United Way Shoot

© 2010 Church Hill Photography, LLC. All rights reserved.

This image is from one of the happiest shoots I've ever worked on.  How can you not love a ten-month old baby girl who's had a nap and a snack? Plus, she's trying to give the photographer her toy!

We (assistant Hassan, stylist Winifred & I) were asked to photograph folks for the United Way of Greater Richmond & Petersburg annual campaign advertising. 

The whole time mom and baby were on the set, Winifred and Hassan were singing, clapping their hands, making funny faces and handing the baby different toys to play with.  Good times!  But that's what you do for a 10-month-old when you bring her into a new environment with lots of strangers and bright lights...just throw her a little party on the set, and she's fine.  Oh, I forgot to mention she's an early walker...so we had to chase her down a few times, too.

The mother and daughter are beneficiaries of CHIP: Children's Health Involving Parents of Richmond, Virginia.  They're a partner agency with United Way and were chosen to be featured in this year's campaign advertising.

When we shot this, the and art director had yet to finalize the layouts for the billboards and brochures.  The subjects were also doing video interviews, so we were asked to shoot using same background for continuity with the video.

We're used to layouts changing from the original concept, so we weren't too surprised a couple weeks later when we were asked to "clip" the subjects from the gray background so they could float on a white background for the final billboard layout.

©2010 Church Hill Photography, LLC.  All rights reserved.

Of course, the clients never choose my favorite image for the ad, but I'm used to that.  They've hired us to shoot a variety of poses and expressions, so, as long as the clients' get what they're looking for, we're happy.