Stephen Holm is a photographer, DP and Director based out of Minneapolis who came to us a few months back looking for some advice on strategizing the next steps to take in his career. Although he’d been working in the field for over a decade and has plenty of talent and experience, his brand was in need of a major boost in terms of organization, visibility in the market place, and commercial viability. He was also in need of some direction in combining the work he was showing on two different sites: one that primarily emphasized still images, and one that consisted of motion projects.
Before we even got started on the web edit, Ally, our Senior Marketing Specialist, worked up a customized BaM Plan outlining a series of step-by-step guidelines for Steve to follow in order to sharpen his focus in the industry and refine the direction of his brand. The site functionality, the direction of the edit, and the importance of consolidating his work around one unified vision and brand were paramount. Included in creating a unified brand was a new logo and website template. With all of our work for Stephen, we knew we wanted to highlight his ability to tell stories across a multitude of specialties.
I got started on the edit by grouping all of the images Stephen sent over into specialty categories such as education, healthcare, etc. This helped me get a solid understanding of where the bulk of Stephen’s clients were coming from and determine the strength of his work within each specialty. From there, I started putting my selects from each category into a sequence that was able to tell a story. After I made these preliminary selections from the stills, I ventured into tackling all of the motion work, carefully vetting each piece, the storylines, the edits, and the clients that each one was targeting. I noted the strongest, most commercially appealing works and then began to separate them according to specialty as well. Next, it was a matter of grouping the strongest stills with their accompanying motion pieces and making sure that they were able to support and expand the storyline, emphasizing Stephen’s aptitude for capturing both stills and motion within a given job. There were also some projects that remained solely still-based projects, like American Soldier, and others, like Aronson Woodworks, that were left as stand-alone motion works.
With Stephen’s edit, careful attention was given to include only what was needed in order to showcase his abilities. The new edit really shows his aptitude for telling a story, and doing so regardless of who the client is or what the story is about. When you look at the new site, you’ll see that it covers a range of different specialties capable of appealing to a wide array of clients, all presented in a concise, fluid, and easy-to-navigate project-based manner.
After the edit was complete, Stephen worked with our design department to make all the necessary updates and adjustments to his site, even adding custom info tabs at the end of each gallery noting who the client was and what role he had in the project.
Stephen was really happy with the results that our team here at Wonderful Machine brought him, and he’ll continue to count on us for input and advice as he moves forward with some creative coaching:
Stacy’s work and insight were essential in the reinvention of the branding and identity of my company. When I started working with her, I had two websites with old work on each. Stacy was able to go through thousands of photos and videos from the client and personal projects and narrow down the content to something that worked with my brand and speaks to the client I am trying to reach. Throughout this process, she also helped me narrow my creative focus and realize what my goals were for the business. I’m very happy with the work Stacy did for my company and look forward to continuing this relationship with her.
Take a look at Stacy’s screencast of the before and after of Stephen’s website:
You can see Stephen’s full site at stephenholm.net. And if you’d like help editing your site, or determining the best way to display your own motion and stills, feel free to reach out! We’re always happy to help.