We were all excited to hear the news that we were going to have the opportunity to participate in a professional photo shoot. We realized immediately that this was a great chance to show the punker Hickory facility and the amazing team we have here.
From the beginning Frederike Walter (punker’s marketing manager from Eckernförde) had worked relentlessly on making the new punker-usa.com website perfect and decided that it couldn’t be perfect without showcasing the people that make it all happen and where it takes place. Frederike and I looked into finding a local photographer that specializes in manufacturing and industrial photography. I met with 3 photographers from our area and decided on Michael LoBiondo.
Preparation for the photo shoot began immediately after securing the photographers. Our first task was to decide on what type of shots we needed. We wanted to stay consistent with our punker brand and “mimic” some shots from the punker image brochure.
As an example…
The combined group shot
This shot included the following employees:
- Annette Whitmire – Cross Flow
- Ryan Kilkelly – Managing Director
- Adam Harrelson – Welder / Backward Curved wheels
- Keith Franklin – Welding / Backward Curved wheels
- Jennifer Branch – Production Supervisor / Logistics / Cross Flow
- Keith Searcy – Maintenance
We also decided to try and re-create shots like the sales meeting, quality discussions, machine operators, hand welding along with a couple of others. We did not want it to be exactly the same but we tried to stay with the same concept. The final plan for our total shot list ended up having 15 different staged actions/areas. From team shots, meetings, shipping, to production.
Frederike was helping by providing input on the shots and making sure that we had everything we needed to have a successful photo shoot (polos, t-shirts, sweatshirts etc.). Frederike also noted the importance of keeping this photo shoot authentic, which was greatly appreciated by our employees. – Long beards and all 🙂
ISO certification group picture
PHL is a small group of people and since we are so small, we tried to give everyone who wanted to participate the option to do so. Some people were definitely more nervous than others and some did opt out. But we managed to capture all but one (Neil Fullwood – Quality Team – He was off that day) in our ISO Certification Group Picture. This was also Frank Mueller’s 1st day at PHL – Perfect Timing! (this was all in the plan 😉 ).
The day we had all anticipated had arrived and we were off! The photographers arrived around 8:00am and we began with the picture above as our first shot of the day. Group shots and meeting shots were done first. The photographers, their assistant and the make-up stylist made sure that we were standing or sitting perfectly, looking where we needed to look and that not a hair was out of place.
There was a lot of laughter on this day since none of us had ever had someone chasing us around with a powder puff and hairspray. I think our faces were also sore from holding a smile for so long.
After all of the meeting shots and group shots had been completed, a quick lunch was brought in and we were all back at it. It was on to the “action shots”. The action shots included: shipping & receiving, manual welding, robotic welding, balancing and the Cross Flow operators.
Some of my favorite shots of the day are the robot welding, balancing and the Cross Flow shot. It was very interesting for us to see how many times the lights needed to be moved to get it “just perfect”, I think we thought it was a little ridiculous until we saw all of the different proofs and realized what a big difference the “perfect lighting” makes.
The photo shoot ended around 4:45pm. For all involved it was a very interesting day. I was very tired but very pleased with all of the support I received from the team. The Management, Quality and Sales group picture has already come to great use as we printed it and sent it to our customers in their Christmas cards.
I am very pleased with the web site. I think having the local team on the site will greatly benefit punker LLC while letting our customers and potential customers see the faces of their suppliers as well as offering a sneak-peak into our facility.
It was a great job done by all!
Some additional comments from the team include:
“The photo shoot was a great experience. I think it went very well and was pleased with the website. I am looking forward to seeing more pictures on future publications.”
John Barefoot, Shipping (fork lift shot)
“I was nervous about the photo shoot at the beginning, I didn’t know that I would be in it as much as I was. The photographers were very nice and gave me clear direction so I just kept on working as if they weren’t there. I think everyone was amused with the hair and make-up, it’s not often that you experience that at work. Over all it was a nice experience and I am happy with the way it turned out.”
Annette Whitmire, Cross Flow
“I think the photo shoot went really good” Jessica asked, “Were you nervous?” Keith replied, “Yes, I was really nervous at first about the makeup and my beard. She tried to trim it but I got a little fidgety and she stopped, then it was all good.”
Keith Franklin, Welding / Balancing (balancing shot, quality with Michael Greene shot)
