Category Assignments

Showcase: H.B.Fleming Inc.

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Portland Maine

 

Sometimes, the best way to get a storytelling image is to get up high.   I’ve worked with South Portland-based construction company H.B. Fleming for a few years, documenting some of their impressive projects throughout Maine and New Hampshire.   The scope and scale of much of the work they do—building massive retaining walls and cofferdams, for example—are most apparent when viewed from above.  In 2020 Fitzgerald Photo became a FAA-certified commercial drone operator.  We’ve since been using drones for photography and video production for clients throughout New England.   I’m happy to share some images from recent H.B. Fleming projects.    

 

Construction Workers

Cancer Today Magazine

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If the Covid-19 pandemic has shown us anything, it’s that we are in this together.

We all could use a strong, supportive community that helps when times get tough. Nothing for me epitomizes the power of community to do good like Man Up To Cancer, a cancer support group for men started by my friend Trevor Maxwell.

Man Up To Cancer

Trevor and I have known each other since our newspaper days, but reconnected during the pandemic to work on a couple of creative projects. I’m proud and happy to share the results of our latest collaboration: a current cover feature on Trevor for Cancer Today magazine. You can read the digital version here.

In the article, Trevor talks about surviving stage IV cancer and his decision to reach out to other men who struggle with the disease. Men like him, who need support but find it difficult to reach out to others and ask for the help they need.

His community and podcast is two years old now. Cancer survivors around the country sport hats or shirts with the Man Up To Cancer ‘howling wolf’ logo. Trevor has turned a personally difficult, potentially tragic, situation into something that positively impacts others.

Or, as Trevor puts it: “When life gets hard, we all need our wolfpacks.”

 

 

 

 

Showcase: Rwanda Bean Coffee Company

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Rwanda Bean Coffee

I’m happy to share an image I took for the cover of Down East Magazine‘s August 2021 Food & Drink section.  This was part of a feature on Maine’s Rwanda Bean Company, which operates three locations including the newest on Portland’s Thompson’s Point.    

I was envisioning rich dark coffee beans softly lit with warm early morning window light. Unfortunately, my assignment was scheduled just after noon on a gloomy, cloudy day.  The only way I could get the image that I most wanted was to create an early-morning sun look, using lights placed outside the shop, shining through the windows with warming gels attached.  You’d never know that it was threatening to rain outside.   Sometimes as a photographer, you need a little morning to go with your coffee.

 

Ben and Danielle Graffius at the newly-opened Rwanda Bean Roastery and Espresso Bar at Thompson’s Point in Portland, ME. The two are business partners with founder Mike Mwendata.

Showcase: Mad Patti Hat Co.

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Mad Patti Hat Co

A couple of months ago, just as the weather was warming up and widespread vaccinations were becoming the norm, I met and photographed Meg Patti, owner of Mad Patti Hat Company, at her studio in Brunswick, ME for the June issue of Down East Magazine.

Meg is a hat maker, which is kind of like saying Tesla is involved in the transportation business. While true, it doesn’t capture the detailed craftsmanship or the unique, one-of-a-kind hats that Patti hand-makes and ships to clients throughout the United States.

Part of her unique process is to ‘age’ each hat, giving each–as she says–their own stories. Lucky for me, that process involves at one stage the strategic application of fire to burn off the wool peach fuzz and create other effects that, once applied, make each hat a one-off instance of wearable art.

The profile is featured in the June, 2021 edition of Down East Magazine. Watch the video below to hear Patti talk about her creative process.

 

Hatmaker
Hatmaker
Hatmaker

Showcase: ReEnergy biomass energy producer

0 Comments read Annual Report, Assignments, Blog, Client Work, Industrial

Last fall, I spent a few days photographing several biomass facilities for ReEnergy Holdings, an energy producer based in New York.  I’ve worked with ReEnergy for several years to create a library of images for use in their ongoing marketing efforts. The idea was to photograph their facilities and the work being done there in a way that captured the mood, atmosphere and scale of their various locations throughout New England.  I love being able to show the gritty details of hard work through commercial and industrial photography. My approach is to keep things as authentic and real as possible while adding light in a believable way, in order to augment and help tell the story.  As with all such work, time is always at a premium and the ability to be efficient and focused is absolutely critical.  

biomass worker

Power Generator

power worker

Energy worker

biomass

Energy Worker

Energy worker

Maine Gives Back, 2020 Edition

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Linda Holtslander
Linda Holtslander, 77, Preble Street Resource Center volunteer. ©Brian Fitzgerald

Fundamentally, making a difference starts with doing something that has an impact on someone else. This may entail something huge and world-changing (think of something like Matt Damon’s Water.Org), but more typically it’s a small kindness, a comment, a small gesture extended from one person to another. Small acts of this sort occur all around us, and they usually remain unseen and unknown except by those directly involved.

That’s why I loved being part of Down East Magazine’s annual “Maine Gives Back” feature published this November. I got to meet and photograph three remarkable Mainers whose efforts are changing the lives of others: 77-year-old soup kitchen volunteer Linda Holtsinger, who despite the pandemic never misses a day of volunteering; Rose Barboza, a mother who decided to create the nonprofit website Black Owned Maine as her contribution to racial and social justice; and Elizabeth McLellan, whose Portland-based nonprofit Partners for World Health distributes donations of needed medical supplies around the world.

Truly one of those assignments that energizes me and makes me feel better about humanity in general. Below are some of my images used in the issue, but read about many others in the November 2020 Down East Magazine feature, “Maine Gives Back”.



Elizabeth McLellan
Elizabeth McLellan in a warehouse filled with medical supplies destined for countries in need around the world. © Brian Fitzgerald


Rose Barboza
Rose Barboza, founder of Black Owned Maine. © Brian Fitzgerald

Showcase: The Women of the Maine Fisheries & Wildlife

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Cartographer
Michele Watkins, GIS Specialist-Cartographer.  © Brian Fitzgerald

 

Beginning in 2019, I worked with the great people at the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife (MDIFW) to create location portraits for an ongoing recruitment campaign. These portraits were to feature the game wardens, biologists, educators, cartographers and others who together protect Maine’s wildlife, habitat and the people who enjoy them.

It’s hard to imagine it would be difficult to find people willing to sign up for a job where their office is the great outdoors, but being part of the MDIFW team also means sacrificing physical comfort—especially on winter days spent outside when the thermometer never breaks north of zero degrees. And as with any job in law enforcement, Maine game wardens must confront difficult and dangerous situations, often in remote places.

I spent some very cold days with a few of the MDIFW team members at several locations around central and southern Maine. It was a blast. My favorite kinds of portraits are those that rely on mood, connection and place to create a real moment and tell a story about a person and a place. I hope in some small way that these images successfully do just that. My hope is to capture a sense of each person’s personality while showing the variety of environments they work in—their ever-changing office—day in and day out, in every season of the year.

 
Maine Game Warden
Sarah Miller, Maine Game Warden.  © Brian Fitzgerald

 

 
wildlife biologist
Sarah Spencer, wildlife biologist.  ©Brian Fitzgerald

 

 
field biologist
Sarah Boyden, biologist.  © Brian Fitzgerald

 

wildlife biologist
Danielle D’Auria, wildlife biologist.  © Brian Fitzgerald

 

Marine Biologist
Liz Thorndike, fisheries biologist. © Brian Fitzgerald

 

Showcase: Work Lifestyle Shoot, Dunham Group

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Tech Company
Guideline  | © Brian Fitzgerald

I’m happy to be able to show some of the work I did for NAI The Dunham Group and agency East Shore Studio & Print this past year.  The goal was to feature the commercial spaces of actual Dunham clients for an ongoing ad campaign.  Rather than photographing static rooms devoid of people, we tried to show how the spaces enable each business to do optimal work and thrive.    

When the ostensible subject of a photo shoot is an inanimate object (like a building, a space or a product), or some generic concept —technology services or real estate, for example—the best way to provide emotional connection is to show how the object, space or concept actually impacts people.  People just like you and me.    Every good sales professional knows:  focusing on features rather than benefits leads to more sales.   If you can show how something benefits people—or changes their lives, for better or worse—you create a more powerful, resonant image in people’s minds that stays with them.  

These are just simple images, but the concept and the goal are the same.  The following are part of the ad campaign, showing people at work in some prominent and growing Maine companies.  Two of those companies (clothing maker American Roots, of Westbrook and outdoor gear manufacturer Flowfold, of Gorham), have pivoted during the pandemic to produce PPE—protective gear-—for front-line workers and individuals.  The other is Guideline, a 401(k) technology solutions provider. 

Technology
Guideline, Portland, ME ©Brian Fitzgerald

 

Clothing Manufacture
American Roots and Flowfold © Brian Fitzgerald

 

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Success on Shoot Day is No Accident

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Policeman shoot

Shoot Day is finally here.

You’ve planned for success, arranged for staff, customers, or talent to be on hand. Your space is cleaned and you’ve gotten confirmation from all parties including the photographer. The day you’ve been planning for has finally arrived.


The adage, “failure to plan is planning to fail’ is an apt one when it comes to a shoot.  Avoiding details and decisions until the day the photographer and crew show up means, at a minimum, leaving the success of your shoot to chance.


If you have a talented photographer working with you, you may get lucky.  They will likely get interesting images that accurately show what is happening in your business.


What you won’t get—except by accident—is purposeful imagery that goes beyond the obvious and allows you to propel your brand visually. This kind of work only comes from planning and conscious decision making before shoot day.
An experienced pro photographer will not arrive without a plan (even if it’s a minimal, stripped-down one), formulated in communication with you beforehand.


It’s not the size or complexity of the plan that matters; it’s whether there is a plan at all,  whether the right questions are asked and answered, and whether the plan is appropriate to the task at hand.


A portrait shoot requires different planning and approaches than an event shoot. But what unifies them is knowing beforehand what are the deliverables, the must-haves, and what would (in your mind) make the shoot a success. Assuming these are in place, your shoot day is on its firmest possible footing.  The hardest work should already be done.  Today is the culmination of  the work done days or weeks before.


You can expect the photographer and crew to arrive at least an hour before the start of your shoot. If it’s a complicated production or involves video, this setup period could be several hours rather than just one.


The photographer will go over the basic shoot plan and will be in constant contact with you or a designated point of contact throughout the shoot. If you’ve planned to be involved in the direction of the shoot, or to view images as they are being created, there will be constant interaction as the shoot progresses. Otherwise, there may be short updates as the shoot progresses.
If changes occur over the course of the day—as invariably they do—the photographer will update you and if decisions need to be made, will be ready with recommendations and options.


What you should expect from your photographer, always, is great communication.  If they are unclear about something, they will ask you rather than making assumptions that lead to reshoots later on.


Your photographer is also there to protect you. This means, among other things, managing the set and crew. This means not putting people or equipment in dangerous or damaging situations. This means having commercial insurance sufficient to protect you and their crew in the case of an accident. It also entails ensuring model and property releases get filled out by the necessary parties, protecting everyone in the process. On a less dramatic but no less important level, it means being a de facto member of your team; mindful of situations that are good for you and avoiding that which isn’t.  On scene, we are your ambassador and act accordingly when dealing with your team members and/or customers.


At the end of the day, you can expect that the shoot location will look the same as it did prior to the photographer’s arrival hours earlier. I joke that our job is primarily to move stuff around and occasionally we pick up a camera.   We want to leave behind a positive experience and not create extra and unnecessary work for anyone else.  Your brand is our brand and on shoot day we’re all on the same team.

 

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Want to know more about our process? You might be interested in our posts on the right questions to ask yourself  before hiring a photographer ,   what to expect once you’ve hired a professional photographer  or what happens after your shoot day ends.