Contemporary Corporate Headshots Outdoors

My last post looked at traditional corporate headshots, and today I’m going to look at shooting contemporary corporate headshots outdoors as the first of a two posts on contemporary corporate headshots. Next time I’ll look at shooting this style of headshot indoors.

It’s not easy to define exactly what makes a corporate headshot “contemporary”. It’s probably easiest just to say that it is “not traditional” in the sense that it’s not taken against a plain background.

A contemporary shot could be an environmental portrait, where the background is significant. In this example the subject is a project manager who deals with large infrastructure projects which often include a transport element, so I suggested that we shoot at a pedestrian underpass at a train station. This has meaning to him, his clients and his partners.

These type of shots can be done just about anywhere. The first consideration is to find somewhere that is meaningful or relevant for the subject and the business. Secondly, we may have to arrange access and/or permits, but the vast majority of locations are easily accessed and free.

This next example of Mark Britt, MD of ninemsn (Mi9) and was shot outside their offices in Australia Square in Sydney CBD:

And here’s a final example, also in Sydney CBD:

These type of shot can be set up and executed very quickly and tend to be more interesting to viewers than a traditional headshot.

One disadvantage is that we are at the mercy of the weather, where rain can ruin a shoot and wind can be an issue for people’s hair.

For our next post in this series on corporate headshots I’ll look at this contemporary style but shot indoors.