As-live photo coverage
This type of photography yields great results in an efficient manner because, contrary to the live version below, it hinges on the photographer “taking control” of people and props to tell the story as it would have happened for real, in an ideal scenario.
The fact is, most of the time, the way things happen naturally is not quite the way the photographer would have liked them to happen. In this type of photo coverage, the natural flow of things gets rewound and redone so as to provide the ideal series of events for the photographer to capture just the right shots.
Call it giving fate a helping hand.
Live photo stories
This photo technique is, as the name implies, all about snapping on the fly. As opposed to the “As Live” version above, this approach leaves no room for manipulation to obtain just what we want. It’s spontaneous, it’s quick, it’s risky, but it sometimes yields the best results, precisely because it’s totally un-orchestrated. The natural comes out. Nine of ten photos may have to be ditched, but that keeper may turn out to be gold.
Here’s a case study done for the communications department at COLAS, a large French public works company. It’s a perfect example of live coverage because during the shoot no one was posing, stopping, re-doing. No. It was all here and now. This approach to photography is, of course, ideal (or even a must) for situations in which people cannot be expected to take time out for stage acting.
For this type of photography, it’s key to thoroughly analyze the situation ahead of time: setting, people, expected action and events. Anticipation is the name of the game. Only with this type of pre-production can we obtain results that reflect the dynamics and life of the subject(s) at hand.
Full photo stories
In this type of photography, the goal is to build a rich and complete portrait of the subject, which may sometimes require shooting over the course of an entire year, to capture fluctuations over the seasons, different angles of the subject and so on.
This case study, taken from a shoot for the road services of the municipality of Val-de-Travers, Canton Neuchâtel, is a prime example of a full photo story.
Carefully planned, scripted and storyboarded, the shoot was done in numerous locations over many months. Our photographer had to consult, as well as counsel, the client, to make sure all the key shots were on the checklist before pulling out his camera.
