Photographic agencies are commonly associated with high end advertising and fashion photography. But what about the more everyday commercial photography that most businesses require to promote their services or products?
Few small, medium or even large national and UK businesses would consider using a photo-agency, as the rates charged plus agency commissions are likely to exceed their budgets.
The Commercial Photographers Network (CPN) was set up for businesses that require high quality professional photography at rates they can afford. The CPN is able to achieve this by using a close knit team of vastly experienced photographers (currently 17) who are strategically based across the UK. This means they always have an experienced photographer close to the location of the shoot, which reduces travel time and other associated costs.
The CPN also provides the unique service of being able to handle different shoots at multiple locations, all at the same time. They can even co-ordinate and manage this for clients. This also saves clients valuable time and resources as it removes the need to research, source and negotiate with individual local photographers.
A good example of a large company that benefited enormously from the service provided by the CPN is Natwest Bank. They commissioned the CPN, over 3 years, to provide panoramic photography to cover entire walls in over 400 newly refurbished branches across the UK. The project involved carefully planned location shoots as far afield as Orkney and Shetland (for Royal Bank of Scotland) to Cornwall, Wales, the North of England, the South of England and London.
Not all the projects the Commercial Photographers Network undertakes are as large or involved but numerous other clients have taken advantage of this unique service. These include Portakabin, The Co-op, Anchor Homes, Maven Capital Partners, EMJ Plastics and Dollar Rae to name a few.
The CPN provides photography for a range of specialist commercial sectors which include advertising, architecture, interiors, corporate, portraits, industrial, editorial , products, press and pr.
Another unique thing about the CPN, is that it isn’t really a photo-agency. It’s actually run as a co-operative by its own members. One huge advantage of this for clients is that there are no large overheads due to the costs of staff and premises which need to be factored in to their rates. This means that most of what the client is paying is going directly towards hiring highly experienced photographers and not agency fees and commission.
It’s also worth highlighting that all the photographers in the CPN know each other personally. They all own a share in the company, have a vested interest in it and the quality of work produced. This creates an excellent creative environment in which problems are shared and overcome, all with the aim of meeting and exceeding a client’s expectations.
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If you’d like to find out more about the Commercial Photographers Network, then get in touch. They’re always happy to chat about any project, no matter how big or small.
