Indoors and Outdoors

I don’t get fired off jobs very often. In fact, it just doesn’t happen. Except for that one time last week.

I’d been commissioned to photograph an exclusive development in West Cork - a gated enclave of five houses that had been built right on the seafront. Lovely views in all directions, private yacht moorings - you get the idea. The paperwork was all done and signed by the property developer and we were good to go for the shoot.

Then came the phone call from the design agency that had brokered the assignment. Apparently, the auctioneer who was selling the properties decided that professional photography wouldn’t be required for the marketing material. He had a perfectly good camera himself and would take the pictures. In the world of property sales, the auctioneer outranks the design agency, so that was the end of me.

Temporarily.

Two days later, the design agency rang me again. Was I still available? Would I still do the job?

The auctioneer had come up against one of the trickier aspects of interior photography. While it is relatively easy to get some form of exposure for inside a room, it is much harder to get a balanced inside exposure that matches the light outside, which is what you want if your marketing material needs to show just how good the views are from the expensive holiday homes you are selling. If you don’t balance the inside and outside light, you either end up with totally blown out windows that don’t show anything outside, or great views as seen from the virtually black inside of the house. The trick is to bring off-camera flashes with you that you can use to boost the inside exposure.

Interior/Exterior 1
(c) Roger Overall 2008

Interior/Exterior 2
(c) Roger Overall 2008

Interior/Exterior 3
(c) Roger Overall 2008

Happy At Work

I’ve been laid low by a huge workload and a bad head cold over the last fortnight, which is why it’s been quiet here on the blog. The workload is still there (for every assignment that is completed, another starts - and I’m not complaining), but the head cold is gradually fading and I’m starting to feel more human. I’ve also been working on an article commission for a professional photography magazine, which has eaten up my writing time this past week.

One of the assignments from the last couple of weeks was in London with one of my regular clients. It’s always a good shoot and it never fails to impress me how relaxed and happy the offices are of this international insurance company. Part of my brief each year is to capture candid shots for inclusion in the company’s annual report, and it is never hard to capture people enjoying their work. This is a firm that has a massively high staff retention rate. It is not hard to find people who have been with the firm for several decades or more.

My kind of client.

(c) Roger Overall 2008

(c) Roger Overall 2008

Back in the saddle

Mussels with Lemon and Lime Slices
(c) Roger Overall 2008

Well that was a week and then some. My head was filled to bursting point with information on how I can improve my business and at the same time generate referrals and relationships for others. If I implement all that I learned last week, it will transform my business.

Not that I have much to complain about at the minute, mind.

I’m writing this from the set of a food shoot while two of my clients are preparing mussels. Tomorrow I’m off to London for an annual report shoot on Wednesday and then I have a high-end property shoot for Thursday back here in Ireland. I was hoping to keep the weekend free, but when your bank manager rings you with some business, you can’t really turn it down, so there’s a small shoot on Saturday as well.

At this point, you’re probably picking your chins up from your keyboard in a bid to close your mouths. “Bank manager?!” you ask. Yes, that’s right. And it’s not the first time my bank manager has put business my way, despite the fact that I am most likely not the only photographer in Cork that banks with him - or maybe I am - I don’t really know. It doesn’t really matter. What matters is that he picked up the phone to me instead of calling another photographer.

So why did he choose me?

Because we have established relationship - he’s used me before and is happy to put business my way. And why did he use me in the first place, several years ago? Because I was referred to him by a source he trusted.

Told you this referral stuff was good.

Giving It All

It’ll be quieter than usual on the blogs for the rest of the week. I’m in Dublin on an intensive business referral training course, followed by a two-day business referral conference. 

Why? Because a good slice of my business comes through word-of-mouth referrals and I want to get a whole lot better at generating and encouraging those referrals. I also want to get a whole lot better at providing referrals for others - after all, giving creates a desire in the receiver to return the favour. Ultimately, you end up in a self-perpetuating spiral of giving and receiving - and the way I see it, that’s a good thing. (Listen, I was born in the 60s, so something’s gonna rub off).

Marcel Mauss wrote a book called The Gift about how the exchange of gifts builds bonds between humans - a form of social glue, if you will - and it’s a principle that works well in business.

Anyway, that’s what I’m up to for the rest of the week and into the weekend. 

In the meantime, here are two photographs from a food shoot that I did earlier today for one of Cork’s shiny new prestige hotels. The lighting was very simple and a good example of the less-is-more adage. 

In both instances, the plate is being lit on the right by a large window in the hotel’s restaurant. The light is very diffuse and soft because the window is frosted glass. On the other side of the plate, I put up a large silver reflector to bounce light back. And that’s it. The dappled background in one of the pictures was provided by a crushed-velvet curtain about two metres behind the table. 

Keeping with the theme of the post, it’s only fair to point out that the assignment came to me through a referral from a printer buddy who is currently working with the hotel and recommended me for the job.

(c) Roger Overall 2008

(c) Roger Overall 2008

Charity Starts at Home

This has been an amazing week for me. Not only have we been very busy in the office with pre- and post-production of a number of very interesting projects, we spent a couple of days working on Happy Faces, a national charity initiative organized through the Irish Professional Photographers Association (IPPA), of which I’m a member.

Each year, the association nominates a charity and members raise funds by shooting and selling portraits to the general public (social photographers) or to their corporate client base (commercial photographers). This year, Angels Quest was the beneficiary.

My plan was to approached all of my commercial contacts and spend a day chasing round the city, setting up a simple lighting rig at their offices and shooting quick portraits before moving on to the next location. Minimum fuss for the client, maximum benefit for the charity. Well, I have to say, such was the take-up that a) I had to spread my event over two days and b) I didn’t even get to my last client today.

I am humbled by both the support and by the efforts that some people put in on my behalf in this regard. So, I’m going to make a fuss of a few people, by way of thanks.

I deal with two computer solutions companies here in Cork city FixIT and TSG. FixIT organized a networking event around the portrait sessions at their offices, while TSG offered me a room in their complex and access to the many satellite companies that use their building. Thanks, Arnaud and Sean.

Don, my framer, got me into his studio for a shoot with his children - and then ended up offering me an exhibition space for later in the year.

Mike, whose kind of a private guy (so I won’t name him fully) but big in Cork and international business circles, ordered five portraits and then told me not to even bother turning up to shoot them. (I like to think that this was to spare my schedule rather than a reflection on the quality of my photography).

There were many more individuals, and I can’t list you all here, but nevertheless thank you for your support.

I’ve learned a lot from this year’s Happy Faces. Firstly, Cork folk are a generous crowd, which I kinda already knew. Secondly, I picked up a bunch of tips that will make next year’s event a whopper.

Brian O’Kane (Oak Tree Press) and Arnaud Disant (FixIT)
Happy Faces Day 2008
(c) Roger Overall 2008