Photos have great skim appeal. And most investors will skim your report before they plow into it in detail. If your photos capture the essence of the corporation, and the accompanying captions provide essential highlights you want investors to know, you will have achieved the ultimate in reporting. Yes, captions are that important!

On the flip side, an annual report without photos has all the appeal of a Prospectus or a 10-K. It is a deathly, formidable document. This begs the quesiton: If you want an investor or analyst to learn more about your company, why make it difficult for him to read your annual report since it is the one document more investors turn to than any other?

Annual Report photography is highly specialized. It goes far beyond the technical aspects of film, exposure and shutter speeds. The photographer’s job is to communicate your ideas, not just record images. This is a huge difference.

Special Requirement
The first requirement of any annual report photographer is to understand that his work is subordinate to the profitability of the corporation that employs him. This means getting great photos without interfering with the ongoing operations of the company. That is technically difficult because “setting up the shot” translates into maneuvering lighting and other equipment around people while they are working. Prima donnas who imperiously demand “quiet on the set” are simply out of their element.

True annual report photographers are location experts. Until they arrive on-site, they have no idea what to expect. This is especially true of interior locations. Artificial lighting – and lots of it – is an absolute requirement. Photographers who arrive with only a strobe light on their cameras won’t get the job done. The real pro packs an enormous amount of equipment to the site.

The Factory Nightmare
Factory photos are particularly difficult because many factories are dark. Existing lighting is often a combination of skylights, sodium vapor, florescent and incandescent. This combination plays havoc with the color balance of modern films. This is why many factory photos appear green, or reddish, or blue, depending on which light source was dominant. The annual report specialist, unlike fashion or news photographers, is also faced with the daunting prospect of coaxing amateurs (your employees) into becoming professional models. This requires a special sensitivity in dealing with people – getting the very best out of people even though many are camera shy and feel awkward in front of a camera.

Sensitivity Needed
The annual report photographer must also be acutely aware of corporate proprietary secrets, union operating rules, OSHA safety requirements, worker rights, and equal opportunity considerations. Failure in this area can create serious problems. Thus, we request a company official always accompany our photographers.

Exterior Location Photography
Exterior photography presents other problems, mostly weather related. Rain, early morning fog, and overcast conditions mitigate against the corporate requirements of “bright, sunny photos.” Photographic filters can help, but there is no substitute for a sunny day. Some companies will allow for such situations in their budgets, others overlook this issue in their haste to get the photography completed.

A Collaborative Process
A successful annual report requires the closest collaboration between the company and its photographer. Corporate officers should think in terms of what ideas they want to present rather than what to photograph. It’s absolutely essential to decide on the characteristics of the visual message prior to choosing the subject matter to be photographed. Few corporations do this. Instead, many put the cart before the horse, and decide what they want photographed first and thus fail to deliver the visual message they sought.

For example, if a company wants to portray itself as young, precise and on the move, then every photo in the report will have those characteristics. Composition, for example, will follow straight, orderly lines; subjects will be immaculately dressed, young and dynamic; lighting will be clean and dramatic. And there will be an element of motion in every photo—either a blurred background or foreground.

Our Photographic Approach
Part of our consultation services includes a sharp focus on exactly the overall visual image each client wants to project. Once this is decided, we address the subject matter to be photographed. Finally, our photographers always carry the client’s dummy layout with them since the size and shape of every photo to be taken has already been determined. As a result of this careful planning, the final result is immeasurably better than merely sending a photographer to a location to “get some nice pictures.” In short, early, detailed planning is what makes the entire process go smoothly.