“Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.” – Jonathan Swift

Ever wondered what a Steel Shutter photoshoot looks like behind the scenes? During a recent shoot in the Fort Worth Stockyards with The Herd, we captured everything that goes into capturing the perfect image. Check out the amazing time lapse video at the end of the post!

Steel Shutter photography captures the moments that matter for you and your clients. For this shoot, the longhorns from The Herd in Fort Worth posed for crisp new portraits. The modern images capture the spirit of the Fort Worth stockyards in a fresh way. Jeremy Enlow loves to photograph Fort Worth, and his work has been featured in 360 West and Fort Worth, Texas magazines.

Related post: See Jeremy’s photographs of Texas in Black and White here.

Location, Location, Location

To capture the longhorns’ portraits, Jeremy constructed an 18 foot sweep (seamless background) right in the Herd’s barn. Photographing the longhorns in their home put the subjects at ease and added an authentic dimension to the images – important considerations in any photoshoot. Local celebrities, the longhorns posed for the camera with ease.

The crisp white background allows the longhorns to take center stage, without any distraction from the textured brick walls of the barn. The organic movement and texture of the barn’s sand floor adds context and visual dimension to the shots.

Jeremy Enlow of Steel Shutter photography specializes in taking photographs in locations with unique demands, including hospitals, on-location shoots across the country (or globe!), and sports events. With more than 36,000 images published worldwide, Jeremy brings experience and skill to your photoshoot.

Getting the Perfect Shot

Photography, like any art, requires a great deal of experimentation and creative vision. Jeremy got on the ground to capture the longhorns’ best angles. The four-legged subjects weren’t too thrilled to have someone laying down with a camera in front of them, so their handler stayed nearby to keep them calm. In the end, the angle was just right and well worth the extra effort.  

Jeremy gets on ground level to grab the perfect shot

Pulling off great shots like these is rarely easy or neat work, but it’s always worth it. Trying out new ideas and ways of capturing images is central to Steel Shutter photoshoots. Follow Jeremy on Instagram @JeremyEnlow for more behind the scenes shots. There, you can see the unique perspectives and techniques he employs in his work.

These longhorns’ portraits turned out so well, aluminum prints from the shoot have been on display at Jeremy’s pop up gallery in Fort Worth. 

Putting it All Together

You can see how the shoot came together from start to finish in this timelapse video. From constructing the 18 foot sweep to each longhorn’s closeup, we’re showing you it all.

Ready for your Steel Shutter photoshoot? Contact Jeremy using the button below to begin your free inquiry!

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In 2015, Texas advertising and media photographer Jeremy Enlow was given exclusive access to the prestigious reverse-DDD brand cow camp operations on the historic Waggoner Ranch. When Jeremy visited, he encountered 26 cowboys working with just their ropes and horses. “The cowboys, some whom have worked on the ranch for over 40 years, don’t have computers or four wheelers,” Enlow says.  “They cowboy the way it was done 50-75 years ago.  I wanted to document this way of life for younger generations before it disappears.” Traveling to the ranch from April-July 2015,  Jeremy captured more than 14,000 images. By November, he self-published the award-winning book Cowboys of the Waggoner Ranch. The first run of books sold out in 10 days.

Now on it’s third run, Cowboys of the Waggoner Ranch has won numerous awards, including the Next Generation Indie Publishers 2016 award in Historical Non-Fiction. Throughout the process of photographing and self-publishing his inaugural book, Enlow has learned a great about the publishing process. Below are his tips for authors and photographers looking to self-publish.

Top 3 Tips for Self-Publishing Authors

• Don’t skimp on quality. Seek out the best in the industry to help you.  Start at the top and work your way down.

• Go with your gut and don’t second guess. Everyone will want to give you advice.  Some will be good and some will turn out to be terrible.  At the end of the day it’s your book… Surround yourself with industry professionals and your chances of success will go up.

• Set hard deadlines and meet them. Otherwise you will always be fine tuning a book and it will never hit the press.

Self-publishing a book, especially your first book, can be a daunting process. Jeremy dove in, bringing the book to market a mere 8 months after his first day on the ranch. To date, Cowboys of the Waggoner Ranch  has sold over 4,000 copies in 48 states and numerous countries. The book is printed in North Texas, and since Jeremy also self-distributed the book, the majority of sales take place at waggonercowboys.com. Jeremy attributes much of the book’s success to the power of marketing.

The Power of Marketing

“I was most surprised by the power of marketing,” says Jeremy. “You can produce the best book in the world, but if you don’t enlist marketing experts, the book will never sell.  On the flip side you have to give the marketing folks a decent product to pitch.”  For an unknown author, good marketing can make or break a book’s success. However, it’s important to understand the role of your marketing professionals. Some will specialize in traditional media (print, TV, and web) while others specialize in social media. Leveraging both can lead to great growth. Furthermore, it’s important to remember the limitations of what marketing professionals can do. “[T]he job of your marketing person is simply to get you in front of the TV camera or reporter.  It’s the author’s job to be passionate about the book and give dynamic quotes,” says Jeremy.

Hiring quality marketing professionals can be an expensive line-item in your publishing budget, but it can also be the difference between hanging onto boxes of books for years or selling out quickly. Cowboys of the Waggoner Ranch leverages strong social media channels to drive sales on the book’s website, cutting out expensive distributor fees and commissions.

Ready, Set, Publish

Talking to authors, artists, and photographers considering self-publishing their own book, Jeremy recommends building a strong team of industry professionals and not wasting too much time perfecting the end product. For those looking for more hands-on guidance throughout the self-publishing process, Jeremy also offers consulting services. “I’ve also been approached by other authors to help them get their book published.  We have managed to create a system that not only sells books, but allows the author to keep a much higher percentage of books sales.” To discuss your project, contact Jeremy using the button below.

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“Your brand is a story unfolding across all customer touch points.” – Jonah Sachs

In our last post, we talked about the importance of branded visuals and how to create them. This week, we’re moving on to the art of curating your visual brand. Your digital presence is an evolving story, and it’s your job to edit it in a way that makes sense to your customers and inspires them to action. While you may have lots of ideas and folders overflowing with visual assets, everything benefits from a good edit. And while it might sound easy, when you’re looking at one high quality image after another (as you probably are if you’re working with a good advertising photographer) it can be tough to narrow your content down.

Photography by Jeremy Enlow of Steel Shutter Photography

Jeremy’s experienced this firsthand. While shooting his book Cowboys of the Waggoner Ranch, he captured more than 14,000 images. Only a few hundred made it into the final book. Now that’s curating. What might seem challenging at first will pay off when your social media feeds, blogs, website, and marketing materials transform from isolated images into a fluid, moving story that pulls your audience into a narrative.

On Instagram alone, approximately 60 million images are uploaded daily. With all of this visual noise, having a curated story for your brand is more important than ever. So, how do you start curating your brand?

• Hire a photographer that fits your style. Once you’ve nailed down your brand’s visual language, choose an advertising photographer whose portfolio complements your brand. Establishing a relationship with an advertising photographer means you’ll always have the photographs you need for your marketing needs. Keeping a solid library of images on hand will save you from the last minute image search that all too often leaves you with boring, out of place stock visuals.

• Tell a creative story with your photoshoot. When choosing your commercial photographer, look beyond the basic visual quality of their portfolio. What kind of stories do the images tell? Is their creative depth? Can they direct shots that tell inspiring stories? While you may be an art director or working with one, it’s always a good idea to choose a photographer with a strong creative sensibility who can step in and imagine new possibilities for your images. Jeremy’s experience as a Dallas / Fort Worth based advertising and fine art photographer allows him to create exciting, rich stories with his images.

• Be strategic with your content. Even after you have the right photographs selected, the job of curating is not done. Think about how your images relate to each other and what kind of story they tell as a group. Photographs don’t have to be from the same shoot or of similar subjects to tell a story. If you take time to strategically plan your content, you can pick up on related themes between images and choose photographs to act as stepping stones from one story to the next. This extra step will transform your content from a series of ephemeral images into a moving narrative that invites your audience to repeatedly engage with your brand.

What are your best tips for curating your visual brand? We’d love to hear from you in the comments.

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The online world is increasingly visual, and content accompanied by visual assets may have as much as an 40%-80% higher chance of being read. With these staggering statistics, it’s more important than ever to have compelling branded visuals. Here, we’ve rounded up 3 of our best tips for branded visuals, along with a curated list of visual branding resources.

1. Know why you’re creating branded visuals

The goal of your visual brand isn’t just a nice looking website. In an increasingly crowded visual world, your visual brand connects you with your audience and creates a strong imprint in their memory. As online audiences increasingly skim content (remember, Generation Z’s attention span is shorter than that of a goldfish [link to education post]), stock content is the visual equivalent of meaningless chatter. A custom library of images, coupled with your unique branding (color, logo, etc.) puts you in front of your audience with a strong story.

Further Reading: Make Your Visual Content Stand Out With A Signature Brand Look via Content Marketing Institute

Quotable:

• “A brand is more than a logo or a specific font. It’s an expression of your customers’ experience.”
• “Over time, [your visual branding] begins to stand for something in the mind space of your current and prospective customers.”

Photo for Cook Children’s Home Health by Steel Shutter Photography

2. Have your own visual language

Ever seen the color blue and thought of Target? We didn’t think so. Creating a strong visual language means identifying what colors, fonts, logos, design style, and mood you’ll use to tell your brand’s story. When crafting visuals for marketing campaigns, social media, and other content, make sure you’re “speaking” your brand’s visual language. Consistency will win every time. Once your audience gets to know your visual language, they’ll seek it out and notice when you share new visuals in your language. Even better, you’ll be building strong associations that will have them remembering your brand in contexts beyond your own content.

Further Reading: Why All Your Visual Content Needs To Be Branded via Visage

Quotable:

• “The key to branding your content is creating and implementing a visual language, which clearly details elements such as colors, fonts, logo use, iconography and data visualization.”

Photo for Texas Wesleyan University by Steel Shutter Photography

3. Capture the right feeling

If you’re a marketer, you know that a good sales pitch speaks to what the customer wants to feel like above and beyond any product. Your visuals should do the same. Avoid flat, stock imagery that shows a scene without telling a compelling story. Instead, choose custom photography that evokes strong, resonating emotions. Good visual assets will move your audience before they ever read a word of your copy, creating an emotional investment in your brand. Steel Shutter can work with you to create a custom library of images that emotionally resonate with your target audience.

Further Reading: 5 Tips for Choosing Images That’ll Make Your Content Engagement Skyrocket via Contently

Quotable:

• “When it comes to choosing an image, your main focus should be on conveying the right feeling. A photo that screams ‘security’ or ‘trust’ or ‘confidence’ will be much more effective than an image that only makes a literal connection with the reader such as ‘money’ or ‘beautiful landscape.’”

Photo for Kincaid’s Hamburgers by Steel Shutter Photography

If you’ve been relying on stock, unbranded images for your digital marketing, contact Steel Shutter now. Jeremy will work with you to create a photoshoot that works with your visual language and connects with your audience. Whether you’re a marketing agency, small business, or corporation, Jeremy will use his experience to deliver the right visual library to engage your target customers.

More resources for creating branded visuals

A Complete Guide to Visual Content: The Science, Tools and Strategy of Creating Killer Images via Buffer
11 Tips for Visual Storytelling from the Pros via Libris

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