Frank Rogozienski Shoots for Mirati Therapeutics

In March 2020, San Diego-based photographer Frank Rogozienski completed a corporate photo shoot for a biotechnology client, Mirati Therapeutics. Frank has been working with Mirati Therapeutics on corporate and laboratory culture shoots for over two years, and his longstanding relationship with the company’s Director of Corporate Communications, Temre Johnson, secured him this shoot.

I originally met Temre at Amylin Pharmaceuticals, who was a client of mine for about a decade. We tried to work together again at an interim biotech, but we didn’t end up working together again until she landed at Mirati.

In this particular shoot, Frank was tasked with capturing images for Mirati Therapeutics’ annual report, website, and corporate image library. While the photographer had shot many images like these before for Mirati, the San Diego-based biotechnology firm had recently expanded to a new building with larger labs and offices.

We had a lot more options for locales. The labs have expanded.  The offices and cubes space has also grown with lots of negative space that we were able to utilize for composition and atmosphere.

A few days before the shoot, Frank worked with Temre and Mirati Therapeutics’ Senior Corporate Communications Associate Alejandra Cerros to compile the final shot list, including the employees who would be his models.

Often with biotech clients we are stymied by not being able to shoot in areas deemed sensitive.  There’s a lot of back and forth and balance to select the right locations and employees that will communicate their corporate message.

When the team was on a walkthrough of the lab locations, Frank met a scientist who felt apprehensive about the shoot. The photographer spoke with the employee to understand her concerns. The scientist explained that she felt the photoshoot from the previous year had overtaken the lab, making it hard for her to keep working while they were shooting.

I was able to map out specifically where each shot would be, what the angle was going to be, what would be in the frame, what needed to be cleaned up, what she would be doing, and how long she would be doing it.  That put her at ease.  The day of the shoot she was amazing.

Mirati Therapeutics also decided against having a make-up artist for this shoot. Though the company did hire a make-up artist for the corporate shoot in 2019, Temre wanted to capture a more natural look of the employees’ day-to-day work life. While this meant a bit more work in post-production for Frank, it helped the employees relax during the shoot.

The client decided that it added a layer of complexity that made the employees, both being shot and not, uncomfortable. The employees were definitely more comfortable and natural this year, but the extra styling and grooming is so helpful on the back end.

In the end, Mirati Therapeutics was thrilled with Frank’s photos. The company has scheduled to have Frank shoot their employees portraits in his studio and another round of company culture shots in the offices and labs later this year.

Credits:

Director of Corporate Communications, Mirati Therapeutics: Temre Johnson
Sr Corporate Communications Associate, Mirati Therapeutics: Alejandra Cerros
First Assistant: Sergy Sinin

Check out more of Frank’s work at frankrogozienski.com.

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