Corporate photography at Willis Tower
One hundred and ten stories at 233 South Wacker, and the address a large share of the Loop gives out. Zoned elevator banks, so the schedule gets built by bank and not by floor.
Willis Tower is the 110 story building at 233 South Wacker Drive, 1,451 feet to its architectural top, completed in 1973 and the tallest building in the world from 1973 until 1998. It stands on the Wacker Drive spine at the western edge of the Loop, close to Union Station and the West Loop commuter core that carries most of the neighborhood in each morning. The scale is the part to plan around. A building of this height runs a zoned elevator system, so a floor in an upper bank is a different trip through the building than a floor in a lower one, and a session that touches both is really two setups unless the schedule accounts for it.
United Airlines moved its headquarters into the tower in 2012 from 77 West Wacker, and as of 2019 it was the building's largest tenant at roughly 850,000 square feet across sixteen floors. The rest of the tenancy is the mix a tower of this size collects rather than one company's campus, which in practice means a program here can involve several unrelated organizations, each on its own floor and its own schedule, sharing a production day.
The building's own procedures set the pace more than the equipment does. Confirm dock hours, certificate of insurance requirements and freight elevator access with building management the week before, and reserve a conference room on your own floor rather than counting on a common area. The full lighting setup travels on one cart and clears a standard freight car in a single trip. On the upper floors the windows give a horizon line worth using for leadership portraits when the weather is clear, and we plan those frames for the part of the day the light allows.
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.
- Floors
- 110 stories
- Height
- 1,451 feet, architectural top
- Completed
- 1973
- Distinction
- Tallest building in the world, 1973 to 1998
- Largest tenant
- United Airlines, about 850,000 square feet over 16 floors as of 2019
- Location
- 233 South Wacker Drive, near Union Station
Working in Willis Tower
The practical side of a shoot in this building, so the day runs on schedule.
Dock and elevators
A tower this size runs a managed dock and a zoned elevator bank. We confirm the dock window, the certificate of insurance and the freight arrangements with building management before the date, and the setup moves up in one cart trip.
Booking the room on your floor
A conference room of about eight by ten feet plus one power outlet is enough. Booking it on your own floor keeps people walking seconds rather than riding elevators, which is what protects the schedule in a building of this height.
Light on a high floor
Glass on an upper floor can carry a tint that shifts skin color, so we meter the room on arrival and balance the studio light to what is coming through that particular window rather than to an assumption.
Schedule
Forty to sixty people is a normal day at an unhurried pace. If the group is spread across upper and lower elevator banks, we split the day by bank so nobody spends their slot in transit.
The morning commute
Union Station and the West Loop core deliver most of this neighborhood between seven and nine. An early first slot catches people before the first meeting block takes the day away from them.
The view
The horizon from the upper floors is the building's obvious asset for executive portraits. It needs a clear day and a window the room can work around, so we treat it as a bonus frame rather than the plan.
Film and stills together
A brand film or an executive interview records on the same visit as the portraits. One crew, one load in, and the footage and the still library come out of the same day.
What we make for Willis Tower 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 worksWillis Tower questions
What teams in this building usually ask first.
Can you photograph people on several floors in one day?
Do you need the lobby or a common area?
What does building management need from you?
Will these match what our other locations already have?
How much notice do you need?
Other buildings in this district
Your team is in Willis Tower?
Tell me the headcount, the floor and the dates. A proposal follows a short conversation, and questions are answered within one business day.