Crew

Getting a large group of people into a photograph — properly, where they all look like they belong there and not like they’ve been herded — is a different skill to most photography jobs. It’s part logistics, part light, part knowing how to work a room.

The planning matters. A group of forty people doesn’t just arrange itself. Before the shoot, I’ll want to know the numbers, the space, the context — is this the whole company, a department, a board, a floor? Are there people who’ll need to be front and centre, or is this genuinely everyone equal? A bit of thought before anyone shows up saves a considerable amount of shuffling on the day.

All the People

On the day itself, the job is moving fast and keeping energy up. People standing around waiting for a photograph to happen is the enemy — you lose the room, you lose the faces, and suddenly everyone looks like they’re queuing for something unpleasant. I work with a flexible lighting setup that gets good results quickly without turning the office into a film set. In, sorted, done.

Crew

The other thing — and this is the bit people don’t always think about — is getting something out of the group. A technically correct photograph of sixty people staring at a camera is fine. A technically correct photograph of sixty people actually reacting to something is considerably better. I’ve a few tricks. Some are older than others. They work.

The goal is a photograph where everyone’s in it, everyone’s visible, and — ideally — everyone looks like they actually want to be there. Where it feels like a team rather than an attendance register.

These work for company-wide shots, department groups, leadership teams, conference delegates, award winners, graduation cohorts. Indoors, outdoors, awkward mezzanines, grand atriums — I’ve shot groups in most configurations Dublin can throw at a photographer.

If you need everyone in it, get in touch.