Lorain - Elyria Commercial Photography

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.  

Elyria Commercial Photography - Lorain Commercial Photography

Commercial Photography - Executive Portraits - Digital Editing

440-899-9300 or 800-226-108

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. 

Elyria Commercial Photography - Lorain Commercial Photography

Commercial Photography - Executive Portraits - Digital Editing

Studios

1650 Crossings Parkway

Westlake, Ohio 44145

440-899-9300 or 800-226-1083

Coming to the DOUGLAS Photography, Inc. studios in Westlake for that new executive portrait you've been putting off and then going to lunch at Champps at Crocker Park with a gift card in hand was a promotion that so many liked I've extended it.  In fact my second promotion of doing 2 portraits for the price of one can be combined.  If you come in together both will get Champps gilt cards.  You can both go to lunch afterwards or maybe come later in the day for your portraits and stop for an after work cocktail.  The Champps at Crocker Park is right across the street.

With my new Westlake studios at Detroit and Crocker I have a more convenient and beautiful new location to welcome guests for portraits.  Now I want to use and expand my experience photographing business people and executives in their environment to professional business portraits in my new studio.  The best way to grow this executive portrait service is to get executives in for portraits. Build buzz.  

Call or CLICK HERE to email for more information or an appointment.

Elyria Commercial Photography • Lorain Commercial Photography

Commercial Photography - Photo illustration - Executive Portraits - Digital Editing

1650 Crossings Parkway

Westlake, Ohio 44145

440-899-9300 or 800-226-1083

Having worked with 100's of small businesses as the in-house ad photographer for Ohio's largest publisher I learned first hand the challenges facing small businesses regarding advertising.  To a large degree they have to trust the latest person coming through their door selling ads in whatever publication or direct mail program etc.  The odds of you getting a positive return on your investment are not all that good.  The largest problem is that the people selling the ads have no clue about how to do effective advertising.

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?

Elyria Commercial Photography • Lorain 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.

Elyria Commercial Photography • Lorain Commercial Photography

DOUGLAS Photography, Inc.

Commercial Photography

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.  

Elyria Commercial Photography • Lorain Commercial Photography

DOUGLAS Photography, Inc.

Commercial Photography - Executive Portraits - Digital Editing

Studios

1650 Crossings Parkway

Westlake, Ohio 44145

440-899-9300 or 800-226-1083

Follow me on Twitter • Facebook:  DOUGLAS Photography • Douglas Konkol

A re-release of 2 powerful prints I originally announced in March of 2007.  Land of the Free Because of the Brave 1 and 2.  Print No.1 is an American soldier fighting for the freedom of the people of Iraq.  Print No. 2 is the same image with the text "The United States of America Land of the Free Because of the Brave" lightly printed over the image.

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.

Lorain Commercial Photography - Elyria Commercial Photography

DOUGLAS Photography, Inc.

Commercial Photography - Photo illustration - Digital Editing

1650 Crossings Parkway

Westlake, Ohio 44145

440-899-9300 or 800-226-1083

Email

July 1, 2010 - Cleveland, Ohio - "nap time" is my newest contemporary art print.  This is a switch for me to using color and a switch for me to use animals, in this case a dog, as my subject.

My model's name is Scarlet and she lives with my sister and her family in Solon, Ohio.  If your going to photograph Scarlet chances are it will be napping.

I didn't shoot this with a new contemporary art print in mind at the time.  In fact I shot this months ago and only recently began to look at it as a possible new print.  I really attempted to produce a black and white in my usual and much preferred style but found it had to be in color.  This for me was a challenge but it ended up being a great creative experience.

You can see an even larger view if this print.  CLICK HERE.

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.

Elyria Commercial Photography • Lorain Commercial Photography

DOUGLAS Photography, Inc.

Commercial Photography - Photo illustration - Digital Editing

1650 Crossings Parkway

Westlake, Ohio 44145

440-899-9300 or 800-226-1083

Email