I was contacted by the owners of the brand new start up, 2U Vision to arrange and photograph a commercial session for their line of eyewear for their online debut! When Paul & Petra reached out to explain their vision (pun totally intended!), to bring fashionable and fun eyewear options to those who can’t get to traditional stores to browse, I was excitedly on board! While images of the glasses themselves were a given, websites need more content to give context for the viewer. I approach each session with the mindset of, “How can these images best serve the objective of my client?”.
My Client’s Consumer
In order to do that, I have to have a clear understanding of my client’s consumer. Who are they? What do they do? How is this product or service helping them? How can this product or service make their life easier, better, more enjoyable?
To reach another step further and create a direction for the shoot to accomplish how my client’s product will solve a problem for their consumer, we need collaboration.
Commercial sessions are very collaborative between my client and possibly their marketing, sales and/or art teams. Knowing their ideal client and reaching them through images is very powerful in the online marketplace. Creating visual examples of how their consumers will benefit can make my client stand out in the vast sea of Google search results.
Marketing and Use
Another vital piece of directing a full commercial session is knowing how the images will be marketed. It is rare that the website will be the only format for display. Retailing in particular can include storefronts on multiple 3rd party sites, social media ads, Google ads, banners, sidebars, email campaigns, etc… Creating images that will work for each placement is imperative. And that doesn’t include printed works, business cards, brochures, banners, signs, billboards… Having an experienced photographer who understands the scope of the planned campaign, and how to direct, shoot, and edit the final gallery will ensure every dollar spent is most effective.
2U Vision’s target market is primarily the elderly who are in assisted living or nursing homes. They aren’t able to travel easily but still care about their appearance and are active. They planned to use the images for their website, some social media, Google ads, and printed materials. With this in mind, we planned a morning at a great downtown St. Petersburg location (I could write an entire blog on the history of the building alone!) and had a blast!
I delivered their gallery online for them to download as high resolution images for the print products and low resolution for online use. This took the guess work out of resizing and use.
To view further examples of commercial sessions by Brandi, please click here and select “Commercial” at the top.
