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The chainsaw company STIHL and their agency, Red Letter, began looking for a way to take themselves in a new visual direction. After some research, they came across the website of St. Louis-based sports photographer John Fedele, and liked what they saw. John’s athlete imagery spoke to the STIHL and Red Letter teams, especially their punchy lighting and dramatic action. So, Red Letter set up a meeting with John and soon after called in an estimate.
According to John, “the project was quite large and they needed someone who could put together a team to work quickly as they had a lengthy shot list to cover over three days.” To help him put together an accurate estimate, he called up our own lead producer, Jess Dudley for backup,
When estimating projects, I always try to bounce numbers off others to get a different perspective and ensure we’re covering all the details. I value Jess’ estimating skills, so I presented him with the project to see what he’d come up with. Then it allowed me to refine things on my end and submit the estimate for consideration.
John’s estimate was approved and he soon got working on the production. The biggest challenge of the assignment was covering a lengthy shotlist in just three days. They spent a “significant amount of time planning to make sure each day went smoothly.” They also had to work around a video crew and manage around 30 people on set. And, most importantly, John notes that when shooting power tools you need to, “wrap your thumbs” and states that safety was a huge issue for them. “Firmly wrapping your thumbs around the handles is very important for a safe grip and it soon became the catch phrase of the week.”
Over the three days, John shot over 50 power tools—”The storage areas were pretty much a sea of orange and gray.” He was able to skillfully and systematically get through each shot (he credits his editorial projects for helping to accelerate his shooting pace) and come out with some great photos for STIHL.
Both the STIHL and Red Letter teams loved the images and thanked John profusely.
Handshakes, “thank yous” and even a few bows in my direction! After working so hard, it’s this kind of reaction that feeds my career addiction and motivates me to put forth even more effort to try and make it happen on every shoot.
John’s images are now going into STIHL’s corporate library, so they’ll be used in various marketing efforts. Already, they’ve been featured in a four page ad in Men’s Journal.
It was great to see the work used as a double-page spread and it was even better to see my clients so excited with the result of everyone’s efforts. Now, hopefully, STIHL power tools will be flying off the shelves more than ever.
