Office photography for Avensure, Manchester..

Reportage office photography is something that I shoot a lot. The working office has changed so much over the last few years and businesses need to represent the inviting and staff friendly environments that they now provide for their employees. Culture in the workplace has changed along with the swanky fittings and interior designs. Businesses recognise that good people are worth looking after, so ensure that their workplace, business culture and colleagues combine well to provide a productive and harmonious environment.

My job is to provide documentary photography that records this and conveys the message to clients and potential new recruits. The office is normally hit by a wave of dread as I arrive in the morning with cameras and lighting equipment. Sometimes the kit is kept to a minimum and we just use natural light, which not only reflects the true workspace but avoids the ‘rabbit in the headlights’ effect with those who I am photographing. Like many lines of work, my job is all about relationships and once I start talking to my subjects they relax. I always try to avoid work based conversations as this often results in frowns and serious expressions, so we get into personal lives, hobbies and ‘fun stuff’. Of course, it always helps to have some banter for a laugh or two and this is involves an art director, my assistant or another work colleague. After the shoot the feedback is often a sense of surprise at how easy the shoot was. I’ve met loads of really interesting people over the years and it’s my fascination with different walks of life and the variety of places that my work takes me which has held my interest in photographing people at work.

Avensure contacted me to come to their Manchester office after a recent refurb and tell a story about the people and culture in their workplace. They need a mix of staff portraits and office photography that showed what they were about. Really nice bunch of people and clearly and good working environment.

Portrait photography and lifestyle office photography are two areas that I specialise in and I have worked with businesses all over the UK, so bring on the variety and funky office fit outs!