Posts tagged Maine Portrait

Photographing the person, not the title

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Maine Governor Janet Mills
© Brian Fitzgerald

One of my favorite projects this past year has been covering the campaign of Maine Governor Janet Mills as she ran for re-election against challenger, former Gov. Paul LePage.   Maine’s first female governor (elected in 2018), Mills faced the Covid pandemic and the resulting, ongoing economic and health impacts.  

I was fortunate enough to accompany her on a visit to her hometown of Farmington, ME, to a child care center, a health clinic, and other locations around Maine.   In the process I met her family and  photographed Maine Senator Angus King, himself a former Maine governor.   

Being on set with the governor for several days over several months,  I was able to see Mills for extended periods of time—when the camera and lights were on but mostly when they weren’t—capturing the kinds of unguarded moments I tried hard to find as a photojournalist.   It was great to catch a glimpse of the person and not just the politician.    It was a good reminder of something I try to keep in mind no matter who I’m working with:  photograph the person, not the title.   

The results, I hope, tell a more complete story of Janet Mills, the person.  It was certainly fun to see the reactions of Mainers and visitors alike when they met her in our travels.   

 

Maine Governor Janet Mills
© Brian Fitzgerald

 

Maine Governor Janet Mills
© Brian Fitzgerald

 

Maine Governor Janet Mills
© Brian Fitzgerald

 

Maine Governor Janet Mills
© Brian Fitzgerald

 

Maine Governor Janet Mills
© Brian Fitzgerald

Telling stories in 2023

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Portland, Maine
Eastern Promenade with Mt. Washington in the distance, Portland, Maine  @2022 Brian Fitzgerald

 

As 2022 melts into memory, those of us lucky enough to call Maine home are on the threshold of the coldest, snowiest part of the year. Winter is a time of reflection, of doing the work and preparing for spring and warmer weather to come.   As grateful as I am for the projects and client work that occurred over the past 12 months, I’m even more excited about what’s in store for 2023. 

It’s worth pausing and celebrating the past year.  2022, by the numbers:  40+ clients, 7 videos, 95 shoots on location (and about an equal number in-studio), and 137 shooting days.  It was a busy, busy year, and I’m grateful. 

Given the lag time between when much of my work is produced and when it can be actually shown, I’ll be sharing images from the past 12 months in the coming weeks and months.   One of the biggest evolutions in my work over the past years has been the integration of drone photography and video as well as full video production capabilities.   These tools are important because they enable me to tell stories with even greater impact.    Not every project or story calls for (or needs) video, but I’m excited to now have the option to use a wide variety of storytelling tools—audio, video and stills—that can best create powerful, moving brand stories.    

Over the following weeks and months, I’ll share images and stories that illustrate this point.   Given the nature of my work, there’s often a lag time between when my work is produced and when it can be shown.  I’m excited about doing so and look forward to helping my clients create portraits and stories with impact.  

Don’t Hire Me

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Firefighter mowing
© Brian Fitzgerald

 

This is strange advice, especially coming from a photographer.

It may indeed make sense to hire a professional photographer for your brand.  It just might be that the timing is premature.

Signs that you might be pushing too hard to hire away your problems instead of thinking them through first:

  • False Urgency:  An arbitrary deadline is put in place to pressure you to make a decision before you’re ready to do so.  This may be dictated by the photographer or marketing agency, or other party.
  • Bandwagon Thinking:  Pressure to hire a photographer because it’s  ‘what everyone else is doing’.
  • Inner Voice:  A nagging, growing sense that you’ll have to blow your budget because the shoot wasn’t planned for.
  • Lack of Clarity:  You can’t describe succinctly (in a sentence or two) the types of images you need. Even if you don’t know what specific images you might need, you should have a specific use for the images in mind.
  • Unclear Goals: Are you trying to build brand awareness? Or to sell a service or product? The former has no measurable ROI, the latter does. Each requires a different visual approach and different strategies.

Marketing plans, including hiring a photographer can have a certain momentum that’s hard to stop once begun. Make sure you’re considering the downside as well as the upside associated with hiring a professional photographer. These obviously include the expense of doing so but crucially include the time it takes to plan and execute shoot(s) properly to ensure you get what you pay for.

Colby College: The Lunder Collection

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Peter and Paula Lunder, © Brian Fitzgerald

 

It was my pleasure to meet and photograph two amazing Mainers, Peter and Paula Lunder, a few months ago.  The couple were sitting for video interviews for Colby College, and my task was to photograph them inside the wing of the Colby College Museum of Art that bears their name.  The couple are longtime supporters of Colby College and lifetime members of the board of trustees.  In 2007 they pledged their collection of more than 500 pieces of American art from the 19th through 21st centuries to create the Lunder Collection, where I would be photographing them. 

Meeting and photographing such an interesting couple was the fun part—but it was also necessarily brief.  We’d have less than 20 minutes—perhaps much less—to take several different portraits.  Given the nature of being around priceless art, we were limited in where we could set up and even how much power our lights could emit lest we damage light-sensitive artwork.    We arrived early, formulated a game plan and and set up several different options well ahead of time.   The Lunders were then delayed,  which cut a bit into our planned shooting time.  Thanks to my assistant, Colby student Joseph Bui, we were able to photograph the Lunders—three different setups—inside of the seven minutes remaining to us.

I love the challenge of creating storytelling environmental portraits on location.  Even more, I enjoy meeting people who have dedicated themselves to living lives filled with meaning the way the Lunders clearly have.  

 

 

 

The magic of creative constraints

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portrait
Parivash Rohani, @Brian Fitzgerald

 

One of the best ways to engage one’s creativity is to first strip away options.   Constraint, not necessity, is the mother of creativity.   

For portrait photographers, the focus of the image is the subject.  Yet background elements and interesting locations help to tell a story and can result in a more compelling portrait.   They can also be a crutch.   One piece of advice I give to aspiring portrait photographers:  learn to shoot portraits with no background. 

The artist Platon is famous for his high-key white seamless black and white portraits.  They are so simple—just the subject, often shot with a very simple lighting setup—but each one tells a story and compels the viewer to linger over every portion of the frame.   

When you strip away all of the choices, you focus on the essential.  When you strip away the excess background elements,  the focus is solely on the subject.  

The photographer is forced to focus on connecting with the person being photographed and helping them to carry the weight of the image through expression and mood, captured in fleeting moments. 

New England Hyperbaric Oxygen

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We recently completed video production for New England Hyperbaric Oxygen.  Hyperbaric Oxygen therapy (HBOT) involves the use of a special pressurized chamber to heal the body. It’s often used for wound healing, but also to treat traumatic brain injuries like concussion from sports or accidents.

We produced a series of videos showing the process at work as well as hearing from patients who continue to use the treatment to great success. In addition, we produced an instructional video for use with patients who use portrable chambers at home. Lastly, we created several short video stories for Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter so that New England Hyperbaric Oxygen could release those as part of their reveal campaign.

Although the long-form videos will be released later this year, I’m able to share an example of the short, 30-second social media video used for Instagram now.  

Creating a mood with cinematic portraits

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Maine Game Warden
© Brian Fitzgerald

As a longtime commercial portrait photographer, I’m thrown into situations where a standard formal portrait isn’t called for.  What’s needed is a portrait that focuses on a subject and has a more “cinematic”—a treatment and approach that may feel more ‘movie-like’, using precise lighting and positioning.  The result is a dynamic, rich portrait with a contemporary feel that grabs attention. 

 

 

Showcase: InterMed, PA Portraits

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I’m happy to share some environmental portraits I created recently of new InterMed CEO Roger Poitras, along with his executive team.   InterMed is one of Maine’s largest doctor practices and operates primary care facilities in South Portland, Yarmouth and Portland.  The assignment was to capture environmental portraits of Poitras that incorporated aspects of InterMed’s landmark Marginal Way building.     

 

 

 

executive team
InterMed executive leadership team (l-r) Stephanie Peters, Bill Ferentz, Roger Poitras and Stephanie Mills. @Brian Fitzgerald

 

 

 

Tips for great team portraits

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lumber mill
© Brian Fitzgerald

The dreaded group portrait. Just the prospect of wrangling potentially dozens of subjects strikes fear in the hearts of many a photographer and can result in images that recall an old-school wedding party photo.

Team portraits in particular are a challenge for companies whose amazing image is no sooner published than invariably one member decides to quit or retire. Such portraits may have a limited shelf life, then, but still can be a powerful way to convey a mood and feeling around the collective that makes your company successful.

Allowing enough time for the portrait is critical. Lighting—enough to make your team members look great and minimize any distracting details in the background—is a must. Careful posing of team members can make even large groups look manageable: I do this by arranging large groups into smaller clusters of people, typcially no larger than five, placed at varying distances from the lens to create centers of interest. Last, backgrounds are critically important to telling the story of your team and the group being photographed. Keep them simple, graphic and relevant.

You may not be able to control how long your employees will stay with the company, but with some planning you can turn your team portraits into something they’re proud to be a part of.

Don’t Just Do It: create a winning social media strategy

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Dog on Copier
© Brian Fitzgerald

 

If you’re responsible for marketing at your company (or one-person shop), one single word can induce sweating, bouts of self-doubt and even some wistful headshaking: content.

Since online content platforms (i.e., social media) are both inexpensive and readily available, any bottlenecks in producing consistent, high-quality (and brand-appropriate) content is usually on the production side (you), not on the delivery side.

So what’s your content strategy? What tactics will you need to take to produce great content and to share it consistently? When you hire a photographer to produce amazing images and video, are you asking questions like these?

You should be.

Tactics—like hiring a photographer—are easy and fun, or at least distracting and engrossing. They are all about the ‘doing’ part and it’s tempting to skip ahead. But strategy happens first. What are your social media goals? That is, what does your brand want to actually accomplish, long term? All of the following goals require different tactics:

Brand Awareness
Also known as, Getting Your Name Out There. Your content should be authentic to your brand, convey your brand personality and values…ie., your ‘voice’. It shouldn’t be overly promotional.

Grow Your Audience
You have to engage on your social media channels, and looking for ways to introduce your brand to people who haven’t heard of you before. Monitoring channels for specific keyword phrases will alert you to conversations that you might be able to contribute value to.

Engage Your Community
How are you interacting and staying top of mind with your current subscribers? Asking questions, being responsive and promoting user generated content can all help.

Generate Leads and sales
Integrate your service offerings and products into your social profiles. Run exclusive deals for your followers. Alert customers to new products and promos.

Drive traffic
Promotional posts and social ads that point viewers back to your website.

One last thing. You can’t do all of it all at once. Pick just two of the goals from the above list, and work on those exclusively as you measure your results.

Whether you are creating original content yourself, hiring a professional photographer, or simply curating and sharing, make sure to keep your goals in mind.