Photoblog: Current Shot

The latest branding campaign I shot in late July has now been launched so I'm able to share a few images from the shoots. The concept was to show off the territory, the modern capital city of the Yukon and use real employees at the Yukon Public Service.
In short, a recruitment campaign for both Yukoners and outsiders.

Midlyn Day Communications, out of Vancouver, created "It goes with the Territory", who boast, "They are the leaders in employer branding in BC. Finding the right people for the right jobs."
They were a great group of people to work with. Along with sending me good specs of what they were looking for, they were equally open to my vision too. A real bonus for a photographer not to just end up being a shutter pusher!

The shoots were scheduled over the course of two days and those two days were sunny and a slightly windy. A lot of people think blue sky and hot sun is a bonus on a photo shoot but not so when you are photographing people outdoors. I had two choices, to add flash to deal with the harsh shadows under people's eyes and nose or to diffuse the sun, which was hitting the models and is the option I went with. I was able to hire both an assistant and make-up/wardrobe person for the shoot, which allowed me to just concentrate on the lighting and shooting. Given the wind at times, many of the shoots were either along the Yukon River or along mountain sides, both my assistant and wardrobe person would be hanging onto the 5 foot white reflector as it threatened to sail off down stream. It was a good workout holding those reflectors for 8+ hours above their heads!

Although the campaign was to show off the territory and a modern city as well as the actual employees that volunteered for the shoots the designers wanted the models to override the locations. So using a very small depth of field created a hint of location. Not shooting wide open but shut down a stop or two for lens sharpness.

Aside from correcting the white balance and applying a light Smart sharpen; the images are pretty much how I shot them. A big thanks you to the models that as I mentioned are actual YPSC employees. They all seemed like naturals in front of the camera. Already looking forward to the next round of shoots!