This was a particularly nice project to get our teeth into: One of the UK's most exciting technology companies, Tharsus, underwent a full rebrand and moved into new production, design and office facilities, which were then visited by the Secretary of State, Liz Truss. All elements of the rebrand and move needed to be photographed to standards that they set themselves; absolute perfection with nothing left to chance. Our brief was split into 3 elements, portraiture, environment and reportage and was produced by top London brand consultancy OPX. The photography was overseen by Tharsus' own in-house design team, who had the logistics in check and kept the whole project running like a finely crafted Swiss watch. Portraits of key members of staff were required, so colour pallets were selected for background papers, clothing and make-up carefully thought-out and specific furniture chosen for our subjects to sit on. A test shoot took place before progression to the full shoot to iron out any styling changes required. The main portraiture shoot went flawlessly, we basically had to move an entire studio into Tharsus' production facility and shoot on the factory floor, with our hair and make-up stylist taking care of each individual's needs and clothing. One of the biggest challenges to overcome when doing this type of work is making each person feel at ease in front of the camera. With lights, an art director, a stylist and anyone else who happens to be passing, it can be a stressful situation, but we managed it perfectly, making each of our subjects feel relaxed and unhurried.
The next challenge was to photograph the environmental and office facilities exactly to the stringent brief. Verticals, horizontals, symmetry and the rule of thirds were all carefully implemented into the photographs, as briefed. We photographed the technicians, engineers and designers who build specialist robotics that are used in many things such as airports, agriculture and formula one. Even the paint adorning the walls office-side was specially chosen to the colour palette in the original brief. We overcame some tricky lighting situations by using studio and portable flash mixed with as daylight and the existing lighting in the factory. The final results were bang-on to requirement.
Finally we we there to record the visit by the Secretary of State, MP's, councillors and other dignitaries in a reportage style which we shot as a two man team. These photographs were used for PR purposes in local and national press.
All photography and editing was handled in house by us and we absolutely love the results.
