Conceptually Speaking

As I often tell people, I love to get involved in concept development. So when prestigious Seattle law firm, Lasher Holzapfel Sperry & Ebberson contacted me for a quote for new website photography, I had to stop and ask "what is your firm hoping to communicate with the company website?"

First image in landing page slideshow

First image in landing page slideshow

Not many photographers start with this question, but for me it is the key to everything I do. As a people and product photographer, it is often more important to understand WHY I am taking a photograph as it is to know WHAT I am photographing!

I met with the marketing team to discuss objectives and develop some ideas. Previously, their site echoed many other legal websites that speak to various concepts but lack the kind of cohesive message that custom photography can provide. Their branding was set, so that provided a nice color palette to draw from. The site design was already place so we needed to create images that would work with the existing format. 

Second image in landing page slideshow

Second image in landing page slideshow

What emerged from my interviews with their marketing team was how strategic and client focused their approach to legal representation is. I discussed how the random stock photography currently employed on their site was not communicating that fully. Their site also did not convey approachability and struck a corporate tone that could deter individual clientele. Since the firm has practice groups in many areas of personal and corporate law, it was important to maintain a broad appeal.

Lasher website photography 3

Taking a cue from the strategic legal perspective and vision they offer their clients, we focused on a simplified iconic approach to the photography. Props representing strategy and problem solving set a universal theme of solution-based legal advice. 

Studio still-life photography was chosen to keep a clean, quick conceptual narrative running throughout the various pages of their website. I chose the color orange to work with their existing branding colors and set out to find the appropriate props. The objects we chose convey vision, strategy and core competencies in their discipline. Yet the effect is approachable and consistent — and doesn't detract from the copy. 

Lasher website photography 4

In the end, what started out as a request for new photography of the lobby, building exterior, and offices, evolved into a total photography overhaul that greatly enhances the online image for this firm. To see the website photography in action, check out Lasher.com

P.S. We also handled portraits of the law practice groups to complement the new site!