corporate – Sarah Furniss Photography

Phone photography for small businesses

Managing a small business means taking on all sorts of roles that larger companies can assume will be carried out by whole teams of people. Book-keeping, marketing, and PR, procurement and more fill a sole-trader’s time. Love it or loath it, managing your social media presence is no exception and it makes demands on nearly all businesses, one way or another.

We live in an image-saturated world and ensuring you have a steady stream of photographs can end up being prohibitively expensive if you have to employ photographers while on a limited budget. Fortunately, the latest smart-phone models make taking photographs an incredibly democratic process – nearly everyone can capture suitable images, provided they follow a few basic guidelines. That doesn’t mean you can do without professionals, and there will certainly be times when it really matters that you commission someone to create high quality images for your website and offline promotional material. But, far from photography being over, as some high profile photo-people have claimed, photography and moving-image content are flourishing. Even so, it’s quite amazing how many truly dreadful photographs there are out there, sometimes being used as business content, which is completely unnecessary in this day and age.

Thankfully, just a few simple rules can help those lacking in confidence or experience. I offer workshops to people who are looking to make the most of their phones, and have helped artists, business owners, teachers and students see the photographic value in their multi-tasking pocket computers. We will cover topics such as harnessing the light, composition, what apps to use or avoid, if and when to use filters, when to use a professional, personal taste, social-media case-studies and a brief introduction to the ethics of people photography. Workshops can be delivered as one-off sessions or over several weeks.

Please get in touch to find out more at 07581 694934 or via hello@sarahfurniss.com

A selection of images I have taken on my phone (c)SFurniss2015-21

Headshots – for promotional material

Creating headshots that look informal and ‘un-corporate’, yet professional can be a challenge. However, both my client and I were really pleased with this image. I love that it was picked, as it captures a sense of playfulness in a way that most corporate headshots seem to miss out on. Of course, all this depends on what sort of business you’re promoting – a light touch might be completely wrong! Nevertheless, in this case, it was great to make the most of the window, a lovely reflection and a super smile.

Do get in touch to discuss the sort of image your business would benefit from at hello@sarahfurniss.com or check out my website http://www.sarahfurniss.co.uk.

Promotional portrait for Lisa Askem, yoga teacher and business woman. (c)SFurniss2021

Headshots – Corporate

When I recently changed my business name I wrote to all my previous clients to inform them. Happily, getting in touch with people again, and perhaps especially as we come out of a period of repeated lockdowns, led to a few bookings and here are the results of one of them. As I said in my previous blog, I love people-photography more than most other forms, and it was especially fun spending time with an old friend and client who needed new headshots for her job. She has yet to make her choices from a large selection of images, but here are a couple that sprung out while I was working on them.

If you’re re-entering the job market, starting a new business, or just fancy refreshing your profile images, do get in touch. Visit http://www.sarahfurniss.co.uk for more information.

(c)SFurniss2021

Corporate Photography

Earlier this year, I took a new client up to Wandsworth Common to grab some natural outdoor headshots towards the end of the afternoon. It was still winter time, so the sunlight at that time of day was just great for the kind of thing we were were after.

Shot taken just before the sun went down on Wandsworth Common ©SFurniss2021 (Formerly SJField)

Corporate Photography

In recent months you’re bound to have read about lots of people changing jobs, or else using the ongoing disruption to set up on their own. Whether you’re a micro business just starting out, beginning as a tiny cog inside a giant conglomerate, or a captain of industry, make sure you’ve got some great new profile images for your site and social media.

Over lockdown I worked for a few people who used the time to set up a long-dreamed of businesses or who simply wanted a fresher, more professional look on LinkedIn.

Daisy Bedhead was one of those people and here are a couple of shots from our morning together. You can catch up with Daisy’s new venture on Instagram and if you’re in the market for a new bedhead – get in touch for her bespoke designs.

One of my favourite of Daisy’s fabrics – and it photographed so well too.

©SFurniss2021 (formerly SJField)

South London Photographer: Corporate Headshots

We’re barely through the first week of the new year and I’ve not stopped since first thing Monday morning. I can’t claim ‘no rest for the wicked’ because I was lucky enough to have had a super break over Christmas (thanks to all who made that possible and no, that does not include the drone gremlins at Gatwick), which meant being more than happy to leap back in. It seems to be going well for now – yesterday after I finished off an edit and my clients told me they were very pleased with the results, they paid me half an hour after I sent the invoice. You don’t get that very often, do you? I was exceedingly grateful! I will certainly be popping a couple of these lovely faces up on my site and thought I’d share a sample here too. If you also fancy a fresh new look on your website or social media platforms for 2019, do get in touch for details about corporate headshots and profile pictures. In the meantime, I hope your holidays were everything you wanted and now that the twinkly lights and silver tinsel have gone back in the cupboard, that you’re also feeling ready to get on with ‘stuff’ again. (c)SJField2018

South London Photographer: Author’s portrait

I began 2018 with such an interesting job when I photographed a writer called Elaine Halligan, whose book will be published later this year.

Elaine is a parenting adviser in her day job but she has written about how she and her family had to navigate between society’s expectations of how a child ought to be and who her son actually is in reality. The book is called My Child’s Different and, according to her publisher, “tells the true story of her son Sam, who by the age of seven had been excluded from three schools and was later diagnosed with a whole host of labels, ranging from autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) to pathological demand avoidance (PDA) to severe dyslexia. He had become ‘the alphabet kid’. However, having never given up on the picture they had of who he could be, Sam’s parents took positive parenting courses and researched all kinds of different therapies to support him. They believed he was a good and capable person, and that belief in turn gave Sam his resilience, grit and an ability to bounce back in the face of adversity.” (Crown House Publishing, 2018) Elaine’s son, now a young adult, is doing brilliant things and is described as a “budding entrepreneur”.

It was lovely chatting with Elaine and hearing her story, and I was pleased to see a picture I took online so soon after our shoot.

You can pre-order the book here.

If you’re a writer in need of a photograph, do get in touch with me via email, photo@sarahjanefield.co.uk, or give me a call on 07581 694934 to chat through the sort of thing you’re looking for.

(c)SJField 2018

South London Photographer: Corporate Headshots

I thought January was meant to be a quiet month. I haven’t stopped since the year started, and am only just beginning to catch up with myself. Still have that pesky tax return to get sorted before the end of the month though and anyone in the same boat as me has my sincere sympathies. One of the things keeping me busy was sorting out some corporate photos. These were for a relaxed PR company so we went with natural light and conversational visual tone.

(c)SJField 2016/17

South London Photographer: Focusing on community

Last night I photographed an event at the Grosvenor Arms, where I’ve been documenting some changes since Brendan Conway and his partners took it over. The group are studying ways to create ventures that encourage genuine human connection within communities, and looking at ways of providing spaces where positive interaction between businesses, families and individuals can occur. It’s really great to know these concerns are bing addressed by society.

I was lucky with the light and some great moments. I left the group having a brilliant time and I hope they enjoyed themselves.

Short blog this time – but I’ll be back soon!

Images (c)SJField 2016

South London Photographer: High up in the City

I was really lucky this week to be asked to photograph a round table event hosted by British Land, held in the amazing Leadenhall Building, colloquially known as The Cheesegrater.

In the morning as I got the boys ready for school, No 2 asked me what I was doing for work that day. When I replied, photographing a round table event, he suggested I do it at home since our own kitchen table is round. I’m pretty sure the event attendees were happier in the stunning surroundings of the Leadenhall Building, designed by architects, Rogers Stirk Harbour, than they’d have been in my cramped and cluttered kitchen. The views are a little better too – an overgrown magnolia tree vs uninterrupted views of London for miles and miles…. I know which I’d have chosen. (Not sure what Son No 2 would make of the fact they weren’t even sitting at a round table but a long rectangular one instead.)

Although I was mainly concentrating on taking photographs, I did have a listen in and was heartened to hear architects, planners and various sustainability experts discussing the enourmous benefits and importance of building communities, and how integral a strong sense of community is to general well-being. As someone who had a fairly nomadic and transitory start to life, I am deeply committed to my own community and also extremely grateful to the people in it who have supported me in all sorts of ways over the last few years. And despite the high costs of living here, which of course was also discussed at length, I do feel I’d have to be dragged kicking and screaming from my little corner of London.

In fact, without my community my own business wouldn’t be starting to flourish as it is. And I’d not have had opportunities such as the one I had this week, where I got to visit the Leadenhall Building. It really was quite spectacular.

Here are just a few of the many images I took once I was no longer needed to record the meeting – lucky me!

All images (c)Sarah-Jane Field 2015