Case Study · Legal
Johnson & Krol Opens in St. Louis
A Chicago firm with an Indianapolis office opened a third in St. Louis, and 8 attorneys joined it. The brief was not to give them a look. It was to match the one the firm already had, closely enough that nobody visiting the people page could tell which office was new.
8
Attorneys
2
Frames Each
90 min
On Site
All 8 attorneys, one backdrop, one light. The consistency is the product, and it is only visible when you see the set together.
What usually happens when a firm opens a second market
The new office gets photographed by whoever is available in the new city. A year later the firm has two visual identities and no clear moment where it chose to have them.
Eight new faces, one brand that already existed
The attorneys joining in St. Louis arrived with headshots made to somebody else's brief. Put those on the firm's people page next to Chicago and Indianapolis and the new office reads as a bolt-on rather than part of the same firm.
The firm's photographer was four hours away
Johnson & Krol has a photographer it always uses in Chicago. That was not workable for eight people in Missouri, and hiring a second photographer is usually the moment a consistent look quietly stops being consistent.
A launch date that does not move
The office had an opening date. Photography that arrives after the website goes live is photography nobody uses, because the placeholder is already in production by then.
Matching a book instead of writing one
Most photography sold to firms is sold on the photographer's style. This job was the opposite, and that is the part worth understanding before hiring anyone for a second location.
Studied their book before quoting
The first thing we did was go through the attorney photos already on johnsonkrol.com. Green canvas, relaxed clothing, warm frontal light, no stiff corporate posing. The question we answered before taking the job was whether we could match it, not whether we liked it.
Their wardrobe guidance, not ours
The firm issues its own direction on what attorneys wear for these. We shot to that document rather than sending our own list, which is why the St. Louis set sits next to the existing one without a visible seam.
Two frames per attorney
A tight headshot for bios and directory listings, and a seated three-quarter on the same backdrop with open space to one side, so the firm's web team has somewhere to put text without cropping into anybody.
Ninety minutes, on site, all eight
We set up in the Des Peres office ahead of the session and photographed the full group in a single afternoon block. Attorneys came through between their own commitments instead of surrendering a day.
Two frames, one backdrop
Both come off the same canvas in the same light, so the firm can run them together or separately without the pair looking like two different sittings.
The bio frame
Tight, warm, sized for firm bios and directory listings where everyone appears at the same crop.
The layout frame
Seated three-quarter with empty backdrop beside the subject, shot that way so a headline can sit next to a person rather than on top of one.
The same eight, seated
Shot wider than they are tall, with room held open on one side. These are the frames a web page can be built around.
Live on the firm's people page
The set went up beside Chicago and Indianapolis. That is the test this job was built to pass: scroll their people page and the newest office is the one you cannot pick out.
Opening an office in St. Louis
If your firm already has photography it likes, the job in a new market is not creative direction. It is matching what exists, on site, before the new office goes live. We shoot to your standard, including when that standard came from another photographer.
Related work and services
A Chicago firm opening a St. Louis office, with eight incoming attorneys photographed to match a house style another photographer had already established.