All photo shoots bring varying levels of intense satisfaction - I always feel like a little boy in a sandbox when I'm shooting... - but perhaps the greatest pleasure is brought when I am able to help the small startup or established business trying to take their business to the next level.
Typically, I will price lower - but never lower my commitment or quality - for their budgets will never match the much larger companies and the inherent value of the images neither will match those of the multinationals whose image use will range much further through their extensive marketing campaigns and various marketing collateral. Honestly, when a large company sets aside several days for photography, I better get it right the first time as the images may eventually be viewed by thousands or even millions of people.
I will also consider a trade of services; an offer to purchase a product at wholesale or even cost; or even extremely low pricing just to have the opportunity to photograph incredibly interesting subject matter that can be used as a portfolio piece, and when this happens I often seek extra time just to ensure a perfect final image. At other times, I have been known to simply donate my services if the cause is right.
Recently, I photographed the prototype phono-preamplifier for Frogge Audio, a small Calgary startup producing preamplifiers - Craig has also built an incredible tube amplifier - and his Super Blue Preamplifier is a work of art, using only the highest quality parts and breathtakingly beautiful workmanship. And the PhonoPre I photographed even exceeds anything he has previously built, a true testament to his desire in producing the best components possible at terrific value pricing.
Craig brought the PhonoPre to my 'studio', leaving it with me to photograph at my pleasure and pleasurable it was, for I photographed it a day after getting Covid19, but the satisfaction of the shoot even allowed me to ignore my symptoms spending a better part of a day tinkering with my lighting and setup to achieve the best images possible.
Now, not being a vinyl guy, I have an extensive collection of classical CDs, I opted for a deal on that amazing Super Blue Preamplifier, which when installed into my system dramatically improved its sound far better than any other component I have placed into my audio system in the past 35+ years. So yeah, small business helping small business helping small business.....
The David Watt Photography Blog
With my days of parenting children being long past I had no idea that Canada has had for over 20 years an amazing private school option for children of ages 1 to 6. This was all discovered when I was contracted to photograph Calgary's newest CEFA school that was recently built in the location of the previous Royal Bank building, right smack between Home Depot and Costco in Beacon Hill.
We are getting another option when it comes to finding health care with the recent addition of 3 Shoppers Drug Mart Walk-in Clinics based in Brooks, Ft Saskatchewan and Edson, Alberta, all of which I had the opportunity to photograph for Loblaw.
It's so gratifying to be wandering down 4th Street SW in Calgary's Mission neighborhood and seeing one of your images taken from a shoot a few years back for client Krista Hermanson Design. From the initial best photographic rendering of their projects to subsequent ongoing use of the images for all their marketing collateral, those images can keep on giving and giving for the client.
Particularly with industrial style photo shoots, conditions arise that will not allow for careful framing of an image, subject posing and lighting adjustments, whereby the photographer and assistant are required to anticipate action and rapidly ‘shoot on the fly’ using a single strobe with a simple reflector as lighting modifier.
Always one of my favorite clients to photograph; great people and a fantastic space!
I'm approached for my photography services right through the full spectrum of companies and individuals, by large multinationals, moderately sized national and regional enterprises right through to small, local businesses owned by several parties or only one individual. Most satisfying is often the small business
It was back to Melanson Homes & Renovations, recent double award winner at the 2022 BILD Calgary Region Awards and a Finalist in two other categories, where I had the luxury of once again updating their staff photos at their classy home office and display centre in Calgary.
Delightful and edifying would best describe the recent photography session with Meera Duncan at her Calgary office, photographing her for the cover and inside article of Passion Vista magazine's March feature on Women Leaders in 2022, for I learned much about hypnotherapy while chatting during the shoot with this fascinating woman.
I came across this item in Kevin Dooley's Flickr blog posting and it very much resonated with me, and have decided to share it here.
This is something that I have been tossing about in my mind for the past few years and am going to follow up this blog posting with others along the same subject. Constructive feedback will be most welcome!
I recently was hired for the challenging and exciting task of flying to several major centres across Canada to photograph executive environmental portraits and employee headshots for a major Canadian engineering firm. For obvious budget considerations the logistics were challenging as on-site scheduling was very tight, I had to work without an assistant and of course, photography gear had to be kept to an absolute minimum. These are a small sampling of the environmental executive portraits I captured. Typically, I only had a only a day or two at each location to capture anywhere up to 18 or so environmental portraits using a single Profoto Octagonal softbox. I met the challenge and had a very satisfied client!
This was one of the more satisfying architectural shoots I had the pleasure of completing for my client, Morguard.
I was pleased to learn that one of my images from the DMD Ltd Toronto design firm photo shoot of the Swissport Aspire Lounge at the Calgary International airport was published in the January/February 2019 issue of Canadian Interiors.
This was a challenging area to shoot in, not only for the monochrome look to the room, but avoiding the powder coating spray.
While meeting with a new client the other day, she related that she almost steered away from my photography services upon first landing on my web site. She had perused my portfolios, checked out my client list and after her initial favorable reaction her inclination was to move on, ‘as probably too expensive for our present budget constraints.’
As a photographer who has been plying his trade full-time in Calgary for over 15 years, it has often crossed my mind that I may be in a unique position to provide relevant and perhaps not readily obvious information to those often finding themselves tasked with seeking a photographer for a photography shoot, be it for corporate head-shots, an industrial on-site shoot, architectural or any of the other plethora of photography needs.
I was recently wading through hundreds of my archived images when I came across an image of a Brocken Spectre surrounded by rings of glory, (my climbing partner with arms extended) taken from the summit ridge of Mt. Slesse many, many years ago. It reminded me of another amazing Brocken Spectre that I had observed a few years ago while my BA flight was descending into Berlin. Our 737 was casting its shadow against the mist which had formed into a magnificent Brocken Spectre surrounded by a circular rainbow. Who saw it?
This was a cool photography session at the Alberta Children's Hospital, where I was introduced to #Medi, a robot using humanoid technology created by the #RxRobots group to help alleviate a sick child's pain, assist in the child's education in managing their health and act as a companion for the child. Very cool, indeed!
As New York ad agencies endeavor to portray a perception of excellence on their web sites, surely they would display outstanding images of their people alongside visually stimulating content relating to their work and company culture?
HDR tone mapping has become increasingly popular amongst photographers as a post-processing technique, where several exposures at different shutter speeds are combined to produce an HDR image, followed by a tone mapping operation.
The longer I am in this business the more it gets driven home how vitally important preparation and planning with absolute client commitment is to the successful outcome of a photo session.
Small Business Helping Small Business
6/29/2022
All photo shoots bring varying levels of intense satisfaction - I always feel like a little boy in a sandbox when I'm shooting... - but perhaps the greatest pleasure is brought when I am able to help the small startup or established business trying to take their business to the next level.
Typically, I will price lower - but never lower my commitment or quality - for their budgets will never match the much larger companies and the inherent value of the images neither will match those of the multinationals whose image use will range much further through their extensive marketing campaigns and various marketing collateral. Honestly, when a large company sets aside several days for photography, I better get it right the first time as the images may eventually be viewed by thousands or even millions of people.
I will also consider a trade of services; an offer to purchase a product at wholesale or even cost; or even extremely low pricing just to have the opportunity to photograph incredibly interesting subject matter that can be used as a portfolio piece, and when this happens I often seek extra time just to ensure a perfect final image. At other times, I have been known to simply donate my services if the cause is right.
Recently, I photographed the prototype phono-preamplifier for Frogge Audio, a small Calgary startup producing preamplifiers - Craig has also built an incredible tube amplifier - and his Super Blue Preamplifier is a work of art, using only the highest quality parts and breathtakingly beautiful workmanship. And the PhonoPre I photographed even exceeds anything he has previously built, a true testament to his desire in producing the best components possible at terrific value pricing.
Craig brought the PhonoPre to my 'studio', leaving it with me to photograph at my pleasure and pleasurable it was, for I photographed it a day after getting Covid19, but the satisfaction of the shoot even allowed me to ignore my symptoms spending a better part of a day tinkering with my lighting and setup to achieve the best images possible.
Now, not being a vinyl guy, I have an extensive collection of classical CDs, I opted for a deal on that amazing Super Blue Preamplifier, which when installed into my system dramatically improved its sound far better than any other component I have placed into my audio system in the past 35+ years. So yeah, small business helping small business helping small business.....
