The Documentary Photographer

It’s good to be busy, so I’m not complaining. Here is a selection of photographs from five shoots in the past five days.

Corporate Assignment 1. (c) Roger Overall 2010

Corporate Assignment 2. (c) Roger Overall 2010

Corporate Assignment 3. (c) Roger Overall 2010

Wedding Assignment 1. (c) Roger Overall 2010

Wedding Assignment 2. (c) Roger Overall 2010

I’m at a very interesting place in my career. I’m no longer at a crossroads. In fact, there never was a crossroads. It was an illusion. With the help of some very inspirational people I’ve come to understand that even the road-less-traveled is far too mundane. The road-that-wasn’t-even-there-until-you-came-along is the one to be on.

This has given my business outlook a remarkable boost. Firstly, I’m developing new products and services unique to me.  More about those as they come to fruition.

Secondly, it’s changed the way I view clients and how I approach potential business. I’d like to share a little of that with you here.

(c) Roger Overall 2010

The photograph above was taken as part of a trial shoot for a bakery here in Ireland. They have a lot of work for a photographer and I had been recommended. More or less, the business was there for the taking. However, I wasn’t sure that my style of photography was what the company was looking for. So I suggested a trial shoot.

The trial shoot, which cost the client nothing, would give them a good idea of how my style would translate their business into photographs, and at the same time give me a feel of how well we’d work together.

Why bother doing a trial shoot? Why not just take the money?

I deliver my best work when I collaborate with people who want to work with me. I already have this approach to the wedding side of my business. I am very open with potential bridal clients about what it is that I do, and how I approach a wedding. In the past six months, I have turned down at least half-a-dozen wedding enquiries, either on the phone or at face-to-face meetings. In these instances, I have been able to direct couples to photographers better suited to their needs and their tastes.

This transfers to the corporate environment as well. In fact, in this arena I hold a better hand. I can’t simply approach brides on the street. All I can do is make the market aware of my existence and hope I reach the right kind of couple. In the commercial sector, I can pick companies I’d like to work for and approach them with a proposal. My last two commercial shoots (one a medium-term documentary project, the other documentary shots for the packaging of a new product) were won this way.

As a result, my role as a photographer and my work is being valued. There is a real connect between me and the client, and between my work and their marketing goals. The respect I’ve been shown as a consequence has been wonderful. As a for instance, I’ve been kept in the loop about how my work is being used on the new product packaging. How great is that?

I want more of this (who wouldn’t?) and have a list of companies and individuals I want to approach with proposals, all of which excite me. At the moment I’m laying the foundations for what I hope will be some very interesting discussions in the closing part of 2010 and into the future. Some of these will lead to dream assignments with dream clients.

That is what I hope for beyond the horizon: assignments for clients for whom I am a perfect fit.

And the bakery?

Well, I have to hold my hand up. I called it wrong in a previous version of this post. I had taken a three-week silence to mean the match between us wasn’t meant to be. This afternoon, however, I received a very enthusiastic email concerning the trial photography.

This week’s PictureBoo gives a little insight into photographing in public for an annual report.

I’ve also had a request for a longer post about shooting documentary work for corporates based on this assignment, and that will follow soon, most likely in the form of a permanent article called called “The Art of Documentary Corporate Photography” to accompany the articles on wedding photography.

Meanwhile, hit the play button or the link below the photograph to hear its story.

(c) Roger Overall 2010

Now for a change of pace. People-free documentary photography. And all in colour too.

Dominick Cullinane is a terrific garden designer who lives here in Co. Cork. He is a man with a true passion and drive. His dream is to design a garden for the Chelsea Flower Show. My dream is to have him design one for me.

One of Dominick’s regular jobs is curating the annual Mallow Garden Festival, half an hour up the road from me. This year he asked me to shoot some stills of the gardens. The weather could have been kinder to us, but we still managed to fit in few hours spread over two days.

He also asked me to shoot some video, something I’ve been meaning to look into, but hadn’t really found the time for. Now my hand has been forced and I’ll be working on a short film in the days ahead. More to come on that.

Meanwhile, here is a quick selection of stills from the Mallow gardens.

(c) Roger Overall 2010

(c) Roger Overall 2010

(c) Roger Overall 2010

(c) Roger Overall 2010

(c) Roger Overall 2010

(c) Roger Overall 2010

(c) Roger Overall 2010

(c) Roger Overall 2010

(c) Roger Overall 2010

(c) Roger Overall 2010

You might remember that I’m not fond of early starts. But if getting up at 4.50AM recently seemed bad, I hadn’t reckoned on a 3.50AM start for an assignment last week.

Temporary accommodation specialist Allspace were putting in one of their largest units at Cork airport for a helicopter company. Problem was, the unit was too big to get through the nearest access gate, and overhead cables meant that lifting it over the fence into place was out of the question.

That meant using an alternative gate.

On the other side of the airport.

Except there wasn’t a road as such from the alternative gate to where the unit needed to go.

There was a nice, straight, broad strip of perfectly good concrete they could use. It even had lights up either side to guide them. Of course, they’d have to make sure nobody else needed it – you know, for landing aeroplanes on or anything. So, the operation had to be done so early in the morning even Ryanair doesn’t fly.

In the end, we didn’t get the shot we’d hoped for. Airport security is such these days that I wasn’t able to shoot from a vehicle driving alongside or ahead of the convoy going up the runway. Everyone had to stay tightly single file. And I certainly wasn’t allowed to park out on the runway and wait for the convoy to pass.

In the end, I decided to wait for the convoy at the helicopter company site. It allowed me to get a shot that was at least suggestive of the airport environment.

Allspace delivering a Portakabin Titan unit at Cork International Airport. (c) Roger Overall 2010

Allspace delivering a Portakabin Titan unit at Cork International Airport. (c) Roger Overall 2010

Final preparations are made to the site where the unit will be placed. Cork airport's new terminal in the background. (c) Roger Overall 2010

The large unit wasn’t due to be lifted into place until a few hours later, after the arrival of two smaller modules. While not part of the assignment, I decided to get photographs of the final lift as well, to soften the disappointment of not getting the runway shot.

In the end, the client was thrilled, prompting the local director to email me: “…those images are outstanding – better than anything I’ve ever seen in all my years of Allspace and Portakabin”.

Makes it worth getting up early for, no?

This man is lifting an entire Portakabin unit with only one hand ... All right, he isn't. There's somebody else on the other side helping him. (c) Roger Overall 2010

(c) Roger Overall 2010