From your first message to the work in use.
What happens at each step, what I ask of you, and what you can expect from me.
01A first conversation
Thirty minutes by video call, at no cost
We talk about how you see yourselves, how you want to be seen, and where the two pull apart. Some of my questions will sound more like psychology than photography. For a brand, I want to hear what a loyal customer would say about you, and what a disappointed one would.
What people tend to say in that first hour
An organization
“We have a new strategy, new leadership, and the same photographs on the homepage.”
A place
“Guests tell us it’s even better in person. That shouldn’t be a compliment.”
A person
“The people who know me say none of my photographs look like me.”
A brand
“The product is careful and particular. Our images look like everyone else’s.”
02What I heard
Within a week of our conversation
A written reading of the project: the feeling you are after, the approach I propose, and what I still need to know. If I have misread something, this is when we correct it. Scope, calendar and terms follow in a proposal of their own.
For film, the reading also sets the shape of the piece before anything is shot.
The reading also proposes how much of the work I take on
IMake it
You know what the work has to say. You need someone to see it and make it well.
IIShape it, then make it
The brief asks for photographs, but nobody is sure yet what they should say. We decide that first, in writing.
IIIStay with it
Things keep moving, and the images need to move with them without losing the thread.
03Preparation
Usually two to six weeks between agreeing the work and the first day of shooting
You confirm the people and the styling; I handle the rest, and a full plan reaches you a week before. I scout at the hour we will shoot, and design the light from the feeling we agreed.
For film, I write a script rather than a shot list, so every scene knows why it is there.
04The evening before
One message
A short note about one thing I am looking forward to tomorrow. By then the preparation is finished on both sides. What is left is to pay attention.
Before a filmed interview, I send two of the questions, so nothing arrives as a surprise.
05Production
From a single full day to two to four weeks of work, depending on the scope
Each day begins with time to arrive. I direct through conversation more than through poses. Once we have what we planned, we try what we didn’t.
What I make
An organization
Portraits of the people who lead and do the work, and photographs of the work itself, made as one body so the company speaks in one voice.
A place
Photographs and short films of the place at the hours, and in the corners, that make it yours.
A person
A portrait session built around a conversation, for someone who needs to be seen and would rather not perform.
A brand
Campaign photographs and film, and the direction that decides what they should say.
06The edit
A first selection in two to three weeks; a first cut of film in three to five, depending on the scope
A sequenced selection, not everything that came out sharp. I may include one or two you did not expect, and say why. Retouching removes what distracts and leaves texture, shape and proportion alone.
For film, you see a complete first cut, never loose clips, with one colour grade across the piece.
07Delivery
Final files one to two weeks after your selection
Files for print and for screen, in a private gallery, with a plain note of what you have licensed, where and for how long, as we agreed at the start.
What you leave with
An organization
A body of work your team can draw on, with people in it who recognise themselves.
A place
Images that do what your staff do: make someone feel expected before they arrive.
A person
A few portraits the people who know you would recognise at once.
A brand
Images that could only be yours, and a direction that keeps the next campaign from drifting.
08Afterwards
A month or two after delivery
A twenty-minute call once you have seen the work in use: what people responded to, what you would keep, what you would change. In a continuing relationship, we set our own rhythm from here.
Proposals and rights
Photographs keep working long after the shoot, so what they may do is agreed before it. Each commission, and each shoot within a continuing relationship, receives its own proposal: the scope, the calendar, the fee and how it is paid, and the terms we both sign. Usage is part of that agreement. Where the work will appear, in which countries, for how long, and whether it is yours alone. The people, places and music within the work carry rights of their own, and we account for those there too.
The first step is a few lines from you.
Start a conversationBook a time
I travel for commissions worldwide and work in English and Spanish.