Freestyle Event Photography were commissioned by the Australian brand manager for the international WSP Group to take photos for their new website and corporate imagery. WSP have 36,000 employees in 500 offices in 40 countries around the world. The new brand roll-out for the company was developed by an international ad agency. Freestyle were provided with a brand document which set out their approach to corporate portraits.
A company of unconventional thinkers
WSP is a company of experts who thrive on challenge and unconventional thinking. We wanted the look and feel of people and our portraits to reflect that.
what was different about these headshots?
Well, for one thing, they all required some post production work, with a layering of filters to produce an effect as if the portraits were taken through glass.
There was none of the usual posing you might get for corporate portraits, the kind where you use a flash and a white background. Instead our approach was closer to street photography. We wanted people to be themselves, and to capture people in moments of thought, or speculative thinking. A more natural approach, if you like. We chose a variety of different settings, like lobbies and boardrooms. We had people looking away form the camera, or glancing quickly at the lens. We photographed them looking out of windows, into the skyline. We used natural light which produces a softer look. The resulting portraits are neither overly staged or highly manicured.