A Cup'a joe and business photography

It came to my attention recently over coffee. (big surprise, right? me? coffee?).

My latest general porfolio book lay before my friend Tanya who had a look of, "wow, cool', on her face that alternated with simple surprise.

Tanya is a great graphic designer and project organizer who knows what she likes. Only part of her reaction was rooted in the way layout, color and light are things that naturally please her own creative vision.

You see, she has a fair amount of her own international experience and it is that commonality, a discussion of faraway places that led to a friendship. When we first
met, she couldn't wait to look through a portfolio of purely NGO (development and relief) images.

And, of course, she was moved by the photographs, the moments of emotion, and intimacy, the respect and care that I try to use in telling the stories of the people and the NGOs who work in such places.

Tanya has known me as that kind of photographer and she has kept her eyes peeled for local projects that might be well suited to these professional inclinations (T, thanks for that, by the way). It is such a part of who I am as a photographer at home (Pedal Power, Welcome to America Project) that she didn't realize this is only half the story.

Until she turned a page.

 A storyteller/historian portrait.

A unique Yoga Studio.

A CT Scan suite.

An automobile fluids recycler.

Images that represent who the businesses and people are, images that tell their stories well, on a website or glossy sheet. Some of my most favorite business-commercial work to date.

This is where the revelation comes in.

I wondered who else only thinks of me as a photography provider in that way?

How many who know about my NGO work are completely unaware of how I tell the stories of businesses as well?

With a career that began in some of the Valley newsrooms, vast amounts of assignments developed and blended a sense of awareness in emotion, interaction, simplicity, lines, shape, form, overcoming bad light and making the most of good light.  It is that blend which informs my commercial and editorial images, and has helped a few of those specialties emerge as favorites that really get my creativity and passion for the image, get fired up.

Those specialties, working with businesses and organizations large and small, on their architecture, landscape and the activities of their people, make up probably half of the work that I do.

Whether recycling computers, providing high-tech medical testing or building homes, these opportunities drive my passion as a photographer just as much as the health and education programs in Africa.

These companies have happily discovered what my blend of experiences and specialties bring to their projects and they have collaborated well to find interesting visual solutions that present their companies' settings and missions clearly and attractively.

At the end of the day, that is the goal of my entire package as a photographer, whether commercial, editorial, NGO documentary: communicate the message clearly and in a compelling manner


That and having a good cup of coffee with a friend.