SAIC Corporate Partners Luncheon

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I thoroughly enjoy photographing events for The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Not only do I reconnect with one of my Alma maters, I also meet fascinating people.

This particular event was the Corporate Partner’s Luncheon. Prior to the scheduled programming, I wandered photographing various guests mingling. I came upon a gentleman who asked me about the retro look of my camera and what it was all about. We spent a few minutes chatting and he asked me for advice on a camera for himself. Twenty minutes later when he was introduced as a panelist, I realized that he was Charles Adler, a co-founder of Kickstarter !

Aeroterm at O’Hare International Airport

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This was an adrenaline charged assignment; I had only 90 seconds to capture the most important aspect of it.

My client, Aeroterm, is a property developer of cargo facilities at the largest airports throughout the United States and Canada. Aeroterm had recently completed a $35 million cargo facility, one of the largest for DHL, at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. A dedication was taking place and I was hired to cover the event on behalf of Aeroterm. My primary directive was to be certain to capture several images of the Aeroterm executive with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Under normal circumstances, this would be an easy assignment. However, our executive and the Mayor would only be together for about 90 seconds or so. To further complicate matters, there was a hoard of photographers and television station crews covering the event. I was now in the middle of a press scrum. Commodities traders in a live auction pit are more genteel.

While competing with a group of journalists to photograph the Mayor was true fun, the second adrenaline rush was even more exhilarating. It’s not often that as an adult, I experience a memory of the innocence, wonder and excitement of myself at five years old. Stepping onto the tarmac to photograph big beautiful airplanes outside of Aeroterm’s facility made me as happy as my child self at Christmas.

Real Assets Adviser Magazine – William Blair

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He liked the work, so he hired me again; and I was ecstatic to work with him on another cover shoot. I thoroughly enjoy working with Mike Consol. In some respects, it reminds me of working on a branding campaign. Mike is of course a writer, and a solid verbal communicator as well. To prepare for a shoot, we talk about his interview with the subject, along with the sense and general feel that he’ll use to write the article. Much like delivering images that are congruent with a product or service’s value proposition and brand values, it’s my challenge to deliver images that reflect the editor’s intent and the ideas that he’s looking to accomplish in writing. What’s fun about working with Mike is that he’s so tuned into this process.

Branding seemed to have been the theme with this assignment. When I met with William Blair‘s Director of Marketing Communications, he explained that the firm was in the process of a rebranding. As part of that exercise, they were moving to a new office space at 150 North Riverside Plaza that rejected their current old world conservative look, to a more updated, open and modern culture. While their physical move was still a few months away, they asked that I limit my photographing of the corporate lifestyle images in a small section of their current office that was modified and reflected the new brand.

With the firm’s marketing team, I spent a few hours carefully scouting the location, cognizant of the importance of seeking spots that reflected the new look and shift in culture.

The Marketing and Communications Team was so pleased with the article and photographs, that they purchased several hundred reprints for marketing distribution.

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Real Assets Adviser Magazine – Fairpointe Capital

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When approaching a new project, a small amount of tension is a good sign that I’m paying attention. Every now and then, the healthy tension turns to jitters. I’ve skydived, scaled buildings and in racing sailboats, I’ve climbed to the top of a 5 story mast to perform repairs, while the boat was pitching and bobbing on a turbulent Lake Michigan. None of this has given me jitters. Enter hedge fund guru Thyra Zerhusen,CEO and CIO of Fairpointe Capital.

Thyra Zerhusen shared a 2010 Smart Money Magazine cover with Warren Buffett and considered one of the world’s top investment managers. I was given the assignment of photographing her and business partner, Mary Piersen, for the May, 2017 cover of Real Assets Adviser Magazine.

The corporate lifestyle images for the inside spread of the magazine were going to be shot in a photojournalistc style;I wasn’t going to be interrupting their workflow. However, the cover shot called for a formal portrait with backdrop. Naturally, I set up a makeshift studio within their office. I knew that I had to be quick about shooting the cover image;Thyra and Mary don’t have time to waste. Taking their eyes away from the pulse of the market could be costly. On the particular day that we scheduled the shoot, the FED didn’t help matters by announcing an interest rate hike. Fortunately, the equities market had already factored in the rise and finished up for the day.

During trading hours, we didn’t know how things were going to shake out, so our portrait session for the cover had to be condensed. I always plan for how I’m going to shoot a session; with this particular shoot, I planned as if it were a NASA moon shot. Aside from having stand-ins for the lighting and positioning, I also came with 4×6 cards in hand for a variety of shot setups. Shooting two people is exponentially more complex than shooting one. We quickly cycled through a series of different looks giving our editor, Mike Consol, several options for the cover.

This particular assignment felt like needing to sink a 3 point basket with 2 seconds on the clock. It felt great to swish the net.

As the trading day started to wind down, I was able to enjoy a wonderful conversation with Thyra, Mary and Marie Lorden, a third principal of this powerhouse, women owned and managed firm.

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Rise Capital

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It’s not difficult to walk away feeling impressed when meeting Nazar Yasin. He holds a combined J.D. and MBA from Northwestern University. He’s the founder of Rise Capital, a venture capital firm that funds internet related business within emerging markets. He previously was a co-head of European internet coverage at Goldman Sachs.

Nazar hired me to cover The Entrepreneurship Law Conference at Northwestern Law School. He moderated the event, delivered a keynote speech and was recognized for his work and contribution.

As robust as his business credentials and accomplishments may be, what impressed me most about Nazar were two things: his enthusiasm for launching MarcoPolo Learning, and his gracious demeanor towards everyone he met.

MarcoPolo Learning is a mobile-based, early childhood education company. The company serves greater than 5 million children in more than 150 countries, creating premium animated content for pre-school aged children. The curriculum covers core literacy and math skills within a full STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) curriculum.* The applicaiton is unique in that it encourages parental participation. I sensed that Nazar invested more than money into this company. Clearly, he’s emotionally invested and passionate about offering an educational head start for everyone at a reasonable cost.

I observed him interacting with people ranging form AirBnB executives to graduate students. In each case, he was gracious, approachable, an outstanding listener and willing to extend himself. I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with him. His approach reminded me of how important it is to respect everyone we meet in our daily interactions.

* Source:marcopololearning.com

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LG Properties

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Shooting outdoors in February in Chicago – without warm clothes ! We did it. It was an unusually warm February so we shot portraits in a mild 65 degree temperature.

Andreanna Triliegi, LG Property’s Marketing Manager, had a very specific idea for a brochure that she was developing for one of the firm;s teams. She wanted to incorporate a gorgeous piece of reclaimed wood that had been recently removed from the firm’s offices. The backdrop was an ideal choice to pair with outdoor available light. We set up a “studio” just outside their front door where team members briefly left their desks to rotate into the studio.
Andreanna was great to work with as was everyone else on the team.
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Raising Cane’s

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Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers are new to Chicago Metro but very popular in the South. The chain, founded in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1996, now consists of over 370 locations.

https://www.raisingcanes.com/It’s a unique corporate culture with chants, cheers and team camaraderie. I photographed their first two store openings in Chicago and on both occasions, found long lines hours before the grand opening. The first customer in line receives a complimentary meal for a year. Once opened, the restaurant was packed through lunch.

 

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CF Industries

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Wanting a head shot for each of their sales people, CF Industries hired me to photograph their sales force while at a multi day conference at their Deerfield, Illinois location. I arrived at 5:45 a.m on a cold, dark January morning to prepare for my first shoot at 7:00 a.m. Though 50 people were originally scheduled for portraits, momentum took over and more than 70 showed up for their social media headshot.

Though it was a demanding day, the people were wonderfully kind and generous.

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Anderson Coverage Group

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Dave Anderson of Anderson Coverage Group didn’t want a traditional portrait for his new law firm’s website.

A boutique firm representing policyholders nationwide with insurance coverage disputes, the firm is in a traditionally conservative industry. However, Dave wanted his corporate headshot to include a piece of fine art he had recently acquired by artist Rick Gleeson. Since the artwork is a flat piece that is wall hung, I incorporated it as a backdrop and shot the portraits on location. I paid close attention to properly lighting Dave and his staff and also the the artwork as background, being sure that the artwork was appreciated but not allowing it to take over as the main topic of the image.

 

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