Corporate Exposure

Having written about the glamour, drama and music sides of recent work, I guess it’s time to look at what appears prima facie to be the other side of the coin: corporate work. You know, ho hum, bit dull, but pays the bills and we’ve all got to do it; can’t be hobnobbing with pop stars all the time.

But here’s the thing: I actually really enjoy it.

I’m lucky really, in that I get to work a fair bit for a financial magazine that prides itself on its photographic edginess and high production values, so it’s certainly not suits behind desks. They like a bit of movement, context and character. Nonetheless, I think I still manage to freak them out a little sometimes….!

The truth is, we all like to look good. And part of the fun of that is to push the boundaries a little sometimes, to see how we could look. Why not apply a little of the glamour, drama or rock and roll to the world of business?

I look through corporate accounts and marketing publications now and then and most of them bore me stupid. They’re so slick, so worried about offending the sensibilities of anyone at all, or showing any hint of a rough edge that there’s not an ounce of humanity about them. There’s nothing personal, sexy, engaging, nothing to get the heart beating a little faster. They’re almost saying “we’ve got to produce literature with our name on it, but there’s nothing to see here – everything’s under control – move along now!” Sometimes, rather than show actual employees they even use models specifically selected to look presentable and anonymous.

So, sod that – here are some real people who actually do the jobs, and don’t often get their portraits taken. Unlike rock stars and actors who spend their lives in front of lenses and either get irritated by it or rather too comfortable these are people who are generally quite excited or apprehensive about having their picture taken, and it’s fascinating to see how many aspects of their personalities emerge in the short time allotted to each shoot.

It’s a change from their routine, and as far as I can I like to honour that, and create as much space and possibility as I can within the framework of the brief. That way there’s plenty of opportunity to be open to what is revealed. The last thing I want to do is to impose routine of my own! Plus quite often I’m flying a thousand miles or travelling by overnight train to shoot them for half an hour or so, and that makes it feel kind of special. It’s not just a quick in-house snap.

It’s something I’d like to explore, too. I’m sure there’s so much more creativity and interest that could be brought to this huge area of published images. I’d love more time to plan the shoot with each sitter, and create more context. With the limited time presently available for each shoot, the main context is usually defined by geography: how can I place this person? Where do they work? Then, what do they do which defines them, separates them from the other guys? After that it’s down to personality and lighting!

But what if I could leave the setting totally open to the sitter? What place or context do they feel best defines them? What props, people, time of day would exemplify it? Every business is different in its way, and so is every person involved in it.

Sometimes a shoot is defined by a time and place, rather than one person, but that still offers scope for a range of moods and situations.

At a time where most people feel some degree of isolation and de-personalisation within the machine there’s never been a better time to celebrate real people and real personality and reclaim business and everyday life. Maybe the corporations should think about that when preparing next year’s annual reports. After all, the decision makers at the top of every corporation are real people too.

PS - I've put an album up in the left margin to try to show the breadth of styles of some of the recent corporate shoots. It includes pension fund managers, statisticians, authors, record company bosses, marketing teams, music entrepreneurs, politicians.... in short, a range of people who do business! I'm also putting together a separate website just for the corporate side of things which will be at www.corporateexposure.eu - I'll let you know when it's up.

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