Thomas Winter Captures Imagery for Herc’s Annual Report

One-day assignments can be stressful because the photographer needs to show the client satisfactory work during and after shooting. One method Palm City, Florida-based photographer Thomas Winter uses to ensure his collaborators are at ease is uploading his shots to an iPad directly after photographing them. This transparency keeps everyone in step.

I think it’s really important to be sure you are on the same page with the creatives and client both before and during the shoot. Pausing in between setups is a good time to review what’s in the bag already and talk about the next scene. I shoot to an iPad for quick and easy review so we know we all know where we are. It’s always a good feeling when you reach that point where the client relaxes because they know we have something they can use. 

Another factor that helped Thomas with this specific client, an equipment rental service called Herc, is that he’d worked with the company before by producing images for its annual report in the past few years.

Todd Rockey at Todd Rockey Design found me with a Google search. Since it was a Florida Industrial Photography Shoot and I’m in Florida, we got connected pretty easily.

The shoot was for the annual report, but the images that didn’t make the report will become part of their image library for other uses. One of the things I like about working with this client was their clear vision of the hero shot and then the ability to do other setups around that. Having worked together before created a level of trust and helped us know that, at the end of the day, we would have plenty of work to choose from.

Thomas was highly complimentary of Herc’s work culture and employees, who made a shoot that went into the evening go smoothly. There weren’t many hurdles to navigate for this shoot, other than having to swap trucks because the first one was too big for Thomas’ shots. This gave all parties more time to discuss specific shots and come up with the best solutions. Since everyone remained flexible and open to new ideas, Herc came away pleased with the work.

I am always clear with creatives on the set that it’s a “no ego zone.” If they don’t like something or it’s not safe, that’s fine; speak up and we’ll just move on. It’s also important for the photographer recognize on their own that something may not be working and just move on. One of my common expressions is ‘I am not feeling it.’

The rear cover image was created because of good communication and collaboration. I didn’t think one of the scenes in the original shot list was a good use of time, so we decided to scrap it for another during our morning huddle. Photographers should be comfortable expressing their own vision even if it’s different from the original plan. It can lead you in a good direction. 

See more of Thomas’ work at thomaswinter.com

Credits:

Creative Director: Todd Rockey

Further Reading:

Read more about Thomas Winter on our Published blog