Seattle, Washington based photographer Andrew Buchanan recently tackled a shoot for not one, not two, but three separate clients. Fortune 500 company HNI Corporation had outgrown their previous headquarters and collaborated with IA: Interior Architects and Neumann Monson Architects to renovate and design a new HQ nearby. Once the project was complete, Interior Architects contacted Andrew to create a catalog of imagery that would satisfy all three contributors.
The plan called for demolishing roughly 1/3 of the brick structure and reinforcing the remainder, establishing administrative offices, creative and design studios, and C-level executive office space inside, all in a structure that functioned as a 21st c. corporate headquarters while honoring the building’s and the city’s past.
It was a big undertaking for Andrew, and the challenges continued to pile up. To begin, they only had a 48-hour period to shoot the project, since the building was already in use and come Monday morning would be filled with workers.
Additionally, Andrew was being flown in from Seattle, which meant he needed to pack carefully to make the 1,900 mile trip as easy as possible. He and his assistant ended up storing their clothing in equipment bags and hand-carried cameras and lenses.
Even so, the rolling camera bag didn’t come close to fitting in the overhead bin of the regional jet from Minneapolis to Moline, IL and only thanks to a kind flight attendant did it manage to fit, sort of, under the adjacent seat!
The extended summer day enabled them to make the most of their Friday afternoon arrival, as they squeezed in a meeting with the clients and a quick scout of the space. Andrew also needed to plan his days around a second shoot happening in the same location with a full crew.
Two very long shoot days with extensive shot lists may have overwhelmed another photographer, but with 21 years of experience, Andrew pushed through and left on Sunday night drained but satisfied.
From a total take of over 1000 images to a final edited set of just under 200, the clients each chose their favorite two dozen shots. While there was definitely some overlap, the variety of the three final sets reflected the different visual needs of the three clients.
Before the final images could be handed over, Andrew needed to make sure each one of the 72 chosen photos was perfectly retouched, even working on 55 himself.
Today, all three of the clients are loving their images, and Andrew can relax and write another challenging shoot into the books.
See more of Andrew at subtlelightphoto.com!
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