What makes US different ?

Do you want fries with that?

I was watching a music video over the weekend and one of the backing musicians played Guitar, then on the next song he played Clarinet and on the song after that he played Saxophone. We are all having to offer more, by our own choice or to outpace competitors.

Most people will know us as ‘just’ photographers, which is fine but I think we all have to get our trumpet out, as per my analogy, and give it a blow to tell people WHAT we do and WHY it makes a difference.

A good image is fine but is it telling your story?

My background before starting up Front Elevation (was it really EIGHT years ago) was in Specification Sales, working in fabrication. I then went on to organise marketing as well, as you do in smaller businesses, eventually taking my Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) qualifications. As such I have spent years working with architects, designers and manufacturers and installers at the coalface.

I took the opportunity to start my own business for several reasons:

1. I felt that, with my experience, I could assist smaller businesses who didn’t have time to market themselves.
2. I felt a lot of the Specialist Manufacturing and Installation work went under the radar and didn’t get the recognition it deserved.

Initially we started out as a Marketing Support Service but the photography rather took over. We lost some marketing work because we were too cheap. I was only interested in offering elements that worked for the client, whereby the shiny, polished Marketing Agencies wanted to offer as many elements as possible to increase their sales. I was more Hi-Vis Jacket and Work Boots, they were more Emperor’s New Clothes.

In 25 years in the industry I had never sold anything that wasn’t required and it didn’t seem a good time to start now. I was quite happy to leave them to it but felt rather sorry for the client.

OK, maybe that is a bit too close but rather than doing 'marketing' from an office I much preferred getting out and seeing, talking and learning !!

So we have great belief in photography but this is not ‘just’ taking pretty pictures. It is more about understanding the materials, the installations and what Specification really is.

We are all bombarded with images and ‘stills’ photography may seem old fashioned with Video, Drone and Time Lapse photography but ￡ of ￡ it is incredible value and FAR MORE likely to influence a decision maker, not least because they can look at it and not watch it.

Specification is recommendation by any other term and I am always surprised at how few manufacturers ask for progress shots. We all see the lovely ‘architectural’ photos of buildings at dusk with the sun setting behind them and the interior lighting showing through, which as pictures are great but technically tell you nothing. For all they show the cladding could be stuck on with Blue Tac.

If I was recommending any product or for that matter, installation, I would like to see its selling points such as fixings, hanging system, supports, joints, welds and finishes. A Hi-Res image can do that and be ‘interrogated’ by any decision maker.

Whilst the architectural shot may stop them scrolling further or turning over the page, it is very unlikely to influence a decision or develop further scrutiny.

Progress shots are far more effective in conveying what you do and how you do it

Sure, we can just take some photographs for our clients and let them get on with it but our images are intended to start a journey and it’s our experience which underpins what we photograph and why.

Today everyone is a photographer and as its ‘ONLY’ social media, it doesn’t matter if it’s a bit wonky or suffers from converging vertical does it, well YES it does actually. If your team of installers have been getting up at 5am every morning and working to tolerance’s of +/- 3mm, then how does a very wonky photograph convey the quality of your work. The whole point of Social Media is that you have absolutely no idea whatsoever who will be looking at it. That is exactly why quality is important. It’s really not the same as putting a photo of your dinner or a night out with your mates on Facebook.

We quite often see this sort of image on Social Media, its not really conveying precision or quality, however well meaning (and can be sorted even with the most basic editing skills and free software.)

Social Media works on the whole due to EVERYONE from ALL levels in a company, looking at their phone or tablet, on the bus, on the train, on the plane or even in the car (if they have a chauffeur).

You have one chance to make a First Impression. Our mantra has always been that “Only one thing says more about your business than a great photo, and that is a not so great photo”

So, What does make us different?. Firstly a good understanding of what we are photographing based on our experience in manufacturing and installation obviously helps.

One of the obvious reasons for engaging any professional contractor is that it allows you do get on with your work and they get on with theirs. So that’s what WE do. We can organise both Access and Authorisation on your behalf. You just complete our Project Sheet with all of the details and we crack on with it

We are fully insured with PL & PI cover so if we have, or cause, an accident it goes on our Insurance record, not yours. We hold CITB CSCS Cards which conveys how seriously we take H&S. We also use Privacy Filters so that the privacy of any building occupants is protected.

Having taken your images we Meta Tag them. This sounds technical but it is entering your details on the digital file, which cannot be removed. This info really helps Google Images and search engines but more importantly anyone looking into the image data, like an architects or consultant, can see what the project is and who supplied, installed or carried out the work in the image. Copyright is still taken seriously in the UK so publishers can be sued for printing images which the advertiser does not have authorisation to use. Meta Data confirms who holds the copyright making their job easier and making the image far more likely to be used. However great mobile phones and tablets are, this is another reason to use proper cameras attached to proper operators. That amazing image you took on your phone might be great for Social Media but cannot be blown up for an architect to scrutinise, make the cover of a construction title or get printed out on your exhibition stand

We Meta Tag images which confirms who owns the Copyright but also includes the project and our client

As we have built up some amazing contacts over the years we obviously want our photographs to give a return on YOUR investment. It then makes sense for us to build up a network of interested parties who not only like the images but actually have influence in the industry you are promoting yourself to.

So yet another extra we offer is being able to post images on LinkedIn where we have, nigh on, 20,000 followers of our work.

These are all selected by us and include many of the UK’s best known Architects and Consultants who all have influence in both material and contractor decisions. It doesn’t end there however, more than half of our clients are based outside of the UK. It obviously makes sense as a European manufacturer to hand over their UK photography to a UK based contractor who can also offer this huge audience for their products completely FOC. The upside to you is that they will also see your products or capabilities so the opportunities are endless.

Stills photography is the most versatile format and also the most cost-effective

In 2019 we will be bringing out our own in-house magazine so our clients have the opportunity to showcase a project or their work in general. This could obviously reach the parts that your existing efforts don’t reach.

In the vast majority of cases Stills Photography can cost less than ￡300 to photograph a single Project. This is a very modest investment, especially compared to all of the other mediums. We still see our images pop up on brochures or in video presentations that we took 4 or 5 years ago. They don’t become irrelevant, if it shows what you do then it is still of interest to an influencer. A good still image will work for you somewhere in the world 24/7/365.

The Mona Lisa, probably the world’s best known still image, doesn’t move, doesn’t speak, doesn’t have its own Twitter or Facebook account but has attracted 8m+ viewers every year for decades.

This is quite an old image but was Hi-Res enough for a magazine cover getting our client on the front page.However great mobile phones are, very few would be high enough resolution to do this

At worst, if this influences you to at least engage a professional photographer then that is worthwhile. Once you reach that decision and compare the various offers, that is even better. If however you think you are saving money by not investing in photography then by all means let us try and convince you otherwise.

We have helped our clients win BALI Awards but delight in photographing anything outside

It isn’t necessarily about saving money but more about value. We may not seem like a very slick marketing organisation, mostly because we don’t want to be, but our ethos is what we can achieve for our client not how much we can make for our business. I never really fancied a Porsche anyway.

If you are in the UK, or selling into the UK, we can certainly help. Just like our Musician friend, you will be expected to do more with your budget.

We can offer to help, no strings attached!!

Paul Scott

See our website Front Elevation