I recently set up a location studio to photograph several company executives.  I do this often and the experience is similar most of the time.  Although someone in the office set this up in the most convenient and time efficient way possible, although someone in the office invested the effort into coordinating several schedules, although someone in the office sends out reminder emails oh so many are surprised to see me there. This happens more often then not.  The first one or two scheduled are usually on time or close to it.  After that it's usually like herding cats.  

I often see facial expressions one might expect to see when a patient walks into a dentists exam room, especially with the first one or two.  Once my subject is in front of the lights and the background I get a serious once over.  I can see them trying to judge me and how this might turn out.  Will they look like the way they think they look or maybe not the way they think they look.  When these photos go into print or on the website how will others see them?  Then there are the folks that are uncomfortable with me being in control.  I know this, all of it.

Image is everything.  The company image, the product image and yes the executives images.  In the end it will be my image.

I know that when the first executive leaves my studio it will effect the others to come.  Just the fact that he or she's smiling, genuinely smiling as they head back to their office is important.  I count on that to help make the next person more at ease.  The other tool that I have that I use is experience.  I have photographed Fortune 500 executives and the senior attorney from the most powerful law firm in the nation.  Usually there are 2 people.  One that is guarded.  This one I have about 120 seconds to gain their trust so I can get to the other person.  The real person outside of the corporate politically correct world.  If I accomplish that I get the images of a real person, an executive obviously but a real person that you might also see at a kids soccer match.  Someone that just by seeing their photo you think you might like to work with, that you think you can trust because they're real.

Some times I scare the hell out of people.  I will and do say things that are politically incorrect.  

On a recent shoot I told one of the execs that if this didn't work out he'd make one hell of a good car salesman.  The woman that was organizing this project saw him leave the room where I had the studio set up and he was relaxed and smiling.  When she asked me how it went and she saw the photos on my laptop she was pleased, very pleased.  When I told her that I had told him he'd make a great car salesman if this didn't work out she almost had a heart attack.   I also explained to him at the time that he had this most genuine sincere smile that he could get anyone to agree to anything just by using his smile.  You see I did a few things here.  The fact that I had the balls to tell him he'd make a good car salesman totally distracted him from his concern about having his photo taken.  I immediately got a look from him that wasn't pleasant but what happened after I said it was because of his smile was all great.

You can't say things like this to every exec.  Maybe you can't say anything politically incorrect at all.  It's all a matter of judgement.  One thing I do know is that if within a few seconds of my first meeting the executive I'm about to photograph if I can break the ice we'll both win.  

DOUGLAS Photography, Inc.

Commercial Photography - Executive Portraits - Digital Editing

440-899-9300 or 800-226-1083

I do a lot of photography on construction sites.  Having to wear my hard hat or my pretty bright green vest aren't my favorite things but are required.  Especially the hard hat is a pain in the ass but I wear it.  Backwards most of the time because it gets in the way of my camera but my getting tossed off the site isn't an option.  I heard of a home owner who stopped to see how the construction of his new home was coming only to get tossed off the site by OSHA.

I truly enjoy working on construction sites.  Maybe that's why I get so much of that kind of work.  I love watching and photographing craftsmen.  Guys who work with their hands to make things.  Homes that will be lived in and enjoyed for generations.  Business buildings that will provide a place for jobs for generations.  

Part of the challenge to doing photos on construction sites is knowing what NOT to photograph.  On one recent project I rolled up to a site and saw an opportunity to photograph the guys installing the roof.  I made the mistake of not going on the site first so everyone would know who I was and why I was there.  I pulled out a telephoto lens and started snapping, got some great photos.  Turned out I scared the hell out of the crew because they thought I was from OSHA.  They had all the proper safety equipment and were doing everything right but, as I was informed, you never know if OSHA can find something.  Be careful what you photograph.

Working on a project for a phone company this job involved guys working in man holes.  I wanted to get a shot looking up from inside of the man hole.  At this location there were 2 man holes about 10' apart.  In one hole they had all of the equipment and hoses pushing fresh air into the site along with other power and safely cords.  I picked the man hole without all of the "crap" in the way of my photo.  Got some great shots and within an hour or two of turning in my work to my client there were phone lines burning up.  This went all the way to the CEO and where in the hell was the safety equipment?  They loved my photos from inside the man hole looking up but where in the hell was the safety equipment.  In fact my client at this phone company got the ball rolling because she liked my photos from inside the man hole so much she showed them around. I had to come up with a photo above ground showing there were indeed 2 man holes within a few feet of each other and indeed all of the safety equipment was there, in the other hole.  This stopped just short of me having to give a sworn deposition.  I had the proof in other photos.  In the end it was all a great experience.

Recently I spend the best part of an entire day photographing a guy who hangs drywall.  Watching this guy was like watching a dancer.  A dancer dancing with an 4' X 10' 70 lb. piece of drywall alone.  Then there is the tape measure dance.  In the room, the tape zips out and the measurement is remembered then the tape snaps back.  Out again and another measurement committed to memory and another for the water pipes and another for the drains.  The next part of the dance is again with the tape measure.  He knows how much he has to cut off and with his tape measure, his razor knife and his fingers he zips down the 10' of drywall scoring it along the way.  Then with a smack of his hand it's cut to size.  Now maybe 3'6" instead of 4' by 11' he picks up and twirls this 65 lb. mass and a second later with one hand he's holding it against the bare studs and with his other hand drills in a screw or two before he waltzes up and down the board driving in screw after screw 99% right on target, a target he can's see.  Next is the router and suddenly the holes for the water pipes, the drains and the electrical outlets are cut to the exact size.  On a typical day this guy hangs 50 or so sheets of drywall or more impressive, he wrestles 3,500 lbs of material before 4:00 PM and he makes it look easy.

It used to be that I would do photos on a construction site for magazines doing a story on the project or maybe the contractor but now most of my construction site work comes from clients who make products for the construction industry.  Either way, short of having to wear that damn hard hat I enjoy the challenge.  I often shoot extraneuos photos I find visually interesting, to me anyway.  Often my clients like and use photos of things they would have never considered. 

DOUGLAS Commercial Photography

Commercial Photography - Executive Portraits - Digital Editing

Studios

1650 Crossings Parkway

Westlake, Ohio 44145

440-899-9300 or 800-226-1083

One example I have is a Lakewood, Ohio pizza shop.  She needed photos for her ad and immediately she brought out a selection of national pizza chain ads as examples of what she wanted.  She had no clue that these national chains may spend $10,000.00 on photographers, food stylists and art directors to do one of these photos.  I don't think the person that sold her the ad knew either.  Now it came down to working with this small business owner to decide the best approach to take on a limited budget.

My first suggestion was to take advantage of being a local small pizza shop and not one of the national chains.  When you don't have the big budget for photography or even running enough ads to build name recognition you have to focus on what you do have.  We agreed, the photos should be of a pizza that looks "home made", from a small shop where the owner probably made the pizza.  Based on younger people buy more pizza and that younger people are more likely to not only not call the national chain but prefer the local pizza shop if the pizza's good.  Her advantage was being herself and advertising a pizza that looks home made.  Her best advertising and return on the investment on her budget would be buzz and people love to talk about "the place" they found for a great pizza.  A few well placed ads could get the buzz started.

My also working with ad agencies I know that they can't afford to have clients with a pizza shop ad budget.  For small businesses that don't have the ad agency size ad budget you should talk to people.  Photographers with experience in advertising photography is a good start.  Not only get the prices for photography but see what suggestions they have regarding where best to advertise on a small budget.  See if they can refer you to a free-lance designer.

Running a small business means finding the time to talk to designers of photographers about not only their costs but also to learn their thoughts on cost effective advertising is a well worth while investment.  Especially if you can't afford an agency with the team.  We all network to find customers so why not network to build your own "in-house" ad agency?

DOUGLAS Commercial Photography

440-899-9300 or 800-226-1083

Two business executive studio portraits are the price of one if you come at the same time.    2 for 1, 4 for 2 and on and on.  Have your entire staff's business portraits updated for half of the usual cost.

DOUGLAS Photography, Inc., in Westlake, is promoting their executive portraits service.  Each person will have 4 or more shots to use as you see fit.  The photos will be made available from your own password protected file on our server within hours, usually the same day.

Call or CLICK HERE to email for an appointment.

DOUGLAS Commercial Photography • DOUGLAS Photography, Inc.

Commercial Photography - Photo Illustration - Executive Portraits - Digital Editing

Studios

1650 Crossings Parkway

Westlake, Ohio 44145

440-899-9300 or 800-226-1083

If your having trouble putting on your child's shoes it can be much easier if you hold them upside down holding their head firmly between your legs and then put on their shoes.

OK, that's not the thing to do but in this photo of a young girl putting the shoes on a doll it looks, well, almost logical.  How can one argue with success?

This shot came from one of my clients who was marketing a new doll. It was the clients preference to use real children really interacting with the doll.  It was more of a challenge to keep the parents from trying to get the kids to do what they thought we wanted.  That only served to distract the kids from being kids which is what we wanted.  Real kids being real kids.

It took some time and many, many shots.  OK, this was one of the many "blooper" shots that were necessary to hit gold and in the end my client got exactly what they wanted.  This is what I love about what I do.  The challenge.  

DOUGLAS Commercial Photography • DOUGLAS Photography, Inc.

Commercial Photography - Photo Illustration - Executive Portraits - Digital Editing

Studios

1650 Crossings Parkway

Westlake, Ohio 44145

440-899-9300 or 800-226-1083

I thought that this 4th of July when our young men and women are fighting for the freedom of others in Iraq and Afghanistan and we are fighting to protect our rights here at home that I should re-release these 2 powerful prints.  In a little over 200 years this nation has become the most successful, the most powerful and the most giving nation ever on this planet because we're free.  

Click to see a larger view of: Land of the Free Because of the Brave

Click to see a larger view of: Land of the Free Because of the Brave 2

All of my prints are 100% gallery archival quality.  They will not yellow, fade or disintegrate for over 100 years if displayed properly.  The prints are all produced at the time of the order and I hand sign each one before it ships.

DOUGLAS Art Prints® - DOUGLAS Photography, Inc.

440-899-9300 or 800-226-1083

Commercial photography is about creativity and this is a location that is peaceful, pleasant and allows for, inspires creativity.  For my clients coming to be photographed in my studio it's a calm and pleasant experience and that's important when photographing people.

Last November, when the snow was flying and the economy was in the dump I had an opportunity to expand to having 2 studios and a large office on the second floor the digital editing department.  I jumped at it.  I was familiar with the location and knew how park like it was in the warm months.

In the months since I moved into the new studios my clients often comment how pleasant it is coming here.  Since moving into the new studios I have heavily marketed the fact that I have new studios but totally missed marketing the true value of the location.  The park like peaceful place to visit, work and be creative.  Today I finally added a photo of the DOUGLAS Photography, Inc. studios to my web sites.  

Thinking about the executives and lawyers I've photographed and how proud they were of their corner office with a view now I smile.  I don't know of any that have the view I do from my digital editing department.

This is a wonderful place to work, to be creative and to welcome clients.

DOUGLAS Photography, Inc. - DOUGLAS Commercial Photography

Commercial Photography - Photo illustration - Digital Editing

1650 Crossings Parkway

Westlake, Ohio 44145

440-899-9300 or 800-226-1083

Email

In the 25 plus years of professional photography I have worked with many models, musicians and dancers providing headshots and portfolio photos.   If you didn't ask you'd never know.

For years the focus of my commercial photography marketing has been on product, food and interior design photography.  I ignored marketing executive portraits, headshots and portfolio services.  About a year ago, in the height of the recession, I had to make some changes.  I expanded.  I moved into my new beautiful studios in Westlake.  I expanded my server capabilities to better serve my clients and I have gradually expanded marketing additional services.  First it was executive portraits.  Now that I have better studio facilities I'm adding portfolio services and headshots for models, aspiring models, actors, dancers and musicians etc. to my marketing.  Yes, Douglas does (photograph) models.

No, this local market in Northeast Ohio is not a major market for fashion models.  It is a great market for part time models and "real people" models.  I recently completed a job for a client that makes products used in the construction industry.  I used the real construction workers on the job.  The dirt, the sweat, the real tans and even the real tattoos made the project very real.  My client was very pleasantly surprised.  The example image you see here was using real kids for a client's promotion.

Aggressively marketing model headshots and portfolio photos is phase one of my serious entry into the modeling industry.

DOUGLAS Photography, Inc.

Commercial Photography - Photo illustration - Digital Editing

1650 Crossings Parkway

Westlake, Ohio 44145

440-899-9300 or 800-226-1083

Email

Indeed, a burger and fries along with your executive portrait.  As part of my promotion of my executive portrait service I put together an offer with Champps restaurants.  

"I hate having my picture taken."  I hear that virtually every time I do portraits.  I also know most avoid updating their corporate/business photos.  Procrastination rules.  As a motivation I worked with Champps to provide food if your good and get your new portrait done now.

I have a significant but limited supply of Champps gift cards that I'm giving to folks who come in for a studio executive portrait.  You can call or CLICK HERE to send an email to see if the cards are available and to schedule an appointment.

Stop the procrastination.  There's a Champps right across the street from my studios at Crocker Park.

DOUGLAS Commercial Photography - DOUGLAS Photography, Inc.

Commercial Photography - Photo Illustration - Digital Editing

1650 Crossings Parkway

Westlake, Ohio 44145

440-899-9300 or 800-226-1083

I do many executives portraits here in my Westlake studio.  Just did one for an executive of a software company when I was asked if I could take my "portrait show" on the road.  

I often take my show "on the road" usually for client's products.  When the products are too large, too hard to transport or it's just easier for my client.  I'm working with my photography equipment on location where my client has an area we can use as a studio later this month and next.

Executives frequently ask if I can come to their office to do their portraits.  That's fine for an environmental style but it is far more cost effective to do one or two executives formal portraits in my studio.  In the case of the software company, this request was to photograph several folks.

Although commercial, product and photo illustration is my core business I truly do appreciate the switch to live subjects.  If you have 4 or more folks that need formal executive portraits I'll bring my portrait studio to you.  Call or CLICK HERE to email a request.

DOUGLAS Commercial Photography

Commercial Photography - Photo Illustration- Digital Editing

1650 Crossings Parkway

Westlake, Ohio 44145

440-899-9300 or 800-226-1083

Indeed breaking things was the first order of business for this example of a recent photo illustration shoot.  Actually I asked the client to handle breaking the many various products I had to illustrate.

I met with the client to see how they wanted the various broken pieces illustrated with the main products.  That done and the angle at which they wanted the illustrations shot and the challenges started.  Getting the lighting correct so that there were no shadows.  Getting the pieces close enough together to visually make sense but not overlapping.

In the end my client needed the main product and the broken pieces in the same photo but with each piece as individual pieces so they could manipulate the positioning in the final illustration if necessary.  

In some cases this required that a "mini" wall be built to mount a porch light to or a shelf to mount a kitchen faucet to.  In the end my client had images of the pieces together and including each piece individually as well as 2 each digitally added custom colored shadows.

DOUGLAS Commercial Photography and DOUGLAS Photography Inc., Commercial Photography with more than 25 years of experience.  Studios located at 1650 Crossings Parkway, right off of I90 at the Crocker Bassett exit, in Westlake.

DOUGLAS Commercial Photography - DOUGLAS Photography, Inc.

Commercial Photography - Digital Editing

1650 Crossings Parkway

Westlake, Ohio 44145

440-899-9300 or 800-226-1083

I have no plans on impressing guests at the studio with a catered lunch. The cost isn't built into your cost for my work.

I had a friend with a very successful commercial photography studio who was known for his client parties.  At the time it seemed he did impress his clients.  He's out of business now.

I am aware of one or more Cleveland commercial photographers that have success in part because their clients and the clients staff know if they can justify being at their studio for a project during lunch time they'll be in for a first class catered lunch. 

Coffee, pop, bottled water, maybe a beer and pretzels is about the best you'll get as a guest at the DOUGLAS Photography, Inc. studios.  The coffee is very good though.  I like good coffee and I grind freshly roasted beans right before I make a fresh pot.

DOUGLAS Photography is built on providing quality and being cost effective.  I am fully aware that keeping my being cost effective may in fact hurt my professional image.  Ad agencies aren't overly fond of me because they don't get free lunches and parties and, maybe more important, I don't charge the higher rates to pay for these freebies that then translate into higher profits for them.  Some people relate higher fees to a higher talent.  That's not necessarily true and unless your photography requirements call for some very special imagery it may not be worth the higher costs.  Kind of like paying for a neurosurgeon to remove your tonsils.

DOUGLAS Photography Inc. - Commercial Photography and Digital Editing.  Over 25 years of experience. Studios are located just off of I90 and the Crocker Bassett exit minutes from downtown Cleveland at 1650 Crossings Parkway in Westlake.

DOUGLAS Commercial Photography - DOUGLAS Photography, Inc.

Commercial Photography & Digital Editing

1650 Crossings Parkway

Westlake, Ohio 44145

440-899-9300 or 800-226-1083

June 11, 2010 - Cleveland, Ohio - Photoshop clipping of products out of a background, along with digital image editing, image color enhancement and color matching is an important service to businesses.  The quality of a companies images is important to a companies image.  

It used to be that newspaper and even TV images could be "acceptable" quality.  Newspapers, and other than glossy magazines, couldn't print high quality images and have them come out high quality.  For years even the internet didn't reproduce high quality images on computers.  "Acceptable" quality images might have worked. Computer displays and even cell phones now have high resolution.  TV is now HD.  High quality images are now more important to the image of a business more than ever.

I've been using digital cameras ever since they became technically feasible.  In fact it was one of my digital cameras, and the results I got from it, that inspired one of my clients, one of Ohio's largest publisher to switch to digital.

As digital cameras improved and became more cost effective I watched many businesses begin to save money by taking photos themselves.  No, they weren't studio quality but they were, well, good enough.  No more, that is if you want to project an image of quality.

With high resolution displays on computers and even cell phones the background, or having no background is important.  The color density is important. Having the colors match your product as much as possible is important.  The days of having Bob take some photos because he has a nice camera are over.  Today it's about detail and probably clipping out the background so the focus of the image is on your product.

Image of thread adhesive

Image clipped from the background

The cost for professional high quality images may not be as much as you imagine.  The cost for not having professional high quality images may be more than you imagine.

DOUGLAS Commercial Photography is a service of DOUGLAS Photography, Inc. and are full service commercial photographers with studios minutes from Cleveland at 1650 Crossings Parkway in Westlake Ohio.

DOUGLAS Commercial Photography - DOUGLAS Photography, Inc.

800-226-1083

June 8, 2009  Cleveland, Ohio - Based on marketing their professional commercial photography to small business DOUGLAS Commercial Photography enhanced their web site including a great deal more interactivity and additional images on the key focus, product photography.

It is about reaching more small or even home based businesses that may only have even just a few products they would need professionally photographed and know how important quality images are to their image and success.

Never assume.  The DOUGLAS Commercial Photography web site assumed anyone looking for a professional commercial photographer would assume digital editing was also available.  Now our web site lists the basic services provided including digital editing and clipping.  Also added to the list is the on location studio services available, that hauling your products to our studio may not be required and the "Un"Staff staff photograph services available to clients with on going requirements but without the expense of a staff photographer.

Executive studio and environmental portraits are now also listed on our web site.  A service that has always been available but never promoted, until now.

Now visitors to the DOUGLAS Commercial Photography web site can flip between the various video portfolios, the services page, learn more about Douglas and even send an email to us right from the site.

DOUGLAS Commercial Photography is a full service commercial photographer with over 25 years of experience.  The studios are located 3 minutes off of I90 at the Crocker Bassett exit, a walk away from Crocker Park, at 1650 Crossings Parkway in Westlake, Ohio.

DOUGLAS Commercial Photography

800-226-1083