Variety is (most definitely) the spice of life . . .

Coming to the end of a busy week that has provided all the variety that makes this job so challenging.  Started the week in Fareham with electronic navigation specialists ECDIS, who had just re-equipped their training centre with new kit and needed to show it off at it’s best. A single high level wide shot would have been the obvious (but boring) option, so I decided on a stitched  panorama composed from twelve frames, which delivered the perfect image for their PR and marketing collateral needs.

 

The next call of the week was a commission from Liverpool PR agency Active Profile for Riello UPS (Europe ‘s leading manufacturer of uninterruptible power supplies) at the Redstation Data Centre in Gosport. The smooth flow of shooting was hindered slightly by three consecutive and unexplained evacuation alarms, forcing me to abandon my kit and join everyone else outside in the sunshine ! Thankfully we were not on fire and eventually I was able to continue unhindered.  The time lost meant I was now constrained a little and didn’t have the freedom to light the server rooms “properly”.  Fortunately I was shooting with Nikon D700’s, which have  extraordinary low-light capabilities and  shooting RAW meant I was able to retain all the detail in both the matt black server cabinets and the stainless steel floor. Job done, the results speak for themselves and the client was delighted.

         

 

Wednesday saw me in Hillingdon for an update shoot with ACS International Schools for their Annual Review. I particularly enjoy shooting for this client as they have always given me complete creative freedom in the 20 years I have worked for them. This of course allows us to have a little bit of fun – even if we are just showing off the new carpets !

Last call of the week was to check a location facility at Leki Air’s HQ in Sussex  for a prospective shoot with Mann Aviation for their in-flight child seat.

We’ve got this . . .

and this . . .

Watch this blog over the next couple of weeks to see what we  do with them ! . . .

The Last Picture Show – will the press photocall become a thing of the past ?

Twenty years ago the best way to launch your new product or service was with a nice big press junket. Invite all the trade journos to a swanky city-centre hotel, ply them with booze and a good lunch and unless the MD sank too much Merlot and fell off the podium during his presentation, you were as good as guaranteed an excellent write-up. I even had the pleasure of attending one for a major tobacco company that culminated in the entire press corps boarding Concorde to enjoy a fabulous three-course lunch 50,000 ft over the Bay of Biscay at Mach 2 !   

Press lunch on Concorde ? Definitely a thing of the past !

 But a stunning product reveal with smoke and disco lighting was no use without the ever-present photographers. A major London launch could guarantee a good turnout of  snappers representing trade-journals, agencies, regional press and of course someone from each of the nationals. It didn’t matter how good the write up was, it was the shot of some leggy young beauty adorning your newest creation in next day’s red-tops that caught the punter’s eyes and set the shareholder’s pulses racing. No amount of purple prose could match the vision of a shiny new sports saloon emerging from a lake of dry ice. It was the eye-candy that sold the product – plain and simple – eye-candy created by experienced professional photographers with an  eye for a picture.   

How things have changed. At a recent press launch I  was the only professional photographer in attendance. Over instant coffee and tired danish pastries, a few bored hacks pointed their i-Phones in the general direction of the latest environmentally friendly transport before skulking back to their offices to file their copy. Not a staffer or agency tog in sight – and certainly no-one from the national press. That’s because the ever-dwindling returns offered by the publishing industry are causing many press freelancers to hang up their cameras for good.  National newspapers now regularly pay as little as £50 for a half-page picture, so travelling back and forth across the country for such low returns must inevitably become untenable.  

Facing extinction ? With more cost-cutting by publishers the press pack may soon become a rare sight.

The upshot of all this is that the press launch or photocall without photographers will cease to be the effective media tool it once was.  As anyone in PR knows,  good photography is a vital component in the marketing toolbox. In reality this means that if you want to guarantee some pictorial coverage of your product or brand launch, employing a dedicated professional photographer for the event will become not just important, but essential.  

 

Footnote:  Don’t rely on the photographer tied to your venue. Whilst frequently perfectly competent, many are only used to shooting consumer events such as weddings and parties and will not be able to offer vital additional services like agency syndication for your pictures.