This was a particularly interesting project we worked on recently. Last year we did corporate headshots and boardroom photographs for a firm of consultants in Glasgow. (You can read about this in our earlier blog)
After seeing some advertising and commercial images on our website they asked us if we could produce a series of images to illustrate the main pages on their new website. With projects like this, it’s always important to get the concept right, so we spent a bit of time discussing what they wanted to get across and produced some initial sketches of various ideas. Eventually, we settled on the idea of creating a series of images depicting shoes in different scenarios.
The photography for the website required a variety of locations and models. For this image we had to hire a ballerina and a dance studio.
Each image had to convey a message such as ‘A Different Way’, ‘At Your Side, On Your Side’, ‘Finding A Different Way’ etc. We then set about thinking of different scenarios which would convey these themes. Once we had decided, we then had to source locations and props such as an athletics medal winners podium, a ballerina and and ice rink.
We hired the Braehead Arena in Glasgow to get this image of an ice skater putting on their ice skates.
As photographers, the greatest challenge was producing images which matched the original concept drawings, as there were also a number of technical aspects to consider such as the narrow letterbox crop which would be required for the banners at the top of the website pages. We also had to co-ordinate the model and all locations so they could be shot over a couple of days.
It was very hard to source a medal winners podium in Scotland, as these are generally used for large events such as the Commonwealth Games and The Olympics. We eventually found an athletics track which had one but we had to do some extra retouching to get the right effect.
Probably the most difficult shot to produce was the one showing footprints in the sand. Until you’ve actually tried to do this, you don’t realise that you actually require the right kind of sand to make a good impression. Too dry and it just falls in on itself. Too wet and it doesn’t leave much of an impression. We therefore had to spend some time finding the goldilocks zone on a very cold winter’s morning but eventually we did. One of the things we love about our work is that you never quite know what you’ll be asked to do.
If you need some photography for your company website or business then please send us an email or call us on 0141 363 0013 and tell us what you’re looking for.
The original concept for this image showed the soles of the shoes but it was felt this might offend Muslims who see this as an insult. We therefore had to adapt it so the shoes were still the main focus but they were facing away from the camera.