Visual stories have the ability to move, mobilise and motivate, which is why photography continues to be such powerful tools for businesses and organisations, particularly those who want to document their social impact. Whether it is for training, change management, stakeholder engagement or internal communications, I have spent the past 25+ years creating stories for global brands, charities and the public sector.
If you want to achieve natural looking photographs that are created in the documentary style, then I can help.
I often work in black and white because my clients want to achieve a documentary feel with the images but I do a lot of work in colour as well – many examples in the blog.
My clients usually need to educate, inform, influence, or celebrate their work. They choose me because I understand their objectives, I can propose the right solution, and I can deliver what they need within their budget. (Find out more about my approach to projects and pricing further down this page).
The work that I do falls broadly into three categories:
Since the advent of photography businesses and organisations have documented their progress, capturing innovations, growth, people, customers and their impact on society. Today many companies such as Cadbury, John Lewis and Diageo have archives that are rich with visual stories going back to the 19th century. What was once a celebration of a moment in time is now a historical reference that continues to inform and inspire 150 years later.
Business documentary and reportage photography that captures and documents a process, a way of working, or an event that tells a story is still an effective way to communicate with stakeholders.
A key driver for these types of projects is often a desire to bring a story to an audience where it would be impractical to take to the audience to the story.
Projects cover a wide range of subjects and include everything from opening a new facility, to following a manufacturing process, to bringing alive sustainability initiatives, to the day in the life of a workplace environment.
Documentary photography is now widely used to capture and document CSR, ESG, Social Impact and Sustainable Development initiatives that are now an integral part of business strategy.
Giving back to society and being a good corporate citizen is now a significant part of business-as-usual. Fortune 500 companies spend $20 billion per year on CSR, which is often measured, celebrated and reported on a regular basis.
Many of these businesses, who are proud to be contributing to UN Sustainable Development Goals, want to document their achievements. This is widely referred to as social impact photography.
CSR photography or social impact photography has become the standard way to capture, document and archive the contribution that companies are making to deliver a sustainable world for all; and has helped businesses to raise awareness of issues around the world, bringing them to the attention of a wider audience.
In 2022 the stock image market was worth $4.7bn and yet many of my clients can’t find images that fit with their brand identities or speak to their values.
For these reasons many are building their own image libraries, which not only ensures they have the images they want, it also means that employees across the organisation can use those images with confidence.
Tailored to individual organisational needs, and for long-term use across digital and print channels, building an image library is usually an on-going project with several shoots a year. Each shoot focuses on different aspects of the organisation such as, portraits of personnel, interior and exterior shots of a facility, the details of a particular work stream, or the people and work of a department.
Building your own library of images, that can be held centrally for everyone to use, not only ensures your organisation is presented consistently on-brand, it also saves significant time and cost of searching and purchasing generic stock images that are a compromise.
Anything is possible with the right amount of time and budget. However, the reality is there will always be a deadline and a limited budget. So, it all starts with a brief, from which I can propose ideas and costings.
I’ll want to understand your objectives. What do you want to achieve? Why? How will you measure success? I’ll need to know what ideas you already have and if there are brand or style guidelines that need to be adhered to.
There are three phases to every project:
The time required at each phase depends on the overall project.
The creative process works best if we collaborate. That way I can be sure that I’m giving you what you want, you can be sure that you are getting the best value, and we can both be sure to meet your objectives.
If you have a project in mind, or just want to see more examples of my work, then please get in touch.
Andrew Cameron is a business and documentary photographer, and creative director with a particular focus on Social Impact Photography and CSR. Andrew works with businesses and organisations to create compelling visual stories that support communication, employee engagement and learning objectives. Often using Black and White combined with a natural and documentary style to create authentic images.
