October 2004
People love to have their portrait taken! Well, don't they?
When I take a portrait photo, the men and women and kids I'm shooting have a good time, but what's really important is how satisfied they are when they see the prints. Maybe it's even better when they give a print to a family member or a close friend.
Broad categories of photographs, including portrait photographs I provide to my clients -- Portrait Packages info is below. Go here for information on Business Photography.
Executive Portraits
Individual Executives
Executive Groups
Appointment Announcements
Speech & Presentation Announcements
Executive - Staff Interaction
Supplier - Customer Groups
More ...Management & Staff Portraits
Divisional, regional, branch managers
Operations and sales staff
Portraits for directors and listings
Promotion advertisement photos
Personal Portraiture
Individuals
Families
Children
Couples
Weddings
Anniversaries
Special Occasions
More ...Business Photography
New Products
Corporate Announcements
Magazine Covers
Case Studies
Corporate Brochures
Web Site Illustration
Architecture
Calendars
Advertising
Corporate Events
News Conferences, Releases
More ...We operate primarily in the Toronto, Canada area, but can shoot anywhere in the world. See some pictures and learn details about experience, techniques and technology by clicking here.
PORTRAIT PACKAGES
NEW IN OCTOBER 2004: an renewed emphasis on photographs of individuals, for their own enjoyment and as gifts.
Portrait Packages for business and personal portraits make it easy to get an idea of scope and costs, but assignments outside the parameters of the packages are often the best way to solve a photographic problem in business, or satisfy a particular desire in personal photographs. Ask about customizing the assignment. Remember that our decades of senior public relations management experience means executive portraits will meet corporate communications requirements. And personal portraits will become cherished heirlooms.
Copyright, negative ownership, reprints from the negatives, electronic rights permissions, reproduction rights for third party publication and other legal rights are designed to meet the requirements of my clients, with me retaining rights to use the images for promotion.
Definitions of formal, semi-formal, informal and other terms are at the bottom of the page. Jump to definitions here. Mixed B&W and color available, too. Taxes are extra. Additional prints available. Prices are for the Greater Toronto Area.
And remember, every package can be customized, or we can design an assignment from scratch.
Pictures below are thumbnails -- click on them to see bigger versions.
| EXECUTIVE AND BUSINESS PORTRAITURE | |
| All executive portraiture packages include one 5x7 print for the personal use of each person photographed. | |
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INDIVIDUAL EXECUTIVES The Wall Display Package -- A package that includes an 11x14 formal portrait for displaying in a boardroom or reception area. Some semi-formal pictures will be taken, resulting in a selection for formal and semi-formal 5x7 prints of the executive for annual reports, corporate brochures, web sites, and other uses. $750-1000.
The Editorial / Marketing Package -- A selection of formal and informal photographs of an individual executive for editorial use in annual reports, news releases, corporate brochures, industry publications, product literature, speech and white paper reproductions, book covers, and more. $500-750.
The Straight-Forward Portrait -- Taken in the executive's office or a nearby meeting room, this is a relaxed yet dignified portrait suitable for reproduction in appointment announcements, employee newsletters and internal intranets, web sites, and brochures. It's a head and shoulders shot with a plain background, and is the ideal choice when you need only a few prints, perhaps for use in mailers promoting an executive's speech or presentation at an industry conference. There's a range of expressions, so the same portrait sitting yields prints for various uses. The basic package is six 5x7 prints; three each from two negatives. With pre-planning and set-up, the simple portrait can take less than 15 minutes of an executive's time. $400 plus taxes. |
EXECUTIVE GROUPS -- Depth of Management The strength of many organizations is the depth of its senior management, yet surprisingly many fail to use corporate communications and PR strategies and techniques to take advantage of this quality. These packages are designed to be part of an overall Strategic Management Depth Program. The Leadership Team Members Package -- A formal or semi-formal group portrait of the leadership team, and individual photographs, formal and semi-formal, of the most senior half dozen executives. Additional members are welcome, with fee allowance for extra time. This package includes a wall-quality 11x14 print of the group, and 5x7 inch prints for editorial and marketing use of the group and the individual executives. $750 - 1000. The Leadership Team Group Portrait -- A group portrait of the senior leadership team, normally with up to about ten members. Depending on the corporate culture, this may be in a boardroom or other formal location, or outdoors, inside a plant, in an operations or control center, or other more informal location. The package includes an 11 x 14 print for framing, and a number of 5x7 prints from each of two frames. There are no individual portraits. $500-750.
The Leadership Team Editorial / Marketing Package -- An informal group photograph of the leadership team, and individual semi-formal and informal portraits of the team members. Shot in photojournalistic style, these pictures meet the editorial requirements of daily newspapers, business papers and trade and industry publications. Executives with operational or production responsibilities would likely be photographed in a plant or operations center. Customers, suppliers and employees may be included in the shots. This is the most extensive executive portrait package offered, and it is expected to be customized. $1000-1500.
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| Intermediate management and staff portraits | |
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These shots were for
internal directories. The organization wanted professional quality
shots without the need to send each employee out of the office to a
photographer's studio. They were shot in a board room next to the
main conference hall, and each subject missed just about five
minutes of the presentation. It was quality assembly-line work,
providing high quality individual portraits for the price of
conventional formula-like business pictures.
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| Staff portraits often make excellent contributions to internal communications and the development and maintenance of high morale. I've shot everything from employees of the month to, in one case, every employee across Canada for a computer company's Christmas employee recognition program. | |
| PERSONAL AND FAMILY PORTRAITURE | |
| These are often taken outside the studio, in the subject's home, in a yard or a park, or another location that suits the personality and interests of the person who chooses to be photographed. | |
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Picture The Whole Family -- A formal or semi-formal group portrait of the entire family, perhaps with pets, yielding an 11x14 print suitable for framing, plus half a dozen 5x7 prints for office, friends and family, and eight wallet sized prints. You choose from between 8 and 14 proofs, and the 5x7 and wallet sized pictures can be from one or two different negatives. Some Plus All The Family -- A formal or semi-formal group portrait of the entire family, and then a separate portrait of the parents, and a portrait of just the children. The package includes an 8 x 10 print of everyone, two 8 x 10 prints of the parents and two more of the kids, and your choice of half a dozen 5x 7 prints, all of one frame or from up to five different shots. And there's 12 wallet sized prints; four each of the whole group, the parents group, and the children group.
Just The Children -- An environmental or personality portrait of one child or more children in a group, in a location of your choice at home or outdoors that reflects the personalities of the children. Not the "school picture" type of portrait, but one that relates directly to the child or children photographed. If there is more than one child, individual portraits of each child can be added to the package for $65 per child. The basic package includes your choice of an 11 x 14 print suitable for framing for the wall or two 8 x 10 prints for desk frames; four 5 x 7 prints, and eight wallet sized prints. For each additional child photographed individually, there's one 8 x 10 print, two 5x 7 prints, and four wallet-sized pictures, all from one negative. $500 The Vanity Fair Portrait -- This is a bit of a production and
involves lots of planning and discussion. And fun! |
You'll decide on a mood for the shot -- sultry, fresh, dynamic or dramatic, serious or sensual; it's up to you. The location can be your home, your office, my studio, or anywhere else you choose. We can shoot indoors and out. You'll probably pick a variety of clothes to wear, and women may even choose to restyle their hair during the course of the session. The VF Portrait package will let you choose your prints from at least 50 frames, just like art directors do. You'll receive two 11 x 14 prints from different frames, two 8 x 10 prints of your choice, plus half a dozen 5x 7 prints. Additional expenses including location rental, props, styling, etc. are the responsibility of the client.
The Casual Adult Portrait -- An easy-to-plan, easy-to-pose, relaxed, simple portrait with professional lighting and professional level cameras and lenses, in the comfort and privacy of your own home. Very little fuss and very little muss, of one or two people. You'll make your choice from eight to fifteen, or more, proofs, and receive two 8 x 10 prints and four 5 x 7 prints, from your choice of all the shots. $400 -500. The Casual Child Portrait -- An easy-to-plan, easy-to-pose, relaxed, simple portrait with professional lighting and professional level cameras and lenses, designed to be child-friendly. Very little fuss and very little muss, of one or two kids You'll make your choice from eight to fifteen, or more, proofs, and receive two 8 x 10 prints and four 5 x 7 prints, of your choice. Genuine Editorial Portraits -- If your career means that you are
in the public eye and magazines and newspapers demand photographs of you,
why not supply them with photos you like, rather than taking a chance
their staff photographer will capture an image you think does
justice to your appearance and your career. I shoot portraits of performers and authors that meet the editorial requirements of leading publications, meet the marketing requirements of your career, and still make your family7 delighted to see your photo in the paper. |
Definitions, terms, technical information
Formal portraits: Business clothing, usually darks suits for the men, comparable suits and dresses for women, groups posed in an orderly way, little interaction between subjects, carefully and evenly lit. For individuals and groups either plain backgrounds or an executive office or boardroom. These are the kinds of photographs that have a feeling of solidness and strength about them. They say "we are serious about what we do."
Semi-formal portraits: similar in purpose to formal portraits, they retail dignity and structure, but jackets may be taken off, groups are mort loosely posed, some people may be standing while others are seated, but there's a clear sense that the group or individual is fully aware the photograph is being taken.
The corporate culture and the place where the photograph is most likely to be published generally dictates the degree of formality.
Informal portraits may also be carefully structured, but if so will often be outside an executive's office, and may involve production operations, manufacturing plants, or geographic locations. The "talking hands" portrait often used to accompany stories about an executives insights and vision counts as "informal." Portraits taken during the course of meetings and presentations held for other purposes usually fall into the informal category. Lighting may be carefully planned, or the ambient light may be all that is used. Some informal portraits are designed to show a particular aspect of the personality or experience of the subject.
Environmental portraits overlap semi-formal and informal, and are taken in a location that adds to the content of the photograph. A group portrait of the members of a board assembled on the production floor of a factory is both semi-formal and environmental.
A singer's picture when photographed in a park or a recording studio is environmental; posed in a photo studio with a backdrop, it's no longer environmental.
Picture sizes are nominal. The shape of a negative, the choices possible from a digital file, and the cropping of a photograph all can affect the final size of a print. For the majority of the prints in these packages, cropping will yield borderless prints on sheet sizes indicated. Some photos shot on 35mm film may yield full-frame 8 x 12 prints. Custom cropping and print sizes are available for additional charges. Digital print sizes may differ. Let's talk about the sizes you want.
Reproduction rights: Often a contentious issue, my general policy is to yield all reproduction rights, retaining only the right to reproduce photographs for promotion and contest purposes. Under these conditions, clients are welcome to the negatives or receive a CD with copies of their favorite digital frames.. The law regarding scanning of prints is confused and contentious; my policy is that business photographs can be freely scanned. I do ask that whenever photographs are provided to the media, or are used in a high-quality publication, I receive a photographic credit line.
For personal portraits, clients can request addition prints from me at the time of printing, or they can use the negatives to order other prints later. Clients are welcome to scan images to send via e-mail or to post on personal web sites.
My approach is different from many photographers, who have valid reasons for retaining copyright, and should not be considered an industry standard practice.
Film formats: I shoot most of my portraits on a high quality Nikon digital camera, but, when technical or artistic requirements demand it, I also shoot pictures using 35mm film and 120 medium format film, in color and black and white. Photos shot originally in digital format, or on color negative film, can be printed in black and white. There are many considerations taken into account in determining what camera, what film and what film size is used for any particular shot. I reserve the right to make the film and camera decisions based on my decades of professional experience.
Film brands: For those who care, I normally shoot with Kodak films, and occasionally with Fuji Films
Proofs: Depending on circumstances, proofs may be small individual prints, contact sheets showing multiple images on one 8 x 10 or larger sheet, on-screen images, pictures you can see privately on a web page for which only you have the access code. The kind of proof may affect the package price slightly.
Scans: Clients are welcome to use the prints or negatives to have scans made, of make their own prints from the digital files. I'm prepared, under some circumstances, to make medium-quality scans of proof prints or final prints, for business clients to use for news release and web site purposes and personal portraiture clients to use for e-mails and web postings. High quality scans for reproduction in corporate literature is best left to specialized production companies.
Shooting time: Depends on the circumstances, but for many assignments, there is the set up of several lights, reflectors and other equipment, and pre-shooting tests and metering that can take up to half an hour or more. For much of this there is no need for the subject to be present. Some packages will require a full day or more on location, although all executives are not required for the full period.
Other questions: Please ask. I'm at 416 - 879 - 5771