Ok, so this was completely new territory for me. Tom, the owner of 1-800 T-Shirts (they’re in the process of re-branding from Envision Tees!), is in the same mastermind I’m part of, and when he initially approached me about brand photography, I was worried that I wasn’t up to the task. It was a bit outside of my comfort zone of shooting for creative, typically female-led small businesses, and the last thing I wanted to do was to disappoint a client! But after talking with Tom and hearing more about his business, and seeing what kind of visual needs they currently had, I got really excited about the challenge!

Working in a warehouse? Let’s do it! Photographing for a larger company, instead of a personal brand? I’m on it!

My assistant Dennah and I traveled out to Dubuque, Iowa to shoot in the company’s headquarters (a warehouse in the back, with a storefront, meeting space, and offices towards the entrance). So much of what we captured that day was focused on the process of creation- from screen printing to embroidery, they needed a library of photographs that show how an order came to be. And Tom had specifically mentioned wanting to illustrate the fact that actual humans create each order, adding to the personal attention every client receives when working with the company.

The photo I was *most* excited (and nervous) about was the hero shot of Tom- he had one from a few years prior that he loved, but it was time for a refresh! I suggested we create a colorful, eye-catching backdrop with paint splatter to allude to the ink used for screen printing, and one of their in-house artists CRUSHED it with execution!

Tom & team, thank you so much for trusting me with these! It was an absolute privilege to shoot for you, and I can’t wait to see these live on the new site once it launches!

Want to see more? Explore the archive of brand shoot blog posts!