NHS portraits in Warwickshire

I think NHS staff deserve a lot of recognition and thanks after the last few years. This project let me do that in a small way. These photos form an exhibition now at on display Warwick Hospital.  It celebrates sustainability initiatives made by staff across South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust, as part of a Green Team competition – and shows that we can all make small differences to help climate change and reduce waste.

I created photos of community teams in and around Warwick, reflecting their working environment and the changes they’ve made to reduce the environmental impact of their work. Others were taken at Warwick, Leamington and Stratford hospitals, again in the daily working environment of each team. I’ve nothing but huge admiration for the often very challenging work they do.

Huge thanks to all the NHS colleagues involved for their help & enthusiasm, Caroline Lloyd for running & organising the project brilliantly, and to project partner Clare Underwood at Peeli Print for producing the fabulous acrylic displays for the exhibition.

How do I organise staff headshots at my company ?

Staff headshots help create a cohesive and professional image for your company. They also showcase your team’s personality. Organising them can be a little more involved than you might think, so hopefully this article will help.

Style choice

There’s two basic styles to choose from.  The traditional, classic and clean look is against a plain background. This gives a professional and consistent appearance.

Environmental portraits, on the other hand, show people within their work environment, offering a more relatable and personalized touch. This approach captures authenticity and relatability. The photographer will find suitable interesting spots around your office, or perhaps outdoors. The photography will probably take a little longer to do, increasing the budget a little.

You might need a wider variety of images for senior staff for different uses.

The style you choose should match with your company’s culture, values, and what you want to convey. It’s all about making the right impression, the expectations of your target audience and how they perceive your brand.

Getting the date(s)

Plan well in advance so everyone has ample time to prepare. Timing is important to make it as convenient as possible and to make sure everyone is present at work. It might help to have the photo shoot on the day of a meeting, a company-wide event, or a team-building session.

With working from home more common, this part can be tricky!  Infact, it’s often a good idea to schedule another, shorter session for the people who couldn’t make the first day.

Telling everyone about it

Let everyone know a few weeks ahead of time, and remind them again the day before. People will want to get their hair cut and think about what clothes they’ll wear. They may need guidance on clothes, whether it be the company branded polo shirt (a clean one!) or jacket and tie.  Some might bring along a hairbrush and their makeup to make sure they are looking good.

Location

A separate room is ideal. A private space means that there’s minimum disruption to the rest of the office and people will feel less self-conscious. So book a meeting room. It needs to be larger than you’d think to fit the photographer’s lights, background etc. At least 4-5m long

For environmental portraits, a private space is still needed, but different locations might be used by the photographer

Budget & requirements

Costs can vary depending on the number of staff and the style you’re going for. Different photographers will charge in different ways. I charge for my time and can be flexible. It typically takes 5-10 mins per person. Some people know exactly the look they want and it can be quick to photograph them.  The majority are less confident and it takes a little longer to make them feel relaxed. I sometimes show people their photos on the back of the camera to reassure them.

On the day

Create a schedule after talking to the photographer about how long is needed for each person. Someone from the office will probably be needed to make sure people are on time and to help things run smoothly.

A good photographer will put people at ease, especially those who are nervous about the whole thing.  They will also bring a mirror and a lint brush to remove pet hairs from clothing!

When it’s all done, talk with your photographer about the process for selecting the photos. Will people get to choose their favorites? Make sure everyone understands the next steps and when they can expect their photos.

Keep it up-to-date

Don’t forget that headshots need a refresh every once in a while to reflect changes in your team or company’s branding. It’s a good idea to have a budget for  occasional smaller sessions to cover the new arrivals.

If you want to chat about staff headshots, please get in touch.

I normally create professional headshots in Warwickshire, Birmingham and surrounding areas, although I do travel further afield.  I also offer event photography and personal brand photography.

Headshot and team photography in Warwickshire

Chris Osborne at Budget Shipping Containers in Wythall, Warwickshire needed photography of his staff – individual headshots and team photos.  They were primarily for the website and social media.

We talked beforehand about various options. The office is very unusual and full of character. It’s in a converted church. We decided to use the character of the church to add something different to the photos (I also suggested getting everyone on top of a shipping container for a team photo, but unfortunately there weren’t any full size containers onsite! There was a small container that we used).  We chose the background for the headshots to be an inside wall of the church.

We also used a side entrance, in front of an arched wooden door, as the location for one of the team photos. Chris and the team were great fun, getting fully into the spirit of the shoot, and we created images with a few themes in mind for social media campaigns. One was a rainbow theme, with everyone in different colour T-shirts, even in the correct order for a rainbow (for LBGT awareness).

A second location was in front of a small shipping container (that comes as a flat-pack) to match the business service.

Chris & I agreed on the value of good headshots. His business has clients from around the country, and the staff spend a lot of time on the phone talking to potential clients. Many will have found Budget Shipping Containers via their website. The headshots and team photos on the website help make an immediate personal connection with the client, building the know, like & trust. As Chris said:

“Thanks again Laurence, it went very well and everyone is really happy with their photos!  A number of customers have commented how adding staff photos to the website and our electronic stationary has helped make our team a lot more relatable and approachable. I was personally worried if this would be a cost-effective exercise but now we’ve tried it it’s proven to be well worth getting professional photos done!’

Product Photography of Fishing Gear & Tackle

Arrow Angling is a startup business in Redditch, Worcestershire. They sell very high quality yet affordable fly fishing and angling rods, reels, nets and other tackle.  Marc is working extremely hard getting the business up and running. To increase online sales, he needed outstanding photos to show off the products – a few photos of each product, plus detailed close ups to show the quality of the finish.  As Marc said, a picture is worth a thousand words.

I created the photos in my studio in Studley. White backgrounds were the simplest way to present the products for ecommerce, displaying all the components of the tackle and retaining realistic shadows.

When he saw the photos Marc said “They’re fantastic !  I can’t praise Laurence enough for the excellent service and quality product photos he provided for our new startup business. Professional and communicative throughout. Looking forward to doing more business with him in the future.”

If you like fishing, take a look at Arrow Angling where you’ll find outstanding tackle (& more of the photos put to use !).

You can also see more examples of my product photography for Warwickshire

The importance of social media for your business –  by Amy Marshment

Whether you’re a creative, corporate, or sales business; the power that social media brings to your brand is vast. With social media comes an endless pool of news, trends, connections, stories, and knowledge. This might seem overwhelming, but when harnessed in the correct way, it is an opportunity to form important relationships, grow your brand’s awareness, and network like never before on an international scale.

Social media is also relatively inexpensive, it’s free to sign up to most platforms that can make a real difference to your brand. Take Instagram for example, you can find anyone on there from writers, graphic designers, PR agencies, photographers, scaffolders, and beyond! It’s not just for the creatives with an eye for visuals. Although Instagram is about uploading images in a square grid, it’s much more than that. It’s an opportunity for you to show off your businesses’ strengths up close, whether that’s your branding, your workforce, or daily duties. Plus, if you sell a physical or online product, there’s the opportunity to use shoppable buttons on your images! There might be a wide range of people in the Instagram community, but with the right hashtags, using significant keywords, and certain tips and tricks- it’s a winning platform to use.

Twitter is also a useful space for networking. You can join local twitter threads (conversations) to introduce yourself, discover what’s happening, and even sell your services. There are many accounts that will re-tweet (re-share) your content, boosting your content up to an extortionate amount of users to see!

It can be a minefield when it comes to choosing which platforms your business should join, as well as  the ones that don’t necessarily meet your audiences’ requirements. Once you know your unique selling point, your niche or industry, and who you’re marketing to… this can make it a whole lot easier when choosing which platforms to use. It’s also more than ok to trial a certain platform for a month to see what kind of traction you are getting and whether it’s right for you. Experimenting with different social accounts is useful when looking at your insights. If you create a creator or business profile on Instagram, you can have a look at where in the world your content is being seen, your key demographics, and what content is performing best.

There’s so much to learn, benefit from, and test. Social media can be timely, but the reward is certainly worth the energy. Social media can help with your website hits, generating awareness of your brand, targeting potential customers, and meeting people who share the same values as you. A top recommendation that I would propose is to only use 2-3 social platforms if you are a small business, unless you have a great scheduler or dedicated person to organising your social strategy. It’s important to be active, responsive, and consistent when it comes to social media. This allows for a higher retention and engagement rate. People want to constantly see newness and with so much social noise, they need a reason to keep coming back to your pages.

If you’d like more detail on how social media can be an effective strategy for your brand, please don’t hesitate to contact Amy at amyemarshment2@hotmail.co.uk or visit her website amymarshment.com

Amy’s social links:

Website: amymarshment.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amymarshmentx/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/amymarshmentx

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/amymarshmentx/

Behind the scences at a socially distanced team photo in Kenilworth, Warwickshire

On the hottest day of the year in 2020 I created a socially distanced team photo for the NetVisibilty team. If you need to know about social media Ads, these are the people to ask!
Each person was photographed separately and then the whole image combined in photoshop in various formats. The location for this Kenilworth business was the local landmark – Kenilworth Castle.  You can see me hard at work in one of the behind-the-scenes shots.  The final image got a great reaction on LinkedIn !

Neil Curtis, the owner of NetVisibility, said “Its brilliant. Love it. We could easily take this style and make it into an advert.”  He added ” We had a great time getting this unusual team photo and it lifted the spirits of the team ! A testament to a great photoshoot/photoshop job by Laurence, on a very hot day. “

I’m a photographer creating eye-catching images for businesses. I’m based in Warwickshire, just south of Birmingham.