In a business where being a sales person often means cold calling potential clients, the opportunity for a “thanks but no” is around every corner. But that doesn’t mean you should give up!
A common reason for someone to decline our photography services is that they already have a photographer that they are comfortable working with. I have many clients that are loyal to me, so I respect when someone says they have a relationship with their photographer—but that doesn’t stop me from calling on them! I often times say to a prospect, “Everyone goes on vacation or gets so busy they can’t meet a deadline.” That’s exactly what happened with a new client: Garmong Construction Services. Their #1 photographer was not available and that’s when we got the call.
The project they had for us, Tecumseh-Harrison Elementary School in Vincennes Indiana, was completed in two parts – a new construction connected to a renovated historic building. With the projects being in southern Indiana we could not scout the location, so we were walking in without a clear picture of the challenges this space might present.
Once we got there and toured the site, we could really see the beauty of the design and mixing the old and the new. The architect, Myszak + Palmer (also a client for this project) did a beautiful job. The wonder in their design is that they didn’t even try to make the two sections of the building match. Instead of pretending that both buildings had always been as they are, they used contrasting styles that ending up working quite dramatically together.
We captured seven interior shots to showcase the major areas of the school – a classroom, common spaces, the gym, cafeteria, hallways and corridors, and lobby. The lobby brought us the star shot of this project: a two-story tall feather sculpture. This shot was difficult because we wanted to hold the detail both inside and outside and it was a bright, sunny day. We had to really push the artificial lighting inside and we got a beautiful capture of the architecture, feather, and outside lighting.
We also did about seven exterior shots. Luckily, we didn’t have two-tone lighting to deal with outside, but they were finishing cleaning of the property to hand possession over to the school system. We had to work around the cleaning crews while doing our best to stay out of their way too.
We were so lucky to have the project manager, Rochelle Gardner, to guide us through the entire day. She stayed two steps ahead of us, preparing each area for the shoot before we arrived there. It’s always helpful to have someone familiar with the project on the day of the job but she went above and beyond to make our day flow seamlessly.
In the end, we spent a great day seeing the old and new come together in the hard work of Myszak + Palmer’s design and Garmong’s completion. We are so glad to have worked with these two new clients and look forward to what projects the future brings!
