Objective

Breathe new life into a struggling department challenged by inconsistent quality, outdated technology, mismanaged budgets, and high production demands. Conceive, develop, and implement a world-class photography department. Coach and develop staff and outside resources to consistently produce excellent photography for print and ecommerce.

Introduce beautiful photographic presentation through lighting, composition, propping, and styling to increase traffic and sales.

Help grow the REI brand from hard-core mountaineers to outdoor enthusiasts by eliminating the perceived difficulty of entry. Create motivational photography  for print advertising, direct mail, in-store media, advertising and web.

Develop, source, and assemble teams of outside resources to produce and execute world-class, inspirational, international outdoor photography.

Process

Provide leadership and expertise building a world-class photography department, staff, and facility.

Implement a system of consistent and objective feedback evaluating skills and performance.

Analyze production workflow to eliminate redundancy while maximize staff strengths and minimizing weaknesses.

Establish methodology to increase production while improving creativity.

Assemble teams of producers, photographers, and support staff to manage international location photography.

 

Design and oversee the construction of a state of the art photo studio to reduce costs, utilize technology, and minimize product movement.

Introduce color management and digital asset management to improve final output and create accessible photographic distribution across the company.

Partner with an external resource to bring a web-based project management software system in-house allowing for bar code scanning of samples and real-time project visibility across the organization.

 

 

Results

Improved overall quality and reduced pre-press costs significantly by standardizing quality control through the introduction of color management systems and proofing, enabling the immediate and scientific evaluation of photography; utilized this process to deliver feedback for daily training and skills improvement that resulted in higher employee engagement.

Provided instantaneous real-time visibility to all photography projects by implementing a web-based project management tool that also provided highly accurate sample tracking.

Developed a production team capable of meeting the financial and logistical demands of worldwide location photography.

Designed and guided the construction of a state of the art digital photography studio that dramatically increased capacity and creative collaboration with the Marketing Department while eliminating $60,000 in outsourcing costs in the first year alone.

Maximized existing resources and minimized outsourcing and reliance on independent contractors for overflow, by standardizing photographic techniques and cross training all photographers to improve versatility.

Earned the highest employee engagement score in the corporation for two years in a row.