A Sainsbury’s bag, some sellotape, and a corporate photoshoot in the rain
If you’re a local business thinking about updating your website with new photos, this one’s for you.
ABC Fencing, based in Colney Heath, St Albans, needed a refresh. Their website images were dated, and with a relaunch coming up, marketing consultant Jeni Peacock from UpStream Marketing brought me in to help. The brief was clear: a founder portrait of Alan Cunningham, a shot of the full vehicle fleet outside the premises, and some natural, unposed team shots from a boardroom meeting.
Straightforward enough. Until the weather had other ideas.
The full ABC Fencing fleet, photographed outside their Colney Heath premises – shot in the rain with studio lights wrapped in a Sainsbury's bag.
Blue skies the day before. Torrential rain on the day.
It happens. The day before the shoot was warm, sunny and glorious – the kind of light that makes everything look easy. The morning of the shoot was grey and flat. By the time I was driving to Colney Heath, it was raining. By the time I arrived, it was hammering down, the temperature had dropped, and the outdoor fleet shot was looking like a very bad idea.
The team had washed every single van and car on the day. That wasn't going to happen again in a hurry. We were getting that shot.
Alan Cunningham and the ABC Fencing team outside their premises in Colney Heath, St Albans – corporate photography for their website relaunch.
The Sainsbury's bag solution
My studio lights are not waterproof. I had nothing to protect them. Then I had a Blue Peter moment!
I asked one of the team if they had any plastic carrier bags, scissors and sellotape. They came back with a Sainsbury's bag. Jeni and I cut it in half, wrapped both flashes, and wound tape around to seal them. Was it elegant? No. Was it going to work? I genuinely wasn't sure. But we needed the light, and it was the only option.
While I dialled in the camera settings and tested the flash exposure, Jeni held an umbrella over my head. We got everything set, then the lorry depot next door started moving articulated trucks out and we had to shift the whole setup out of the way.
We got there. The whole team came outside, lined up in front of the fleet, and we fired off the shots in one fast burst before the rain closed in again. Job done.
Founder portrait of Alan Cunningham, ABC Fencing. A clean, confident headshot for their updated website.
Inside: portraits and the team meeting
Once we were back indoors, equipment dripping, everything needing a dry-off, we discovered the boardroom had an electrical fault. No power, no lights.
Twenty minutes and one electrician later, we were back in business.
Alan was first up for his portrait. He was a natural. Then we moved into the team meeting shoot, informal and documentary-style, capturing people in real conversation rather than posing them for the camera. That's always the best approach for this kind of image. People relax, the pictures look authentic, and the business ends up with photos that reflect how it actually works, not a stiff lineup that screams stock photo.
Documentary-style team photography at ABC Fencing – informal, natural, and a world away from a stiff corporate lineup.
Why this matters for your business
Website photography makes an immediate impression on anyone who lands on your site. A fresh founder portrait says the business is current and confident. A proper team shot builds trust. For any business photographer working across Hertfordshire, location and fleet images are some of the most powerful tools available, they show scale and professionalism in a way that words simply can't.
Business photography that shows how your team actually works – not how they stand when told to smile.
Documentary-style photography for the ABC Fencing website relaunch – natural, relaxed, and genuinely useful for any business refreshing their online presence.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a corporate photoshoot take?
Most corporate shoots, covering portraits, team shots, and location images, take between two and four hours on site. The ABC Fencing shoot, which included a founder portrait, full vehicle fleet, and a team meeting session, was completed in a morning.
What’s included in a business photography shoot?
A typical shoot for a website refresh includes founder or director portraits, team photography, and environmental or location shots that show the business in context. I cover all of these as part of a single session, tailored to what you actually need.
Do you shoot in all weather?
Yes. I always pack for the worst and hope for the best. As the ABC Fencing shoot proved, studio lights wrapped in a Sainsbury’s bag, shooting in heavy rain, the image still gets made. If the weather genuinely makes outdoor shots impossible, we reschedule that part of the day.
Based in St Albans. Available across Hertfordshire and London. Call 07947 533 104 or email mike@mikedickphotography.co.uk or just hit the button below.