Thursday, January 29, 2009

Photo Shoots & Reality: What does it take to capture business executives?

Behind-the-scenes look at a photo shoot for Inc. Mag. shows how much is staged to "capture" reality. Look, it can't be easy. Most executives sit at a desk, typing on their computer or talking on the phone -- hardly an image that will help illustrate a story, especially a profile of an executive. In fact, most of what executives' days would be rather boring from a photo perspective.

What's interesting is the process by which photo editors have to stagecraft reality -- I won't say manipulate, but, um, enhance reality -- to make it suitable to accompany an article.

In this case, showing Markus Frind and his girlfriend playing a board game in bed -- which apparently they do -- while she hits him with a pillow, spreading feathers all over the place. Apparently, that's not something they do -- hold pillow fights -- esp. because Frind is allergic to feathers. All in all, probably harmless stagecraft (feather allergies notwithstanding), but worth appreciating/understanding. We have a client about to engage a professional photographer to take photos of top executives, and it's probably worth keeping in mind to have some light-hearted photos, not just "business executive at work" photos.

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