"Wow have you seen my latest digital camera. It does x, y, z, blah, blah, blah ..." sound familiar? The reality is that when it comes to persuading people, happy snaps, whether they are taken with a domestic film camera or a new technology digital pixel-beast, are still happy snaps. United Notions conceives ideas, develops photo briefs, sees endless portfolios from photographers and chooses just the right image expert on the right budget to achieve outstanding images for our clients.

And yes, we can do amazing things with our computers in the digital environment to re-touch, adjust and composite, but first you need 'the good images'. Below are examples of photo studies, projects, and on going portfolios to demonstrate the expertise of our imageographers.

Uncovering that deeper character
Internationally awarded press photographer Tim Georgeson was commissioned by United Notions for a series of portraits of members of the Sydney Jewish community for our fundraising client the Jewish Communal Appeal, as part of a magazine series over several years to acquaint others in their community with the life contributions and social issues championed by outstanding members of their community.

Shoot! the Board
Each year United Notions assists many companies report their results as listed companies. One of the more taxing logistical challenges is the capture of the Board of Directors, CEO and Chairman on film in a interesting and different way. While every company and Board has a conservative initial position our style and objective is to present them as thinking human beings who are involved in their company. This approachable, 'un-stiff' style is certainly the direction in today's friendlier retail style investor relations. Examples of the British American Tobacco Australia, Simsmetal and Sydney Gas boards and senior management follow as examples we believe do the right job for these companies.

'Industrial' doesn't have to be boring
Photographing industry is even more challenging than good portraiture or studio photography, because it's shot on location so weather usually impacts, lighting is difficult, it's often seen as an intrusion into important commercial process time so it also has to be done quickly. It is often massive and messy so aesthetics are a challenge too. But it can be great. It can deliver a photo essay of the essence, materials and processes of an enterprise that tell investors, financiers, government and venture partners more about the enterprise than a half day gruelling factory tour. Following are some examples of what we believe are good industrial imaging.

Where's! that photo of...
Having worked with a broad range of large enterprises over the past two decades we have seen hundreds of thousands of dollars of imaging wasted... generally through poor procedures, change of responsibilities and staff, or a lack of available time, or awareness of the real cost of this important business investment.

United Notions has developed detailed expertise to create and maintain corporate photo libraries for our clients. We have the creative and technical abilities to deliver an image bank that our clients can use, not struggle with. Here's how we did it recently for Simsmetal.

First step was to convince senior management that the existing photo library was for all practical purposes, unworkable. Commonly referred to in their Head Office as "The Box" it was a repository for what was left over after various divisions pillaged the images, which in many cases were never found again. The divisional managers were anxious about photos they sent to HO because they often disappeared into "The Box" (a euphemism for a black hole into a parallel universe). So timely, efficient co-operation was always hard to achieve in such a system.

Next, we wrote a comprehensive style brief for photographers on each continent, to be briefed by local management with an outline of objectives, types of subject, angles, lighting and styling to maintain a continuity of look across the brand and the enterprise. There was also a deadline.

Next all transparencies were collated at United Notions, reviewed, selected, categorised and scanned. Prior to categorisation we constructed a demonstration CD for various managers with a suggested framework/ nomenclature for their input to achieve relevant categorisation. Meanwhile we continued to review and test various image handling database software suites to find an optimal "relational" database technique that was intuitive to use and affordable, since this technology is rapidly evolving as digital imaging gains broader acceptance throughout business. The scanning process was also conducted at various resolutions; for quick (via the internet, small size images) distribution and preview, and also for use in on-screen powerpoint and multi-media presentations. High resolution versions for high quality print reproduction were also produced simultaneously and stored onto CDs which were distributed in each major marketing office.

The Result? No more lost images. Every marketing person has quick access to every image of the company. The investment is amortised across the entire enterprise. Regular updates keep the available images fresh, and historical images are there too when needed. As broadband becomes more globally available a further stage will be the move to an online library that is accessible via a web browser with user password technology that allows authorised people to access hi-res photos.