How to: Make Your Staff Photo the Bee’s Knees

Here at Sparksight, taking the staff photo is something I look forward to every year. The staff photo is not only one of the more challenging projects to take on, it is also one of the most fun.

Fellow Sparksighter, Art Director, and all around cool guy, Andrew King and I decided to put our heads together to create a throwback photo of the Sparksight in the Roaring 20’s. It was a time when men wore slacks, hats were as common as socks, and women wore fur without feeling bad about it.

King and I brainstormed the general idea over Dr. Peppers before heading out on our location scout. Fun Fact: Not only does carbonated soda get the creative juices flowing, it was also the most popular drink in the 1920’s… according to King.

Once the general creative idea was agreed upon, it was time to get a wiggle on finding the perfect location to stage our shoot. So began our day-long location scout that took us from Austin, to Round Rock, and even all the way out to Taylor, TX. We were searching for somewhere quaint, old school… somewhere that would have been the cat’s meow back in the day.

There were quite a few options to choose from but, due to production logistics, we chose one of the best joints in Round Rock, TX, Main Street Grill.

With the help of our hard boiled producer Ricky Holm, we received a blessing from the City of Round Rock to shoot that following Wednesday. Our plan was set in motion so, we began to block the scene. We sketched out what character each Sparksight guy or gal would get to portray and, where they would be placed in the photo.

Once we had our vision locked in place, King began the hunt for props and costumes to get every Sparksighter dolled up. He shared a Google Spreadsheet with each Sparksighter’s role, character description, and needed props to see who had what available. Whatever props we didn’t have laying around in our studio or at home, King ventured out to make or purchase these items.

With glad rags in hand and all props secured, we were ready to invade Round Rock with our set dressing, lights, cameras, and nostalgic American spirit.

Everyone came ready to put on the Ritz. The entire shoot took less than 3 hours. We didn’t lollygag though, we wrapped by lunch and were back in the office editing by that afternoon. We all had such a swell time and the entire post process took about 10 hours to complete.

Here is a behind the scenes look at the rip-roaring time we had making our staff photo.

We also captured the whole post-production process for this composite staff photo and have sped it up if you’re interested in seeing each piece come together!