Written by Alex Harris

What’s one of the best ways to get work?

Referrals.

Do you trust someone more to do a job for you when they’ve been recommended by someone you know? Of course.

Thanks to a referral from a fellow photographer (thanks Mike!), I was contacted by MSC Cruises Belgium (one of the largest cruise companies in the world) to shoot their new Benelux Country Manager, Frank Van den Steen. They’d worked with Mike before, so they trusted his recommendation.

MSC Cruises want to strengthen their leading position in the market; appointing a new Country Manager is part of the plan.

Their request was for new business portraits that Frank could use for his online profiles - LinkedIn, for example - and for articles, interviews and press releases for the coming years. His current headshots were from previous jobs, so now outdated and obviously not relevant anymore, featuring different company logos.

The immediate need was for a shot to use in a press release to the travel sector, planned for the day after the photoshoot.

For someone in a senior management position, it’s obviously important to produce strong, professional portraits. Frank had a good idea of the kind of shots he wanted – executive, contemporary, reflecting his personality; and also clearly representing the company and sector.

The shoot was a great collaboration between me, Frank and his colleagues - a joint effort to find the best place in their office, moving the furniture and lighting around as needed to get the best shots.

Straight after the shoot, we went through the photos to choose the shot for the press release and also the client’s other favourites. This is often a great approach – things are still fresh in the client’s mind and I can give some face-to-face advice (in case of doubt between two similar shots, for example, or which photos show the person better).

The next day the press release went out on time.

Photos delivered, deadline met, client happy.

Here’s the news post on the MSC Cruises company website:

To give an idea of how business portraits like this can be used, below are some of the articles the photo was used in. Click each one to read them.

Thanks for reading.

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Also looking for business portraits or headshots? Or know someone who might be? Feel free to contact me to see how I can help.

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My bio: I’m Alex, specialised in portraits, business headshots and commercial photography. I put you, your company, your team in the picture in photos and video.

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