The Team Has Been Vaccinated

The FayFoto Boston Team Has Been Vaccinated!

We are pleased to announce that the core members of FayFoto Boston have all received first and second vaccinations.

still life photo of camera, laptop computer, and hand sanitizerAlthough receiving our vaccinations is a huge milestone for us personally, masks and hand sanitizer aren’t a thing of the past. Please be assured that that client safety continues to be very important to the FayFoto Boston team. Although we have safely completed numerous assignments in the last year, we will continue to respect and abide by our clients’ specific protocols.

When conducting portrait assignments at client locations, interpersonal contact is limited to the person who escorts us to the room we work in and, of course, the individual(s) being photographed. Our photographers will continue to wear a mask throughout the assignment. We know to maintain a proper distance when showing the individuals their photos on our laptop for selections.

We are happy to answer any additional questions you may have. We are looking forward to working with you and your team when you get back into your office.

group photo of ribbon cutting ceremony
It is great to be back working and interacting with our clients!

Reactions When Viewing Portrait Images

Reactions When Viewing Portrait Images

I readily admit that it’s very difficult to be objective when viewing a photo of yourself. We are nevertheless frequently put in a position where we need to ask a subject to not only look at the photos we have collected at a portrait session but, even harder, to pick the one he or she likes the best.

Hardly anyone says “Wow, don’t I look great?” because that would of course imply vanity.

When asked if I can add hair, or remove years or pounds, I smile and say, as diplomatically as possible, I left that filter back at the office.

Family resemblances are frequently noted. (“Wow, I’m looking at my Dad there.”)

Bad experiences with previous portraits also surface. (“Don’t make me look like a sack of rocks as I did in my last photo.”)

After hearing innumerable initial responses, nearly all of them humorous in a self-deprecating way, I decided to start a little list of my favorites. The one-liners are the most fun.

  • Impish
  • Tired
  • Disturbing
  • Coy
  • Shifty
  • Possessed
  • Deer in headlights

I just smile, say encouraging things, take some more photos, and nearly every time the subject comes to terms with what he or she is seeing.

While We Wait

While We Wait

Staying Fresh, Staying Connected

Looking back at 2020, looking forward to 2021

A personal essay by Steve Nelson, one of the FayFoto Boston team.

What does an assignment-based corporate photographer do to stay connected with his or her tools and craft during an extended season in which there are… very few assignments?

As we approach the end of 2020, a lot of service providers continue to face that question.

There were of course opportunities to do home improvement projects, and I did plenty of those. But my personal identity is bound to my career as a photographer, and I settled on that career because I derive immense satisfaction from creating images. Especially collaboratively, with others.

So.
When it became clear that this Pandemic wasn’t going to be a week or two thing I started, and stuck with, a photo of the day discipline, posting daily to a small audience on Instagram. This was intended to keep me connected to and proficient with my tools.

This discipline has proven to be satisfying creatively, but it is very different from the experience and business of portrait and product photography. Flowers and trees don’t have opinions about what they look like, or would like to look like.

So I reactivated a dormant project – setting up environmental portraits of friends. These were very deliberate portrait sessions, not casual candids. I admit I was uncomfortable asking, given the prevailing concerns surrounding contagion, but no one I asked declined. On the contrary, I was surprised to find that most seemed to welcome the request.

This informal project, unencumbered by the constraints of consistency and uniformity we adhere to for repeat clients, has given me an opportunity to experiment with lighting, and to adapt to different location situations.

Asking a friend to sit for a portrait is unusual. For me anyway.

Every one of these sessions feels a little weird initially, but I know this personal stretch will benefit my commercial work when that resumes.

Speaking of resuming… When you and your team are ready to resume, you can bet I’ll be ready. Please reach out. I have a good mask, and I’m ready to go!

Steve

six examples of informal environmental portraits
Environmental portraits of some of Steve Nelson’s friends taken during the extended business slowdown due to the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Oh, hello…

Eastern Milk Snake

The vast majority of FayFoto Boston’s work takes place in our clients’ office. That’s still the case, even in the present era of Covid-19. But with more staff working from home than ever before, the definition of office has become less defined.

Our photographer Lee headed off recently to do a headshot and personal branding assignment at the client’s home. Lee put together our standard setup inside, with studio lights and a background. Once the “standard” portraits were done, he was asked to do some more informal variations outside.

As Lee, the subject, and the subject’s spouse approached the porch, they disturbed an unexpected fourth party.
Lee later identified it as a harmless Eastern Milk Snake, but its brief presence did inject some adrenaline into the assignment.

As Lee tells the story, the snake scurried under the porch as the three humans approached. This was no big deal for Lee, but the homeowners were less than thrilled.

It’s a funny anecdote after the fact, but it points to the reality that today’s committed businesses are adapting to address client needs. FayFoto is one of those committed businesses.

Oh, and good for Lee, who had the presence of mind to capture an environmental portrait of an unexpected subject!

Covid-19 Safety Protocol Statement

To Our Existing and Future Contacts and Clients:

Please be assured that we will be doing everything we can to ensure the safety of your team.

It’s a strange new environment in which to do business which involves direct contact with people.
But that’s the business FayFoto is in, and that’s what you have relied on us for in the past.
We want to be sure you know we take the Covid-19 environment very seriously. Your safety is at the forefront of our mind.

First, we want to know what your specific workplace safety protocols are, so we can anticipate and meet them with a minimum of delay on the day of a photo session. Any documentation you can provide will be added to the records we keep internally.

Even without that client-specific information, you can be assured of the following:

  • We will bring only the minimum amount of equipment necessary into your environment
  • We will wear a face mask while interacting with your team members.
  • Only one member of the FayFoto team will be present at an assignment. No assistant, no stylist. If a specific assignment requires additional personnel for any reason, you will be notified in advance.
  • Our team works out of our own homes now, so we don’t gather together physically. If one of us feels ill another will be available to cover your assignment.
  • We won’t touch your team members, even to pat down hair, straighten neckties, or greet with a handshake.
  • We will do everything possible to maintain safe distance while reviewing portrait captures. If necessary, we will email proofsheets instead of asking subjects to make a selection at the photo session.

It honestly feels so strange to have to express what should be  commonsense points explicitly, but we do want each of our clients and contacts to know that we have thought through the present and future workflow thoroughly. It’s not going to be as easy or as casual as it was, but we are prepared to do what it takes in order to provide the reliable photography you have counted on in the past.

Looking Back During Covid-19 Days

NE Boat Show overview, Boston Convention and Exhibition Center

Once Upon a Time

I write this a little over a month into the great, global shut-down provoked by the COVID-19 pandemic. The photo accompanying this article was taken by our staff photographer Lee, who did what he needed to do to capture an amazing photo in spite of an acute distaste for heights. Shown is an overall of the New England Boat Show which took place in February, in the main exhibit floor of the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.

On April 10 this facility was converted into a 1,000-bed field hospital.

It’s astonishing that, in such a short space of time, we’re looking at images of crowds with nostalgia.

The good old days of a month ago.

The word “unprecedented” and the phrase “the new normal” have begun to grate on me, and I currently hear each multiple times a day. I guess I’ll have to get over it, because there are no more descriptive or evocative words for our present situation.

I’m a pretty hands-on portrait photographer. If a subject’s hair is messy, I pat it down. If a necktie is loose, I give it a tug. If a jacket sleeve is bunched up, I pull it smooth. I wonder what my new normal is going to be?

I’m happy to report that the staff of FayFoto are all well, and we sincerely hope the same is true for you. We are riding this out along with everyone else. We intend to be here for you for a long time. We miss interacting with our regular clients, and we are anxious to work with you. Give us a call as soon as it is safe to do so!

Labels, Distinctions, and Discoverability

We take a lot of professional photos of and for business executives.

I personally prefer to label what we do portrait photography.

That label feels more dignified and valuable than another (more common it turns out) label, head shot.

For the longest time we resisted using the latter term. It seemed superficial. It felt like slang. It felt like what aspiring actors and models seek. It didn’t seem business-like.

But when Google’s pay-per-click advertising began to sound like a practical sales and lead generation tool for our company, I began to listen more closely to the language our clients commonly used. Language they and their peers would presumably therefore use in online searches.

You saw this coming, didn’t you? “Headshot” is what most people seem to call what we do. Or maybe “head shot” if spell check disapproves of the concatenated variant.

So much for dignity and value considerations.

Go where the searches are

When it comes to marketing a professional service, it’s important to see beyond your personal biases or industry-insider terminology and stay attuned to the common vernacular. Potential new business from search results makes this seemingly subtle difference more significant than simply “You like tomato and I like tomahto.

For that reason our web site now uses both forms. If you discover FayFoto Boston while searching online for a headshot photographer, we are more than happy to provide a solid business portrait of you or members of your team.

But is there a difference?

Is the distinction between a head shot and a portrait merely semantic?

Well, actually no. Not in my mind anyway.

The difference comes down to time and attention, both in the image capture and the post production stages.

A Head Shot can be thought of as a high quality ID photo

Let’s say you have a large group of people (imagine a sales meeting, bringing employees from all over the country together in one place). Or you would like to add photos of a department’s worth of people to an internal intranet. You want to have a presentable photo of as many as you can. You need to move along, though. You allocate 5 minutes per person. We can do that. We’ll still bring studio lights and a background, but there isn’t time for the subject to review and select an image. In such cases we frequently edit each subject’s images to 5 or 10 per person and either send you a PDF proof sheet to select from or just simply send you moderately sized and cropped JPEG files of the whole bunch. In the latter option it’s on you to decide which image to use for each person. We will apply color and exposure corrections and custom cropping, but that’s it for post production.

For some use cases this is entirely sufficient.

This would be a headshot.

A Portrait affords more time with the subject and more post production

On the other hand, let’s say you present images of your firm’s Partners or executive leadership team to the public on a web site. Presentation of these executives reflects on your company. The image may also be used for press releases or LinkedIn profiles in addition to the company website.

In such a case it’s more appropriate to schedule 10 or 15 minutes per person, allow him or her to review the captures, take more photos if necessary, and approve one. Significant care and attention is paid to every inch of the image in post production. Several variations of crop and resolution may be applied to the final image to comply with various media specifications.

That, in my mind, is a portrait.

Evaluate your needs

Give some thought to what your needs are realistically. Then give us a call and outline your needs, expectations, and budget. We’ll work with you to give you what you need – nothing more but most certainly nothing less.

FayFoto’s Negative Archive now lives at Northeastern University

boxes of FayFoto negatives stacked in hallway

FayFoto has been involved with Boston’s business, political, advertising and public relations communities for…
well…
we’re not entirely sure of the year of origin but we’re going with 80+ years.

We covered many assignments and produced many many images over the course of those decades (estimated at over 7.5 million negatives!). Our collection of negatives from the late 60’s until about the early 2000’s (when we transitioned to digital) is essentially unbroken. We also had several metal file cabinets filled with much older negatives that aren’t catalogued in any coherent manner.

We’re not hoarders exactly, but neither are we librarians or curators. Our collection hadn’t been maintained for posterity – photographers are pragmatic and we kept them mainly because someday maybe someone would buy a reprint from an image captured back when.

It is a unique time capsule…

Because we aren’t trained to be information specialists and because we don’t have resources to become that, this collection was effectively useless. Our logs maintained a good record of when an assignment took place and who our client was, but very little else in the way of metadata about the images. In other words, locating and retrieving a negative based on its content rather than an internal reference number stamped on the back of a print was next to impossible. Our logs from that era were hand written, so they couldn’t be quickly or easily searched. The cardboard boxes we kept them in weren’t in any way archival, and they consumed significant space.

What to do?

This is where Northeastern University comes in. Giordana Mecagni, a conservator in the Special Collections division of Northeastern University’s Snell Library reached out to us thanks to a timely referral from a contact at the Boston Public Library who was aware of our situation. As soon as we learned of the breadth and scope of the Library’s collection (which includes the Boston Globe’s archive!) we knew our collection would be in the best of all possible hands.

boxes of negatives in moving van
FayFoto’s negative archive is neatly packed in a moving van

Archivist Daniel Lavoie made several exploratory site visits to our office and on June 5, 2018 the collection rolled off in a moving van to a new home and a productive future.

Here’s a link to the story from the Library’s perspective entitled “FayFoto archive acquired by Northeastern University Libraries’ Archives and Special Collections”.

FayFoto Boston is grateful almost beyond words for the Library’s willingness to undertake the daunting process of sifting, sorting, organizing, and ultimately making these images available to historians and researchers. We anticipate that one day someone out there will discover just exactly the image he or she is looking for to tell a story about some aspect of Boston’s history during this era.

A new beginning, not an end

This isn’t the end of the story for FayFoto Boston! We continue to produce new work for businesses and organizations in the Boston area – digitally. It does, however, feel like the beginning of a new story for our older images.

Start Here

If you are a business professional who works with photographers… Start Here!

Blog posts by their nature get pushed down as new articles are added.

While we would like to think that everything we write has value and is useful, we do have some foundational articles aimed at professionals who work with photographers. We want to ensure that this “evergreen” content remains visible and accessible.

A Brief Index to Helpful Content

Here’s a short list of articles we feel are of particular value to business professionals whose job involves working with professional photographers.

Related to Business “Head Shot” Portraits

Setting Up a Photo Session

Other Topics

Evolution: FayFoto’s Transition to Digital Services

early digital camera

Office Archeology

We have been working at clearing out old and unnecessary stuff recently. After more than 25 years in our current office, you might well imagine there’s quite a lot of that. Recently Wayne unearthed the very first digital camera FayFoto purchased. That got me curious, so I started sifting through old assignment log books for the first evidence of actually capturing assignments digitally.

They started showing up in the Fall of 1999. Given that we’re into the second quarter of 2018 as I write this, that feels like quite a long time.

We weren’t the earliest of adopters, but our market moved us into providing digital services before a lot of other photographers made the leap (or else said “to heck with this” and moved into some other endeavor). Pro-level digital cameras at that time were beyond our means. We eased into the inevitable by scanning negatives and transparencies for years before investing in digital capture equipment. Our first cautious investment in a digital camera was at the upper end of what was then the consumer level. (It was a Kodak DC265, purchased in the Fall of 1999 at the CompUSA around the corner from our office. You can still read the camera’s review in DPReview’s archive!)

Read more