The Imagery has photographed dance schools and sports teams for decades, but in March of 2020, the logistics of team photography had singularly sharp turn.
It occurs to me that there may be a number of teams and schools out there that are simply skipping their normal 'picture day' plans for the assumed impossibility of how the logistics would come together. And so did we, for a time. The stay-at-home order had us all frozen for all activity until June. When June came, and the phone lines opened again, there was frequently silence. There was a strong uncertainty still prevalent throughout any industry, much less a 'non-essential' one like photography. Unfortunately, once the HS Senior has had their last game played, all they have for generations to come are the photos that were taken of the action, or the panoramic poster of the final assemblage of their team, or that banner of their Senior year that only HS Seniors get and under-classman covet.
But slowly, we did small projects. The Burnsville High School baseball team, one or two players at a time, individual photos taken on a plain white background, which was later created into a poster and banner for their team. The Prior Lake Cheerleaders, in for their annual photo shoot, and the Blazette Dance Team, photos in the park, socially distanced as well.
The challenge is met by doing most photos with a one-at-a-time approach, online viewing and ordering (touch free ordering), and compositing individuals together to create the same great 'group shots', only they weren't really in a group at all.
We applied similar strategy when it came to our mini-Santa sessions. Santa appeared on zoom for the interaction with the kids and taking this years special wishes, and when the photos where done, Santa was digitally composited into the picture of the 2020 kids, from Santa photos taken in 2019. With a will there is a way.
With a little extra time on the back end of production, some skills and planning...we can do this thing. Don't give up on the team just because they can't spend time shoulder to shoulder right now.
Until we are all hugging again,
The Imagery team
