Corporate photography at the Leo Burnett Building
Fifty floors at 35 West Wacker Drive, on the Loop side of the river. An agency brief and a law firm brief share this address, and they do not want the same portrait.
The Leo Burnett Building is a fifty story tower of 635 feet at 35 West Wacker Drive, on the Loop bank of the river along the Wacker Drive spine. It was completed in 1989 to a design by Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo, and it belongs to the late 1980s generation of Wacker Drive towers rather than to the glass buildings that came after 2015. The address is named for Leo Burnett Worldwide, the advertising agency founded in Chicago on August 5, 1935, and the building has been an advertising and media address for its whole working life. Wacker Drive puts it within walking distance of most of the Loop and a short walk from the river bridges into River North.
Leo Burnett Worldwide, founded in Chicago on August 5, 1935, gives the building its name. Starcom Worldwide has its headquarters here, and the law firm Winston & Strawn is in the building as well. That produces two different briefs at one address. Agency and media groups usually want more individuality in a portrait, and a firm usually wants a single consistent set across everyone. If your team is in this building, we set the session to whichever of those applies to you.
The session happens on your floor, in a conference room no smaller than eight by ten feet with an outlet. A 1989 tower of this size has a proper dock and freight elevator, and both are booked through building management, so confirm the window and the certificate of insurance requirement when the date is set. Creative floors often have an open plan and a shortage of enclosed rooms, so identify the room early rather than on the morning. A room with a window wall is preferred, and the river side of the building usually has several.
We photograph on site, in your own office. If your team is in this building, the notes below are what the day looks like. Nothing here is a claim to a past session in it, and no tenant named is a client unless it says so elsewhere on this site.
Sample work, photographed at other clients' offices rather than in this building. It is the standard a session here would be held to.
- Address
- 35 West Wacker Drive, the Loop riverfront
- Floors
- 50, at 635 feet
- Completed
- 1989
- Architect
- Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo
- Named for
- Leo Burnett Worldwide, founded in Chicago in 1935
- Also in the building
- Starcom Worldwide headquarters, Winston & Strawn
Working in Leo Burnett Building
The practical side of a shoot in this building, so the day runs on schedule.
Loading and access
Wacker Drive has a lower level as well as an upper one, and the dock entrance is not always where a visitor expects. Confirm the dock location, hours and insurance paperwork with building management, and send us the arrival instructions in writing.
Finding the room
Agency floors run open plan, so enclosed rooms are in demand. Book a conference room of roughly eight by ten feet for the whole day rather than in blocks, since moving the setup halfway through costs more time than the freed hour saves.
Two standards in one building
An agency portrait and a law firm portrait are different products. Tell us which one you need and the lighting, wardrobe guidance and retouching brief are set to it from the start.
Personality without inconsistency
Creative teams often ask for portraits with more character. That is done through direction and expression while the lighting and crop stay fixed, so the set still hangs together on a website grid.
Schedule
Forty to sixty people in a day on a booked schedule. We send a booking sheet in advance and keep the setup standing all day so people come down between meetings.
Culture film and new business pieces
Agency floors tend to need motion more often than a law firm does. A culture film or a new business piece records alongside the portraits, and the visit returns stills as well as the cut.
What we make for Leo Burnett Building teams
A headshot program is usually the first project. It is rarely the only one, and the same photographer handles the rest.
Corporate headshot programs
Whole teams photographed in one or two days, to one standard that holds as people join and leave.
See headshot programsExecutive portraits
Leadership portraits with the weight the business expects, for annual reports, press and the board page.
See executive portraitsBrand films and campaign video
Directed, filmed and edited by one person, from the first scope conversation through final delivery.
See brand film workRecruiting and employer brand
Culture photography and video made in the building people would actually work in, for careers pages and hiring campaigns.
See recruiting workCommercial and facility photography
A marketing team's image library for the year, so the next campaign does not start with a stock search.
See commercial workConference and event coverage
Sessions, keynotes, booths and headshot stations, photographed and filmed in the same visit.
See event coverageHeadshots are often one piece of a larger photo library. The same visit can also cover leadership portraits, recruiting content, workplace photography, video, or event coverage, and when one photographer handles all of it, the library looks like it came from one company.
See how the full engagement worksLeo Burnett Building questions
What teams in this building usually ask first.
Our floor is open plan. Is that a problem?
Can you make portraits that look less corporate?
When should we book?
Can you match an existing brand portrait standard?
Is there a way to add video without a second day?
Other buildings in this district
Your team is in Leo Burnett Building?
Tell me the headcount, the floor and the dates. A proposal follows a short conversation, and questions are answered within one business day.