Commercial Photoshoot for Shelby Kentucky Tourism with Horses, Bourbon, and Shopping
While I mostly identify as a filmmaker, I’ve spent years honing my chops on the photography side of the business, and I’m always trying to learn how to become better at what I do. From developing a better eye for the still frame, to learning strobe lighting, and working with talent to get just the right pose or action, it’s been a fun journey and I’m really starting to see the quality of my work get better with each passing year.
The quality of my photography has developed so much that I’ve been getting asked to shoot more commercial projects than ever before. The fine folks at. ShelbyKY Tourism reached out during the summer of 2023 and I was able to make a winning proposal to take on a shoot for them to create a series of refreshed images from a several of their key tourist attractions.
After reviewing the brief and several discussion with the client team, I set forward with a location scout. My goal was to take time to look at lighting and angles at each location, and come away with 3-4 different options for where to stage images. This way when the shoot day actually came, we would have a plan and not have to waste any time scouting or resetting gear.
Our locations included a horse farm that doubles as a bed and breakfast, an outlet mall, a historic restaurant, and a craft distillery.
Our approach to the shoot was relatively minimal; we kept it to a 3-person crew with minimal lighting in order to stay light and fast. With only two shoot days to execute our shoots at 4 locations, we had to be intentional and efficient with everything we did. Our kit was able to set/strike fast so we could get 3-4 setups within just a couple of hours before moving to the next place.
Using a tethered setup was essential for image review and confidence, for both myself and the client on set. We ran into issues one day with the USB cable so I quickly shifted to a wifi review on an iPad which worked great in a pinch! Always have a backup!!
In the end, we had some great locations and talent to match, and the client was very happy with the images and the process. We’re looking forward to seeing the finished photos in the wild on brochures, fliers, and more.