One of the types of portraits I love producing are corporate environmental staff portraits. They are a somewhat special category of portraiture because they are photographed on-location to better contextualize the subject. While most corporate headshots I do are produced on a plain backdrop (which has its benefits as well), environmental staff portraits help to tell a story. In other words, they are a form of editorial portraiture.

They can be as simple as a smiling face within a workspace, or a photo of a staff member or group of people engaging in work activity. Sometimes it’s a mix of both.

This type of photography is also great for teams. In additional to the more traditional team portraits, a group photo of the team engaged in real work activity can be a useful for a number of advertising and corporate communication uses.

The above sample headshots and team photos were photographed on-location at a Vancouver architectural design firm. The photos were taken were each individual worked, and offer a sense of space, depth, and context. For this company, every person was photographed in a different location. Choosing the best locations for each staff member was the most challenging part of the project. These corporate environmental portraits had to look clean, but also be representative of the company’s office work space.

Most of the photos were produced with a mix of natural and ambient light, studio lighting, and reflectors. Planning for a good lighting day was a key factor in photos that look bright, but soft and natural.

Before photography took place at their office, a site visit was done to identify different locations. Another important consideration was how the natural and ambient light looked at different times of the day. This can be challenging for offices located in downtown Vancouver buildings because of shadows casted by other buildings at specific times of the day. This planning helped things go smoothly on the day of the shoot, thereby minimizing disruptions to the business and their staff.

If you are interested in planning a on-site environmental-style staff portrait session for your company, please contact us today for details, rates, and availability.