Michael Marquand is a New York-based commercial photographer whose recent project took him to KFC’s global offices in north Texas. There, he photographed the brand’s work environment for a campaign aimed at attracting new employees to the second-largest restaurant chain in the world, with locations in 150 countries. This was Michael’s first time working with the food giant, and all thanks to the UK-based agency called ThirtyThree, who recognized his talent and pitched him to the client.
The preplanning for the project took place through a series of pre-production calls with the agency. The goal of the images was clear: to attract new employees to KFC by portraying it as a diverse, fun workplace where individuals could express themselves.
The agency already had a strong idea of what they wanted before they approached me. It was important to show a lot of personality in the portraits. We also did some work-from-home shots to show the idea that KFC was offering a flexible work environment.
The project involved shooting a lot of environmental portraiture and a strong use of color, which is very much my style. We also needed a lot of images of people working and interacting with technology — which, if you’re not careful, can be very boring. I’d done similar work for ThirtyThree where we had to photograph people working and using tech but managed to bring a lot of color and life to the images.
The shoot took place over two days, across several locations in Dallas, including the KFC corporate office and the city’s downtown areas.
We looked for any corner of the building that had an interesting environment, color, or architectural element we could use. Fortunately, the offices had a lot of fun areas to work with. We tried to incorporate the famous KFC red color in as many photos as possible to keep it on brand.
Day two of the shoot was split between taking portraits in downtown Dallas and our work-from-home shots in a house we rented.
On set, the energy was high as Michael worked alongside a team from ThirtyThree, including art director Alex Forrest, producer Kaitlyn Bader, and photo assistants Josh Phillips and Parker Connell, as well as the KFC employees being photographed.
Like on so many commercial shoots, Michael came head-to-head with time.
We only had two days to shoot the whole project. Plus, we couldn’t even run long on the second day because we were flying out that same evening.
I had to find the best way to portray the space, the person, and the overall scene. So it was like shooting a Portraiture and Architectual Interiors project at the same time. A lot of details to think about at once. However, I found it to be a fun challenge!
On day two of the shoot, with only ten minutes left before wrapping up to catch the flight, the art director proposed a last-minute shot idea. Quickly, Michael set up in a different spot of the house, arranging lighting and equipment in a rush. Despite the time crunch, he managed to capture the shot — which ultimately made it to the final selection!
See more of Michael’s work on his website.
Credits
Agency: ThirtyThree
Art Director: Alex Forrest
Producer: Kaitlyn Bader
Photo assistants: Josh Phillips, Parker Connell
Further Reading
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