Will Aid – Charity Photography Assignment.
It’s been a second year where I was approached by an advertising agency to capture images for the UK charity – Will Aid. Despite mentioning that my involvement was with regards of creating images for advertising, the job it self was of a quite smaller magnitude – nothing big, as normally associated with advertising photoshoots for big brands.
For the purpose of the assignment and the budget involved, which was at the low end, I needed to go very lightly equipped. The decision not to bring much equipment with me wasn’t based only on the budget but, mainly, of the experience I had from the previous year.
Back then I brought several strobes with me, just to find out that 1st – the people involved in the photo shoot were limited on time and 2nd – As the location of choice was on the premises of the White Hall, with a view of the Tower Bridge, I was stooped in my tracks of setting my lighting, by the security. It turned out that we weren’t allowed to hold a professional commercial photography session on the main ground, however – the security guy told us that we are ok to proceed if we were to move to a small area covered in grass (apparently green areas are not owned by particular landlord, go and figure it out).
Adapting to the commercial photography assignment.
Normally when I’m contacted by a potential client, my first assumption is that what they have in mind is exactly what I also think – big scale plans of the potential, upcoming, photo session.
In many cases, however, clients have something much simpler in mind; this was the case with the second session, this year, I did for the Will Aid.
Knowing in advance that I’d have only 20 minutes to capture the images required, I decided to take only very basic setup of lighting and modifiers; two strobes, set of umbrellas and light stands.
Being adaptive was the reason for going so basic on this assignment, I knew there won’t be any time for setting and testing more complex lighting (which comes on expense of time). I actually spend more time in helping setting and arranging another meeting room, for the photo session, than actually photographing.
That is why, obtaining as much information about all specifics regarding a potential project is a must have practice – as it helps us to be more efficient and adaptive.
Fast phased commercial photography.
Very often Commercial photographers will come across such assignments, where the client is not looking for Superb images but a material (with descent quality of course) they can work with – created within fast phased environment, with busy people and location available just for few minutes.
In such situations – experience, that have been build throughout years of photographing commercial assignments, is the best quality any professional photographer can posses. So, you don’t have time to test and setup lighting, but because of my experience I knew what to do and what to expect of the quick camera and lighting setup I had.
Every photography assignment comes with different flavor and colours, with it’s own specifics and requirements. Being able to adapt and work on fast phased projects is a must. quality of any Commercial photographer out there.
Ensuring capturing the best images, under the conditions and time constrain, always have been my priority – and the biggest reward of all is, the satisfactions of my clients.
In case you are in need of professional commercial photographer to take on your project, feel free to get in touch with me to discus what your needs are.
That’s some great advice to be able to adapt to the client’s needs especially with the fast pace of this commercial project. Great tips for an aspiring commercial photographer!
Hi Shaina, and thank you very much for taking the time and contribute to this blog post. I’m also glad that you found something helpful within the topic I covered – I also try to write my blog post in a way that they can be helpful for both aspiring photographers and also clients.