Earlier this year Perimeter Office Products, an Atlanta-area company, contacted me about their need to have some new corporate photography done to represent their company. They needed to have updated portraits of all their office workers and sales people – as well as some candid in-action style shots of their drivers. I put in a quote, got the job, and this is how some of them turned out. They were great to work with. Here’s why:

In my time as a photographer, I’ve done corporate shots for many different companies, in many different environments. In doing so I’ve learned to a get a sense for what it’s like working for that company due to how I see their employee’s acting. If I see that many of them don’t seem too excited about being there, then it kind of tells me that it may not be the best workplace environment. Then, there’s places like Perimeter Office Products.

It seemed that every single one of the employee’s I photographed loved their job and who they worked for – the owner and founder of the company – Mike. He apparently treats them all like they really matter to him, and it showed in their general demeanor.  He treated me the same way.

My invoice slipped through the cracks when I sent it to them, so, when I contacted his assistant to check up on payment and left a message with her, he called me back that afternoon to apologize for the oversite and told me I could come pick a check up the next day, or he’d put it in the mail to me. He seemed genuinely embarrassed about it all. I got the impression that he makes it a habit of paying people right away – no matter what their payment terms are.  Both he and his employee’s impressed me with their laid back and friendly – yet – hard-working attitude.

At the top of this post is one of the portraits of Mike that turned out to be one of my favorites from the shoot, even though it wasn’t one that they request I deliver. I shot it in his office. When you walk in there the first thing I think you would likely notice is his – wall of thoughts. He had taken pretty much an entire wall and pinned various work related documents and notes up on it. It was as if I had walked into the working space of a mad scientist – yet – Mike wasn’t mad. So, I shot it cropped as I did to kind of try and represent what all he likely has floating around in his head at any given time.

I was going for a more traditional corporate portrait with the shot below. I shot it from a lower angle looking up at him to give the viewer the sense that he was the guy in charge there.

It stood out to me as a favorite too, but it came at no surprise to me that he selected the less dominate and more humble looking one I shot from a higher angle that you see below:

The second one from the higher angle certainly does fit him and his personality better. It’s pretty interesting to me how slight change of camera angle can completely alter how you perceive somebody. In the first shot, he’s looking large and in charge. And in the second – well – he looks like the boss that I’ve described above doesn’t he?

I ended up doing a whole series of shots for them: The candid in-action shots of the drivers before they headed out that morning. Then I did portraits of each of the office and sales team members, both in front of this giant stack of paper you see Mike standing in front of here, and also a more traditional business portrait of each person in front of gray seamless. And finally, I shot some candid inaction style shots of the office / sales team as they worked.

It was a full day of shooting – but a rewarding one. I left there that afternoon remembering how much I love what I do.

Thanks for being great to work with and for, Perimeter Office Products!