• OVERVIEW:

This project is about exploring a different realm of professional photography.  The first project was framed around an “artistʻs” perspective, where the success of your images is  based off of how well you communicated a sense-of-self.  This project is less about you (the creator/photographer) and more about an imaginary client.  For a working or commercial photographers, their success is based off of how well their pictures communicate what their client wants.

If you’re photographing your friend for their senior portraits, you generally want them to feel like their pictures make them look nice/handsome/adult-like while still looking like themselves.  If you’re photographing a wedding, it goes beyond making the bride look beautiful – you need to capture all the right moments (walking down the aisle, the I-Do, the first kiss, etc) on top of making the couple and their venue look amazing.  It matters less about how nice YOU think your pictures are, but more about how much the couple likes them.  Not because they know better, but because they are paying you and you better deliver whatever they want for the agreed upon money.

Being a commercial photographer can be a challenge because of this, but who cares, there’s no money on the line for this project, just grades!

For this project, you will

1. choose a product/item/brand,
2. think up a way to sell said product/item/brand. How do I make this thing desirable?  Why should people want to buy this?  Make up a slogan and think about how pictures could reference or communicate this slogan.
3. figure out how to photograph something in such a way that makes people want to buy it.

WHATʻS DUE:

• 2 contact sheets
• 4 8″x10″ prints
  • At least 1 print must be a product shot that is focused on what youʻre trying to sell
  • At least 1 print must be a lifestyle shot that shows this product/brand in use or in “the real world”

Check out this link for 5 tips on shooting products for commercial photography.

INSPIRATION

Professional photographer Mark DeLong wrote the following about the value of Advertising Photography:

What emotional response do you want your campaign to evoke? Not all marketers understand the importance of this concept. The right photo can make an audience feel the emotions of excitement, trust, romance, freedom or fear. An advertising photographer knows how to craft images to stir up the right emotions to achieve marketing goals. They help develop the brand’s reputation and cultivate relationships with consumers. Few things can do this more effectively than the right imaging.

Whether the company wants to be perceived as sleek and polished, approachable and friendly, or exciting and innovative, the advertising photographer can craft this company image with the right photos. This contribution gives new meaning to the phrase “image is everything.”

Check out magazine advertisements or look books for different brands online.  If youʻre going to advertise a brand, research them a bit, look at their who their target audience is, and key words they use throughout their website

• Patagoniaʻs blog has great examples of images that promote sustainable, environmentally friendly, high quality outdoor clothes.  Depending on the type of outdoor activity their advertising, their photographs change while still exhibiting a wide variety of compositions (detailed close-ups, portraits, and wide landscapes).
• Hydro Flask’s website and blog has a great blend of product shots (studio still lives) and life style advertisements with people using their product.  Looking at the pictures on their site, how are they trying to sell this product?  What kind of people use a Hydro Flask?  Where do they use it?  Why do they use it?
• The Wet’n’Wild Waterpark also has good examples of how photographs communicate a message about a company.  Click through their website and make a list of types of pictures your seeing and what it could be saying about the park itself.  A bunch of pictures of kids smiling = this is a family friendly place!  Action shots of people splashing through a water slide = this place is Wet & WILD. *insert thumbs up emoji*

PREVIOUS STUDENT WORK:

Payton chose to shoot an advertisement for Hurley clothing and photographed his friends wearing Hurley while at the beach. What is your emotional response to these pictures/people/situations? Does this response make this brand more or less desirable? How would the message be different if these pictures were taken indoors or on a rainy day? Would they still be effective?

Maya took pictures to advertise her mom’s Lula Roe clothes. If the product is clothes, how does the environment relate to the product? How does color relate to the product and the overall feel of the pictures? Looking at the pictures, who do you think is the target audience that this advertisement is for?