Holy Staff, Batman!

[Loose Canon]

The Creative Director from a local church recently contacted me to inquire about doing a staff shoot for them.

They had seventeen staff members and they wanted two poses each. A formal shot and a “fun” prop shot depicting their interests or job. The idea was that both shots would go on their newly designed website. They would show the staff page with the formal shot and then a mouse-over of the formal would reveal the prop shot. They would also take the formals to print for a wall presentation.

The Creative Director wanted everything shot on white. No fancy lighting scenarios. Just simple (yeah right!), clear and clean.

I was told that the church had a couple of continuous lights but that was about all so I would be required to supply the set.

I jumped right into the big middle of this!

When I got to the venue to set up I quickly found that their continuous lighting was clearly going to be inadequate for the job so I lit the background (seamless white paper) with two flagged Speedlites and the staff with one Speedlite through a 43” octo box and a reflector.

I shot tethered so the “Boss” (Creative Director) could see everything immediately and provide immediate feedback and choices. I shot everything from a tripod for consistency purposes.

They requested everything at 4:5 ratio. I planned (hoped!) to offer consistent formals and “shoot from the hip” on the props since I had no idea what kind of props/antics to expect. I had a nice room with tons of space to set up in but had constantly changing ambient due to skylights so I shot at max sync (250) to shutter out all ambient, f/7.1, ISO 100 at approximately 100mm (give or take) with a 70-200 2.8L.

The shoot took three days by the time all the staff could filter though. All the equipment worked flawlessly (thank God!). This was, without a doubt, one of the biggest, most pressurized, and most fun shoots I have done to date!

I submitted the final product yesterday and here are some examples.

Its probably too late for me to make any changes based on C&C here at this time, but its never too late for next time!

Creative Director





Accounting





Youth Ministries





Daycare

[Donald]

Congratulations, Terry.

That sounds like a job well done and the evidence certainly supports that. High quality work. And you obviously worked well with the people in order to get them giving you that sort of energy for the shots.

[FrankMi]

These are great Terry! I'm hoping that you'll post all of them or provide a link. Every one brings a smile to my face and moreso as they are all technically and artistically really well done! Obviously both you and the subjects had a lot of fun with this project.

[MajaMolly]

You put a fun twist on 'staff' pics.

[Dave Humphries]

Great series Terry,

I'm impressed how you got catchlights but no reflections in the specatcle lenses.

Well done,

[jprzybyla]

Hello Terry, great series... very professionally done. You have a talent I do not possess.

[jeeperman]

Very well done Terry, I suspect you will likely get more calls if these are seen by the members.

[Loose Canon]

Congratulations, Terry.

That sounds like a job well done and the evidence certainly supports that. High quality work. And you obviously worked well with the people in order to get them giving you that sort of energy for the shots.

Thank you, Donald.

The Staff, as I understood it, had to submit to this photographic punishment for the Cause! It seemed like the usual percentage. Some were in and excited, some were blasé, and some just downright hate their “pictures taken”!

Well, I’m not going to “take” anything from them, much less their “pictures”; I hope to “give” something. I figured this would be the case as I was planning the shoot. I just introduced myself, showed them around the gear a bit so they knew what was going to fire off at them, shot the breeze a little, asked them onto the set, shot the breeze some more (clowned and laughed around some more), posed them (more breezing, clowning, and laughing), and hauled back to the camera to get them while they were in the mood. They, to a person, nailed it!

I set a 10 minute session per victim to get them all through. Most went swimmingly until I got to an Associate Pastor who gave me the benefit of the Never Ending Story! An incredibly interesting gentleman to talk to, but we went a little long together. Very well worth the sparkling conversation and he bagged his shots perfectly.

I was extremely proud of them all! Not to mention made my job a lot easier.

These are great Terry! I'm hoping that you'll post all of them or provide a link. Every one brings a smile to my face and moreso as they are all technically and artistically really well done! Obviously both you and the subjects had a lot of fun with this project.

Thank you Frank.

That is a heck of a thing from one of the most respected photographers on this site, sir. I’ll be happy to post a couple more for consideration.

You put a fun twist on 'staff' pics.

Hey Molly!

Thank you for saying.

As a church staff I was hoping to get them approachable, grounded, and inviting to the Congregation they serve. I think the fun part is integral and the best part!

Great series Terry,

I'm impressed how you got catchlights but no reflections in the specatcle lenses.

Well done,

Hello Dave! Thank you, sir.

Believe it or not, the reflective spectacles was one of the things I agonized over while planning the shoot. I figured I’d get a good percentage of members who wore glasses all the time and I’d need to shoot them as they appear from day to day. I have always sucked at billiards! But there are some nifty tricks to help avoid reflections. They sure came in handy!

Hello Terry, great series... very professionally done. You have a talent I do not possess.

Hi Joe,

Thank you, sir.

I don’t have a talent you don’t possess (or for that matter any talent). I have seen your work, sir and if I can do it, for sure someone of your calibre can.

Very well done Terry, I suspect you will likely get more calls if these are seen by the members.

Thank you Paul for taking the time to comment.

It means a lot coming from another of the most respected photographers here, man.

A few calls have already started! Quite frankly I think I should study your work more closely, take a page from you, and shoot wildlife instead!

A couple more examples...

Youth Ministries (Director)





Lead Pastor




This guy is the most rabid Cardinal's Fan I have seen! You would not believe the Shrine he has dedicated for them. And lots of vintage stuff! He would have played for them but for a knee injury that kept him out of the "Big Show"! He is wielding an original custom bat of one the players (and I forget the name) that someone left on his desk one day. To this day he does not know who left it. He is in St. Louis tonight at the game, which at the time of this writing has been delayed due to weather. Cards were ahead 3-0 in the 7th when the game was delayed. If they can keep the lead, it will be Happy in Church tomorrow!


Financial Assistant and All Around Fun Lady