Act Clean, provides specialist cleaning services for customers who want a luxury service, hence the stunning West London location we planned to shoot in. Since the shots were to go in a new brochure, the brief was to show the staff at work with their focus on the care and attention to detail that they specialise in with their five-star service.
The staff modelling for me were real cleaners and had a lot of patience, cleaning the apartment, polishing glasses and shining surfaces with happy smiles on their faces as I snapped away at all angles, sometimes shooting naturally and sometimes staging the shots.
It really helps to use real staff to ‘model’ for these types of shoots, for two main reasons; firstly because they actually know what they’re doing and can guide us on what looks authentic. Secondly because they look real – of course we want staff in brochures to look attractive, smart and well put together, but if they all look like they’ve stepped off a cat-walk the photos won’t come across as genuine.
The balance was to focus on the cleaning details, whilst making sure I show off the interior to great effect too. I want the photos to tell the story, so the viewer and potential customer get what’s on offer straight away but also the luxurious element to come through. If the pictures are strong, colourful and attractive they will stand out from competitors.
It was a long day, but a satisfying shoot, with hundreds of shots in the bag for my client and their design team to choose from. I also learnt a few cool cleaning tricks. Since then the cushions on my sofa have never been so nicely plumped and my own kitchen surfaces super bright. Thanks ladies.
You can see a few pics in the brochure below, put together by Four Communications. Who’d have thought cleaning could look this great?
