Brand Awareness Photo Shoot with Coulson Oil and Roadrunner Stores | Arkansas Advertising Photographer

October 02, 2020 in Advertising Photography, Behind the Scenes

Earlier in June, I had the opportunity to work with my friends at Couslon Oil photo shoot for one of their divisions, Road Runner Stores.

The objective of the photo shoot was to showcase Road Runner’s operations from both the consumer’s and the employee’s standpoints. The photos introduce Road Runner as an integral part of the community, dedicated to excellent customer service. Photos showcase that Road Runner is a local, Arkansas brand with a high-quality selection of products.

The photos can be found online, on social media, and they are also being used for other marketing and hiring materials.

I worked with Coulson Oil a few years ago on a project to photograph a few of their selected gas stations. I am extremely proud of this project. The goal of the project was simple: Coulson Oil was building a new corporate headquarters in North Little Rock, Arkansas and they wanted artwork of a few selected stations to hang on the walls. You can see more on this project on my blog.

I worked closely with Coulson’s Brand Loyalty Manager. She sent over a detailed creative brief showing the angle and style of photos they were looking for. Instead of paid talent, the Client preferred to use several of Road Runner’s team members to be both employees and customers. Throughout the photo shoot, I proofed photos in real time to my iPad using CamRanger so the Client could make angle and posing changes as need. We kept the lighting pretty basic and natural. We used a Profoto B10 with a Westcott Beauty Dish and another Profoto B1X as a kicker light as needed.

Over the two day photo shoot at both their Texarkana, Texas and Conway, Arkansas locations, we shot the same setup twice: with and without masks due to Covid-19. I wanted the Client to be able to use the photos down the road when (we hope) the pandemic has burned itself out and to be able to use them should the pandemic stick around for a while.

In addition to brand awareness photos, the Client also wanted a handful of beauty interiors to showcase the design and the cleanliness of the stores. During my gas station exteriors project mentioned earlier, I paid a visit inside each store for a visit to the ladies room, a Coke and bag of chips for the drive home. Each and every store I visited were remarkably clean and fresh… especially the restrooms. The restrooms have an all-in-one touch-free sink, soap dispenser and hand dryer.

Oh and if you’ve never had Champs Chicken-on-a-Stick…you’re missing out. They are hand-battered and cooked fresh daily. I know what you’re thinking…gas station food??? But this chicken was damn delicious.

A few behind the scenes photos

Commissioned Photo Shoot for Cathy Owen: Arkansas Portrait Photographer

May 16, 2018 in Behind the Scenes, Portraits

On April 3, 2018, Cathy Owen, chairman of Eagle Bank & Trust, and chairman, president and CEO of State Holding Co. in Little Rock, was installed as the Chairman of the Arkansas Bankers Association. She is also the first female in the 128 year history of the organization to serve as its Chairman. Cathy was featured on a recent cover of Arkansas Banker magazine with an accompanying profile.

Cathy Owen, 2018-2019 Chariman of the Arkansas Bankers Association.

I first met Cathy Owen a few years prior when I photographed her for a profile for Arkansas Business. Since then, Cathy has been receiving my quarterly e-mailers I send to all my clients. She contacted me back in January to discuss her ideas and desires for the photo shoot. Cathy wanted a clean, contemporary and modern setting for the photos. In addition to photos for the magazine, Cathy requested other photos for various professional needs and we updated her executive head shot.

We chose a glass stairwell located at a privately owned business. The business also had an old banking vault door dating back to the late 1800s. It was a perfect location for the secondary artwork needing for the project.

I scouted the location the week before with Cathy to determine angles, lighting placement and to discuss wardrobe. With the transparent glass that had a slight blue-green tint, Cathy brought numerous clothing choices in varying colors so we could determine which ones worked best against the glass.

Cathy changed outfits four times throughout our half day photo shoot and each one complimented her and the location perfectly. We chose the vibrant red, Eagle Bank red, as the final outfit for the photo against the brass vault door. She is pictured with her husband Steve.

“I was very impressed with the originality and quality of her professional photography on the 2017 photos she emailed. I couldn’t have been any more impressed with the professionalism and end results of the photography work of Karen and her husband.” -- Cathy Owen.

The glass stairwell had a ton of natural light but I knew that was not going to be nearly enough. I kept the lighting clean and simple: For the stairwell portraits, I used one Profoto B1x with and my modifier was a three-foot Octabox with a simple white bounce. We needed a double arm on the C-stand to safely hang it over the top railing to give the lighting angle I needed.

The headshot was the same setup with an added smaller softbox as a hair light. For the vault, we turned off all the overhead florescent lights (it was in an office) and the key was the same B1x combo plus another B2 bounced into the white reflector to light up the vault door.

I also used the CamRanger system to proof photos directly to my iPad so Cathy could see her photos and make requests and any adjustments as the day progressed.

Check out a few BTS below.

Heart Care and Health Care | Arkansas Advertising Photographer

September 07, 2017 in Advertising Photography, Behind the Scenes, Commercial Photography, Healthcare, Video Production, Video Work

A world-class, heart care center. In Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Earlier this year, I worked with the BackFocus Productions, EXIT Marketing and National Park Medical Center on their latest television campaign for the Heart and Vascular Center of Central Arkansas.

The Heart and Vascular Center of Central Arkansas is the largest, most comprehensive freestanding cardiac facility in the region, featuring more cath labs than any other heart center in the region. Hot Springs is located an hour's drive from Little Rock so having such an advanced heart facility is important for Hot Springs as well as the surrounding communities. It is the only integrated heart center in the region, combining Outpatient, Inpatient, and critical care in one heart center while also connected to a full service acute care hospital.

Below are a few of the TV spots along with accompanying still images. We spent several days filming and photographing in the new heart center as well as the main hospital. An extra thanks goes to EXIT Marketing for asking us to be a part of this project as well as the staff of NPMC.