Dogs, Dogs, Dogs - Brand Marketing Photographer /  by Jan

I recently posted a blog called, “Yoga vs Pilates”. This blog post was about two separate photo shoots that I did for a local pilates studio and a yoga studio. In this post I described my approach to creating these marketing or branding photos which are predominantly meant for social media and maybe their own website. And I teased that I would have something a little different coming up.

Well, today’s blog post it’s dogs, dogs, dogs... And an owner. I was approached by Julia, who is the founder of the company Tails & Trails, they specialize in dog harnesses, collars and leads. She already had beautiful product photos, and loads of phone pics of her own dog, but no high-end studio photos of a selection of dogs wearing the different products. So she booked in with me and we headed to the studio.

I immediately came up with a mood board, a selection of photos, to give her an idea of what I was thinking of doing and also one with photos that I didn’t like and wouldn’t want to do. We were both on the same page with what we wanted to achieve from this photo shoot and we both had the same icks when it came to dog photography.

Julia

Founder of the company Tails & Trails

Her company colours are all muted, more earthy colours, such as sand and sage, so we went for a similarly coloured background in the studio. Something I would describe as a sort of clay and sand mix. It fit the brand identity perfectly! With six dogs and many different collar and harness patterns and colours, we tackled the shoot. Dog treats always within reach.

I purposefully set up the lighting so that the dogs had a wide area to sit and pose for us. They didn’t have to hit the mark perfectly, like I might expect a human to. That made life a lot easier and allowed the dogs to get comfortable where they felt comfortable, which resulted in some surprisingly lovely poses, smiles and down-the-barrel ‘Blue Steel’.

5-star Google Review

These kind of marketing photo shoots are always lovely to be a part of. It’s so exciting to see other businesses expand their presence on the internet and make that next step with a beautiful website and online shop or some gorgeous Instagram posts. And as Julia also mentioned in her 5-star Google review, it’s great to make someone else’s vision into a reality:

“Jan and Nikki were both absolutely brilliant. The shoot went very smoothly and they knew exactly what shots would look best (even though they were given the difficult task of shooting with dogs). I couldn’t be happier with the outcome, looking forward to working with them again in the future.”
— Julia from Tails & Trails

So if your business needs some marketing photography, or you want your online presence to better suit your brand identity or you’re an up and coming business, say hi to me here. I’m also good at photographing humans!

O&R - Garryvoe Wedding Photographer /  by Jan

A wedding at the Garryvoe Hotel. Strange, usually when I’m in east Cork for a wedding it’s in Ballycotton.

This was my first wedding of the year between Oisín and Rachel. It was still winter, in the middle of February, so too cold for cliff backgrounds or beach photos, but we did have the lovely, cozy warm ambiance of the Garryvoe Hotel.

I always like to highlight three things that stood out to me at a wedding.

1) An Indoor Couple Shoot

I have done partial couple shoots indoors or unexpected ones indoors because the weather changed suddenly but this was a couple shoot I planned from the get go to be inside. With the Garryvoe Hotel having this lovely library that I could set up as a photography studio with my lighting equipment was amazing! As always, I had to move some furniture out of the way with the help of some strong waiters but the effort was worth it and I love how these photos came out!

Before every wedding, I get in do a video call with the couple to get to know them and to understand what’s important to them on their big day. Oisín and Rachel had mentioned that as much as they wanted to have a couple shoot, it wasn’t something that was that important to them. This isn’t uncommon and those couples often find it more important to be around friends and family. And I absolutely understand that, so this couple shoot actually just took 10 minutes. They were delighted. They had some beautiful shots of them as a newly wed couple and didn’t miss a thing.

2) The ‘Friends’ Ceremony

Oisín and Rachel had such a laid back and funny ceremony, no doubt because of the celebrant who did a fantastic job on the day. But amazingly, it turned out that the celebrant was the uncle. Because of that he was able to create such a unique ceremony for them and part of that was reading out Joey’s (from Friends) best man speech:

“We are gathered here today on this joyous occasion to celebrate the special love that Oisín and Rachel share.

It is a love based on giving and receiving as well as having and sharing. And the love that they give and have is shared and received. And through this having and giving and sharing and receiving, we too can share and love and have... and receive…”

It had everyone in stitches!

3) The Entrance Song

This was just a small element of the day, but it stood out to me. When entering the dinner hall for the speeches and the dinner, couples will often have a special entrance for that moment, sometimes accompanied by music. On this day, Oisín and Rachel chose a very untypical song for a wedding; “The Next Episode” by Dr Dre featuring Snoop Dogg.

They came dancing out, absolutely loving it. They really made their big day uniquely theirs, and I love to see that!

5-star Google Review

Rachel left us a lovely review, I thought I’d share it here.

“We would highly recommend Jan and Nikki to anyone looking for a wedding photographer.
They were very professional and attentive and truly made us feel at ease. The photos are brilliant and we got them back very fast.
Thanks again Jan and Nikki”
— Rachel

If you would like to tempt me away from Ballycotton and shoot at the Garryvoe or somewhere else in east Cork, say hi to me here for wedding packages and the chance to book in for a video call with me.

See more photos from this lovely Garryvoe wedding down below!

Garryvoe Wedding Photos - Ceremony

Garryvoe Wedding Photos - Getting Ready

Garryvoe Wedding Photos - Reception

Garryvoe Wedding Photos - Speeches

Yoga vs Pilates - Marketing Photographer Cork /  by Jan

I’m breaking new ground with this blog post. For the first time I’m combining two shoots into one post. I only thought it would make sense. So let’s kick off this new oddity!

When I’m not photographing weddings, couples, families or babies, I do a bit of corporate and commercial photography as well. People starting businesses or with existing businesses will approach me for some photography work. They need photos to market and advertise their business online, either on their own website and/or on Instagram.

In this post, I thought it would be great to combine the work I did for NOLA Therapy & Yoga, with Reform Pilates Cork. Both studios are focused on self-improvement through health and fitness, so they naturally fit together into one blog post quite well.

“We’ve done both family and professional photos with Jan and both have exceeded our expectations! Jan is very talented and the photos are incredible. He’s also so easy to work with and very friendly. This makes the photo sessions relaxed and comfortable, which make yours and his ideas/vision turn out great. We were so happy with our family photos that we had him take photos of our yoga studio and physio space as well. His pricing is right on point, you get great value for what you spend. We will definitely use him again in the future!”
— Madeleine

NOLA Yoga

“Madeleine also had a very clear idea of the things she wanted to highlight about her yoga studio, which was especially her baby yoga classes.”

Brand Marketing Photography

Before doing a brand marketing photo shoot like this, I’ll discuss with the client on a) what they would like to advertise or highlight with these photos and b) where they’ll be displayed. For instance, using the photos mainly for Instagram stories would require the photos to be in portrait orientation, and if they would like to add in text with class times and other details, it would be massively beneficial to have a good amount of empty space in the photos to facilitate that. For websites, a more traditional landscape orientation might work better.

NOLA in particular were very adamant that they needed the photos for printed posters and Instagram posts that would allow a lot of information. We can see that here:

This is why I kept their photos very simple in terms of the content shown in them. There weren’t a lot of objects that I included in the photos and we spent a lot of time stripping away as much as possible. The photos are hence devoid of any clutter and they really work well for that purpose. I just had the main instructor, Madeleine in the images, without any clients. This kept everything minimalist and clean, allowing her to fill the images herself.

Madeleine also had a very clear idea of the things she wanted to highlight about her yoga studio, which was especially her baby yoga classes. Having this clear direction really helped.

With Reform Pilates however, the intention was more to show off the facilities and the equipment. So while I still kept the photos clear of as much clutter as possible, I didn’t shy away from filling the image with more people and objects and equipment. I used the lines of the equipment and the room itself to create aesthetically pleasing geometry, incorporating leading lines to draw you in and playing around with shapes. This was really fun to do. I also used a wide angle lens for some more dramatic looking shots in comparison to the yoga photo shoot.

Reform Pilates

“I used the lines of the equipment and the room itself to create aesthetically pleasing geometry…”

I am doing more and more of these kind of shoots for local businesses and working professionals. I also have a very fun photo shoot coming up soon which I am very much looking forward to share on my blog as soon as it’s done.

So if you need photos to advertise and market your business online, say hi to me here. I’d be happy to help you grow your business and show potential clients what you are all about!