photo shoot are. Be very clear that you need to know the end use of the images and you can then help the clients get the best results for their requirements.

corporate portraits

One of my recent corporate portraits taken in North London last week is a good example of working directly with the end client. I really enjoyed this corporate photography commission as the business man was really up for the shoot and had allowed plenty of time to get a good set of portraits. He was open to my suggestions and let me guide him through the session. The result was a really good portfolio for his company and will certainly help with their PR and marketing. I would like to hear back from any other photographers or designers that have been on a photo shoot and had unwilling subjects and how they have dealt with this situation. I have been a corporate photographer for 20 years and have felt that I deal with this better than most and have subtle techniques to get a good portrait out of a difficult sitter, but would be very interested to hear any tips.

With social media photography being a important part of business marketing clients are starting to commission corporate portraits directly. I have posted some of my comments on why clients should use a professional corporate portraits.

social media portraits

social media portraits

social media portraits

social media portraits

social media portraits

Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn all have the option of adding a profile photograph of avatar. When first getting onto one of these social media sites, this seems like a quick and easy way to build up your account information and get going with social networking. The important thing at this point is that if you are using social media as a means to promote your business be very careful about the image that your avatar portrait will be sending out to potential clients.

Don't make the mistake of putting a family snap of yourself or a poorly lit camera photo taken in the office as this corporate portrait will be the first thing clients look at when they visit your page. I saw a avatar portrait on Twitter where a man had used a holiday photo taken in Northern France. How do I know the location? Behind him were the war grave memorial crosses. What does that say to clients? Dont rush off and have a over the top portrait taken at a studio as this style is rather out of date now, but hire a good photographer to take a business portrait in surroundings that compliment your business. Also consider the cropping of the image as the portrait will only appear very small on the sites.

Corporate London art for businesses. These are photographs I have taken in and around The City. My black and white corporate photographs of commercial London are available for purchase as prints and canvass mounts for offices and boardroom. I hope to grow the collection over the coming years. Clients can purchase these images directly and tend to use them as generic corporate photos on websites and for corporate branding.

corporate photographer London

corporate photographer London

corporate photographer London

corporate photographer London

The essence of my corporate art is to capture the feel of working life in London. I hope my photographs capture the day to day experience of working in The City. I have tried to photograph all aspects of corporate life in The City and would welcome any further commissions to capture images for business marketing but also to add to my corporate collection.

Corporate photographer © Grantly Lynch 07831 366136 or email

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