Professional photography services for the Portland / Vancouver area
Last week I had the opportunity to again be the photography sponsor for Ignite Portland. This was the tenth incarnation of the event and the first in over a year. Attendees saw twenty presentations covering a wide range of topics; lots of socializing happened before the event and during the intermission. Here are a few of my favorite images; you can view the full set on Flickr.
You’re a smart businessperson. You’re updating your website, brochures, and other marketing materials with current information about your products, services, and company. Perhaps you’re launching an entirely new venture, or perhaps you’re just refreshing things a bit for a fresh look. Fresh is good.
As you make this smart business move, don’t decrease the return on your marketing and messaging investment. Below you’ll find two solid reasons to avoid a common misstep. Don’t miss out on the ability to best represent your company by using generic stock photography.
If I sit down at a restaurant and discover that the photos on the menu aren’t images of that eatery’s food, how confident will I be in the quality? What’s your impression of a company without any sort of custom logo, type, or identifying branding?
How would your clients feel if they’re browsing your website or flipping through your brochure and there aren’t any photos of you or your employees? If you’re using generic images related to your industry instead of pictures of your products, what message are you sending?
Potential clients are going to wonder why you’re not advertising you.
Putting aside the issue of your client wondering why you’re not using your own imagery, there’s another great reason not to use stock photos in your marketing: they get ignored. Photos for the sake of photos aren’t helpful; photos which provide insight into your business, products, and services will garner attention.
As a photographer, of course I’d love to sell you some photos. As a businessperson, you should only pay for photos that make sense: photos for your business representing your ideas and your people. If you’re ready to do that, contact me and let’s make it happen. But please don’t spend money on photos that aren’t really you and won’t be effective.
A couple weeks ago I photographed the first Demo Day event on behalf of the Portland Incubator Experiment (PIE). Each of the eight startups that comprise PIE’s inaugural class took to the stage at Portland’s Bagdad Theater, explaining their company, product, and vision. With my full set of images having been delivered to the client over a week ago, I wanted to post a few of my favorites and offer a few additional selections.
Dr. Paresh Patel of VendScreen speaks about his company’s device (shown to the right) which aims to add smart capabilities to vending machines. VendScreen has been getting some press from little publications like USA Today.
Over the past few months, eight startups have been growing as part of the Portland Incubator Experiment in one corner of Weiden + Kennedy’s building in Portland’s Pearl District. Next week, founders will deliver demonstrations and pitch their companies as worthwhile investments for continued funding and growth. Here’s a photo of JR Storment delivering a practice version of his talk about Cloudability, a Portland startup focusing on helping businesses manage cloud-based services.
I’ve enjoyed photographing the various founders and activities at PIE as the companies have evolved. I look forward to photographing the PIE Demo Day next week and continuing to follow these businesses into the future. If you’re interested in having me help capture the people, events, and products that make your business interesting, please contact me.
I’m sharing five memorable images from 2011 this week. Here’s the final image of the series.
The Occupy movement drew attention across the nation this fall and Portland was no exception. I photographed protesters and police a few times (including the night of threatened eviction). This image stands out as one of both visual interest and emotional interest. Photographed during the one-day occupation of Jamison Square in Portland’s Pearl District, this man seems rather apathetic to his surroundings.
