Australian Turf Club editorial photography Part 2
The Races magazine – Editorial Photography at Royal Randwick
Following on from the Rosehill shoot, we headed on over to Randwick Racecourse for some editorial photography of the new CEO of the ATC, Jamie Barkley.
With access to all areas we were able to visit parts of the of the venue ordinarily open only to the inner sanctum. This included walking the track surface itself, hallowed ground ordinarily reserved for horses and jockey’s.
The assignment was a great blend of a interesting editorial photographs, showcasing the spectacle and scale one of Sydney’s major sporting venues, Randwick Racecourse. Helped by the fact that Jamie was accessible and generous with his time on what was a particularly warm summer’s day.
We’ve included pages from the finished article, as well as some images not run in the story.
Both Rosehill and Randwick photo-shoots were commissioned and produced by CMMA.
Feature your people and stand out in the crowd! Contact us today.
Jeans for Genes ad campaign
Sydney agency March One commissioned us to photograph the loveliest group of kids for the “Jeans for Genes” campaign. Each child that appears in the print ads has a genuine genetic disease, some of them life threatening.
We always enjoy shooting alongside the film crew from Ideas of Dean who were filming the ad for TV/cinema/web. The separate crews took it in turns working with each child to and try and capture their wonderful personalities.
We came away from the day feeling privileged to have met these great kids and their families. It was a reminder not to take little things for granted, which these kids can’t. We loved seeing their gorgeous faces on the finished banners lining the streets of the city. Jeans for Genes Day is coming up on Friday 3rd August (tomorrow!!), please give generously if you can – Jason.
Do you need some advertising photography for your business? Contact us now
CEO Photography
Photographing CEO’s and Executives is a Studio Commercial specialty.
A typical photo-brief for CEO photography, often runs something like this:
“Capture a range of eye-catching environmental portraits that are both flattering and creative. They should suitable for use across multiple formats and applications such as press releases, websites, and annual reports. Oh, and by the way, our subject only has half an hour available in their schedule!”.
Clearly, the more time we have, the more options we can explore. But given the trend of underlying urgency, we have developed methods that allow us to maximise whatever we have available. Years of experience have allowed us to arrive at a location and choose the best spots and bring together creativity, communication, and technical skills.
Often, commissioning a photographer can be a daunting task for the person who’s job it is to do so, especially if they’re new to the role. We’d love to be involved in your project so you can breath easy, safe in the knowledge that you are in the best possible hands.
Here’s a selection of CEO images we’ve recently captured, hope you enjoy 🙂
Feature your people and stand out in the crowd! Contact us today.
Dr Karl photoshoot
In studio with the lovely duo of Nina and Jo at Mahlab for Active Retirees magazine. We were all looking forward to this shoot for weeks. After years of tuning into Triple J every Thursday to hear the man himself, Dr Karl Kruszelnicki talk all things science, I had the pleasure to photograph him!!! 😀
The energy Dr Karl brought to the shoot was amazing, he’s one of the nicest and most energetic people we’ve had the pleasure of photographing. Dr Karl is THE trivia night secret weapon, we all felt considerably more knowledgeable following the shoot after listening to countless stories on any subject that came up! Here are a few of the resulting images –
… and what better way to finish a shoot than with a team shot 😉
Professional Planner Magazine
We photographed Alex Malley on location at the CPA Australia Office for the cover and inside spread of the September issue of Professional Planner magazine.
Photographically, the CPA office offered some interesting backdrops which was great, especially as we only had a small window of time to capture the range of shots required. Alex was also a consummate professional and comfortable in front of the camera which only added to the smooth running and success of the shoot.
“Professional Planner is the leading voice for financial planners where they can learn about industry standards, get news, information, debate and develop new ideas.”
Why CPA Australia backed Malley to shake up financial planning
Diving Australia - Rio 2016 Australian Olympic Diving Team
I felt quite privileged having the opportunity to photograph the Australian Rio 2016 Olympic Dive Team! Currently representing us in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Melissa Wu, Anabelle Smith, Brittany Broben, Esther Qin, Domonic Bedggood, Kevin Chavez and by no means last Grant Nel were all in studio for an energetic photo session.
With Diving Australia’s CEO, David Bell as art director our aim was to capture strong emotive portraits of the team. The key here was selecting the right lighting that would accentuate the defined muscle tone that these elite athletes have. Here are a bunch of the resulting images, Cheers Dave 🙂
Melissa Wu
Anabelle Smith
Brittany Broben
Esther Qin
Domonic Bedggood
Kevin Chavez
Grant Nel
The Ladies
The Gents
The Team
and a photo of me getting it done 😀
Cosmos Magazine feature portrait
Cosmos, an Australian science magazine, runs a profile every issue on a local scientist. The twist so to speak, is that the scientist is photographed outside their work environment as they would normally be portrayed, and instead engaged in their favourite leisure activity or sport. No lab coats and bunsen burners here.
The aim is to showcase the fact that these people are just that….people. Hopefully this brings a greater connection with the wider community.
We photographed Camilla doing her thing, which is bushwalking. This was a quick and fun shoot at Bradleys Head, near Taronga Zoo.
Costa!
Location Photography at Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens with the power duo Nina and Jo from Mahlab Media, Jas & I had the privilege of photographing Costa Georgiadis from Gardening Australia for the October-November issue of Active Retirees.
The most fun we’ve have had on a shoot in a long time!!! The energy and life that Costa brought to the shoot was amazing.
Jo standing in for the lighting test
We promised Costa that after we finished the shoot, we’d do a few shots of him and his 2 chickens (outside the Gardens), one of which ended up on the cover!
Cheers,
Dave
NIBA's IRP magazine
We’ve started doing creative portraits for the new “People Q&A” section in NIBA‘s Insurance & Risk Professional magazine. Published by Mahlab Media, Graphic Designer Jack Pike wanted a “Time Magazine” feel for the portraits. We get about an hour with the subject and have lots of fun exploring different poses, techniques and styles to achieve images that reflect the subject and the theme of the story.
"Hipsters" TV Series by Samuel Johnson
Hipsters is a TV Series presented by Samuel Johnson. The series was aired on SBS in March this year. We shot this promotional photography in the local Sydney streets of Newtown for SBS (through March One Agency). Another fun and rewarding shoot, this time with one of Australia’s most likeable TV personalities.
Caroline O'Connor
Currently starring in the smash hit musical comedy “Anything Goes”, Caroline O’Connor took time out from her busy schedule to catch up with Journalist Jo-Anne Hui and Art Director Nina Christian from Mahlab Media for an interview and photoshoot for “Active Retirees” magazine. Always the consummate professional, Caroline was a delight to work with and didn’t hesitate to jump into any pose we required! A really enjoyable shoot.
Styling: Annette Twemlow
Hair and make-up: Lisa Toyer
MALE MODELS: David Helman and Joel Berliner
CLOTHES: Blue dress, jewellery and kimono, dinner suits: Vintage Clothing Shop
LOCATION: The Vanguard, Newtown
Brewster Murray Architects
We were recently commissioned by our good friends at Rifle Media to execute the photography for the website re-design of Brewster Murray Architects. The individual portraits and group shot were done in our Sydney Liverpool Street studios, whilst the staff working shots were done at BMA’s offices. A very cost effective and enjoyable half day photoshoot produced an abundance & variety of great images to choose from for us to complete the final retouching.
Ita Buttrose
At Studio Commercial we don’t only photograph Corporate Photography really well, we also do an amazing job Editorial photography.
Photographing in the Studio for this issue of Active Retirees “The Fashion Issue” with the power house duo Nina and Jo from Mahlab Media, we had the pleasure of photographing Australian legend Ita Buttrose for the cover. Ita’s years of media and magazine experience showed as she taught us a thing or two during the shoot.
The NIBA Gazette
The NIBA Gazette is an industry magazine that Studio Commercial have been supplying photographic content to for quite some time. The subjects are asked to bring a prop or item that is representative of themselves outside of the work environment. It is always a good fun shoot for all involved, especially as we are able to showcase a wide variety of interests, the personality of the brokers and have a laugh whilst doing so.
March One Promax Advert
Working with our friends at March One Advertising agency on their advertisement for Promax. This years music video look was dreamt up by art director Samantha Buckley. All props and styling were sourced by March One. Hair and make up by Rafal Gaweda. Shot in our space here at Studio Commercial.
HRM - Human Resources Monthly
This shoot is a classic example of the quintessential corporate assignment. The brief was to photograph Karen Lonergan, Qantas International’s Executive Manager of HR on location at Qantas HQ Mascot. Images were destined for the cover and inside spread of the August edition of “Human Resources Monthly”. The newly completed Qantas offices offered some great photographic backgrounds which is always a nice starting point for a photographer and Karen herself was comfortable in front of the lens which also helped the shoot run smoothly. I was really pleased with some solid imagery to illustrate the article, hope you agree 😉
HRM is published by Mahlab Media, art directed by Garry Humphrys.
Annual Report time!!!
Annual report photography is one one of our specialties, we love doing it!
Here are just a few of our favourites, contact us now to discuss how we can help make your annual report look great.
The Salvation Army
This photoshoot commissioned by the Salvation Army is designed to show the heritage of their organisation. The subjects are real Salvation Army officers that have been photographed separately. The background was supplied and the lighting on the subjects had to match this. Studio flashes were filtered through coloured gels to achieve the same tones found in the background. The advertisement was used across different print media included magazines, light boxes and Sydney buses.
Charter Magazine
Working with Custom Made Media (CMMA), we photographed David Kenney for the cover of March edition of Charter Magazine. This is an industry publication by the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia for which Studio Commercial is a regular contributor. A good example of an editorial environmental portrait for the business world.
Corporate Portraits - The Simple Solution
As much as “we” the Studio Commercial photographers crowd our blog with pictures that ooze imagination, colour & creativity, there is none the less a big calling for the clean and simple, as we like to say: “White is the new white”
Canon Cameras has run a campaign for a number of years with the slogan “Advanced Simplicity” this featured just a single camera on a blank white page… the power of this approach is not to be underestimated.
In a similar way a corporate headshot on white can offer, in an instant, a concise and un-distracted view of “the voice at the other end of the phone” this brings the viewer face to face with a real person. Quick, simple and cost effective.
SBS World Movies "Summer of Sin"
Photographic Brief for SBS world movies adult summer of sin: Create smoking hot images to complement the films SBS will be playing over the summer.
This was shot at the Watson’s bay hotel with Creative direction by March One agency.
Cosmos Magazine
Editorial photoshoot for Cosmos Magazine, interview with Robin Beck Palaeontologist from University of New South Wales. Beck will upturn everything you thought you knew about Australia’s iconic mammals. AUSTRALIA’S #1 science media brand, COSMOS is a literary science magazine with a global following. It reaches 600,000 people every month, and its highly-regarded education resources are used in 70% of Australian high schools.
Kerry Stokes
As far as high profile Australian business people go you’re at the sharp edge of the wedge when you’re photographing Kerry Stokes.
With just a 15 minute window in Kerry’s day allocated to a photo-shoot, there was no time to mess about, and given the time pressure, it’s always good to come home with some nice business portraits. Very pleased with the results.
Tim Rogers
It’s not everyday you photograph Aussie rock royalty, In this case You am I front man Tim Rogers. Images are from Foxtels recent TV series “Studio at the Memo”. The show is a kaleidoscope of burlesque, comedy, cabaret, circus and theatre acts, staring the likes of Tex Perkins and Kate Miller-Heidke. It’s a world first for Studio and we’re proud to have played our part in making it happen.
Adriano Zumbo
Adriano Zumbo Photo Shoot from Studio Commercial.
We had alot of fun during this photo shoot of Pastry Celebrity Adriano Zumbo.
Recipes for salted caramel macaroons and scraps of paper with ingredient lists was strewn around his home kitchen. Gadgets and dehydrators were lined against every available wall.
Adriano Zumbo is certainly a warm personality and he was keen to experiment and whip up something on the fly.
The best part of the day was getting to take all of the desserts you see in the video back to the studio and sample every one.
What to expect after a corporate photo shoot
Your photo shoot is done. It’s time to reap the benefits.
Here’s what you can expect after the photo shoot:
- Firstly, tell your photographer if you have a deadline. Especially if your proposal or advertisement is due tomorrow.
- Your photographer will do some minor adjustments to your photos such as tonal corrections. We’ll then send previews over to your inbox as PDFed proofs.
- Have a good look at the images in the proof. Each one is uniquely named. Once you’ve made a selection, email or call to tell us your choice.
- We treat each selected shot with some tender loving care. This means that we get rid of skin imperfections and minor blemishes, photoshop unruly hair strands away and we might do some bigger details like cleaning up the background or fixing up your shirt.
- We will send you a link to the file. Once you click on the link, your image selections will start downloading to your computer.
- Unzip the folder using your favourite archive programs and save your images somewhere safe that you won’t forget!
Tip: Keep your proofs in a prominent place on your computer. We keep all of our images indefinitely so if you need to order a more serious or friendly look, we can edit another image so you don’t have to do a complete re-shoot.
Pete Evans - Celebrity Chef
This photo shoot of Pete Evans was shot in Bondi. The client, House Magazine, wanted a light summer feel. We decided to source some beautiful fresh fruit.
Pete had just come back from an overseas trip and was feeling a bit jet lagged. But it was nothing a slice of mango couldn’t fix.
Visit Pete Evan’s site to see his latest work.
Celebrity Chef Pete Evans Photo Shoot from Studio Commercial.
Active Retirees Cover
We had less than an hour before a storm hit our way and we were in the middle of a golf course, photographing the cover for Active Retirees Magazine.
During the shoot, I was thinking about how quickly our hour was pushed into half an hour by the weather.
The client was very driven to replicate the mock-up, which had clear blue skies. I shot according to the mock up first and once I knew we had gotten the image, we quickly moved to a different location so a cloudier piece of sky acting as a backdrop.
I wanted to add some contrast to make the image pop, make it more dynamic.
The sun was hitting the model’s head quite nicely so I used a main light to fill in the shadows. By now the wind was really battling against us so my first assistant held down the lighting equipment. My second assistant held the reflector just hovering over the grass below the dark golf club to fill in the shadows.
I’m really happy with this picture. It was created in half an hour and I feel like it really builds on the concept of a happy, active retiree.
Want more? Watch the behind the scenes video.
Magazine cover: Active Retirees
Thanks to Active Retirees and Mahlab for the photo shoot.
This was shot on a golf course in Willahra, Sydney.
David breaks his photo record in one day
David Silva recently photographed 70 people in one day. Give the man a high five the next time you see him.
After a double shot espresso and a kebab for lunch, he was looking a bit ill but he powered through and was back in the office by 4:30pm.
He’s now editing the portraits. Go, David, go!
How to choose a Corporate Photographer
Photography is no different from any artistic career. There are, and always will be, people that will work at a loss in an attempt to break into the industry.
Photography budgets can be tightly controlled but before you book in John Smith, go through this checklist to see if the corners are worth getting cut.
- What do they specialise in? Is it product, fashion, large high end commercial projects? Find out.
- Do they offer a guarantee?
- Is there an archived and remotely backed up system in place? If you need an image of a partner we captured four years ago, it’s on file and in your inbox the same day. This also acts like a reference folder. When you book us in for your annual report two years from now and we need to match portraits taken this year; the lighting, background and general feel will be consistent throughout the years because we have everything organised and archived at our fingertips. Make sure if anything happens to their workplace, your images don’t end up as a bunch of zeroes or a pile of ash. Ask if they remotely back up their images.
- Ask for several portfolios to get a feel for their consistency in making great imagery.
- What is their editing experience? We know how to make you look good and spend half an hour on each corporate image, and that’s the simple stuff. A good photographer will never hand out unedited images, or at the other extreme, make you look like Barbie.
- Have they got consistently happy clients that you know?
- Do they have a fast turn around time? If one of our photographers is stricken with the plague the day after your shoot, one of our in-house Photoshop experts will get your images to you. Same for quotes. We’re a smooth running beast. Do they have such a system in place for the proposals that you can’t miss?
- Do they send over proofs before editing your images? With proofs, you get to pick the images you like best. Not drown in the images you’re blinking or pulling funny faces (it’s ok, we all do it).
- Do they have a studio? We have a huge studio in the heart of the Sydney Central Business District. If your company is small to medium sized, or you work from home, you don’t want to rent a meeting room or sit around a shared reception. Come over to our studio for professional photos and you’ll be saving money three fold: you’ll cut down on photography costs, rental room costs and the cost of coffee.
- What is their professional level? The most important people are often photographed first in any business. The last thing you want on their minds is a bad experience that you helped organise. We’re fun and professional. The best of both worlds. Come over for one of our famous coffees and we’ll walk you through our portfolios so you can see the tender loving care we put into each interaction and image.
- What is their late notice availability? Have they got fully trained photographers that can fill in during the 13th hour?
- Do they make your company look good through prompt and efficient service, high quality images and ability to stick to consistent branding?
- How up to date is their camera and lighting equipment? Technology in photography moves rapidly. You need a photographer that maintains the greatest equipment and technology to serve your needs.
What to wear to a corporate photo shoot
Confused about what to wear to your upcoming corporate photo shoot? In this post, we outline how to avoid common mistakes and give shortcuts to help you look your best.
Keep in mind that fashions change while your photo stays the same – at least for a couple of years.
This photo will literally shape your image in your business. Here are some simple guidelines we’ve perfected through the years.
Attire:
Women:
– A suit jacket or formal cardigan with crisp shirt, blouse or shift dress.
– Wear something that fits your form but doesn’t give an eyeful of skin.
– White shirts help brighten and illuminate your face.
– Wear a jacket that isn’t the same shade as your hair.
– Put a little more make up on than usual and do a quick touch up before the photo shoot. Try to stick to natural colours.
– Bring a suit jacket, regardless of the weather that day.
– If the photos are full-length, make sure your footwear is clean and polished.
Men:
– Wear a clean, well-fitted suit with a plain shirt and tie.
– Bring a suit jacket, regardless of the weather that day.
– Avoid “loud” ties that have clashing colours or cartoon characters.
– If the photos are full-length, make sure your footwear is clean and polished.
Hair and Accessories:
– If you have advance notice, get your hair cut a week or two before the shoot.
– Make sure your hair is neat and tidy on the day.
– Men, have a shave before you go into work and try to book your shoot early in the day to avoid the 5 0’clock shadow stubble.
– Avoid Movember.
– If you’re sporting a beard or mo, neatly trim your facial hair.
– Check your teeth and make up. We don’t mind waiting while you do a last minute look in the mirror.
– You can wear your glasses, we have ways to avoid reflections. We also give you the option of having some photos with the glasses and some without.
– Wear simple jewellery
This isn’t a visit to the dentist or your school photos. We’re here to make you enjoy the experience of having your photo taken. The more relaxed you are, the better the images will turn out. We’re flexible and friendly so don’t be afraid to ask questions or view the back of the camera for instant feedback.
