Corporate photography along the I-88 research corridor
The corridor that gave Illinois its technology industry, and the one with the most interesting story to tell on camera. We photograph on site in Naperville and out along I-88.
The formal name is the Illinois Technology and Research Corridor, and Naperville is its centre of gravity with roughly ten million square feet of office space. The history is unusually specific. Northern Illinois Gas, now Nicor, moved here in 1963. AT&T opened Indian Hill Bell Labs on a two hundred acre site at Naperville and Warrenville Roads in 1966. Amoco brought research here in 1969, Nalco put its international headquarters here in 1986, and the Corridor Group formed in 1982 to represent more than eighty technology companies and laboratories. The office spine today is Diehl Road, running between the Naperville exit off I-88 and Freedom Drive, with Naperville Corporate Center, Centrum Office Center and the thirty one acre Naperville Woods campus along it.
Being honest about this corridor is the only way to write about it credibly. The telecom crash and then 2008 hollowed a great deal of it out. Nokia absorbed Lucent and now occupies roughly a third of the million square foot building at 2000 Lucent Lane that Bell Labs built. What is happening instead is reinvention: data centre development, SKF building a new research facility, and Calamos Investments, Nicor and Edward Hospital anchoring a broader employment base than the corridor had when it was a pure technology play. Anyone who claims this is still 1998 out here has not driven it.
Where Naperville and the I-88 Corridor works
Almost every session happens on site, in your own building. Knowing the room before I arrive is part of what keeps the day on schedule.
Diehl Road
The office spine, running from the I-88 exit east to Freedom Drive. Naperville Corporate Center and Centrum Office Center sit on it, and most of the corridor's multi-tenant space is within a few minutes of it.
Naperville Woods Office Center
Half a million square feet across thirty one landscaped acres. Low rise, green, and one of the few office campuses out here where an outdoor portrait in September is actually a good idea.
2000 Lucent Lane
The old Indian Hill Bell Labs site, five stories and a million square feet of steel and glass on a hundred and seventy five acres. Nokia Bell Labs still lists Naperville as a global location. Photographically it is the most significant building in the corridor.
Nicor and the 1963 corner
Northern Illinois Gas moved out here just off I-88 in 1963 and effectively started the corridor. Utility businesses photograph well when the work goes outside rather than staying in the lobby.
Warrenville and Cantera
The western end, off Winfield Road and Cantera Drive. Newer, lower density, and usually the easiest parking of the whole corridor.
Downtown Naperville
Not an office district, but the reason a lot of people choose to work out here. Useful when a recruiting film needs to show the place rather than the building.
What Naperville and the I-88 Corridor is built on
The sectors that define this market, and what each one usually needs.
Technology and telecommunications research
The corridor descends directly from the 1966 Bell Labs site, and Nokia Bell Labs still lists Naperville among its global locations.
Engineer and researcher portraits, laboratory imagery, and film that explains a technical product to a non-technical buyer.
Energy and utilities
Nicor has been headquartered here since 1963 and serves most of the northern third of Illinois outside Chicago.
Field and facility photography, crew and leadership portraits, and safety and training film made on location.
Financial services
Calamos Investments runs a diversified global investment firm from Naperville, one of the corridor's larger white collar employers.
Advisor and executive portraits with the weight the business expects, refreshed on a cycle.
Healthcare
Edward Hospital is among the largest employers in the city, alongside the two large school districts.
Physician directories at scale, photographed on site between clinics rather than in a studio nobody has time to visit.
Research and advanced manufacturing
SKF is building a new research and development facility here, part of a wider reinvention of the corridor away from its pure telecom past.
Process and laboratory film, plus facility imagery for recruiting into technical roles.
What we make in Naperville and the I-88 Corridor
Headshot programs are usually the first project. They are rarely the only one.
Corporate headshot programs
Whole teams photographed on site in one or two days, to one standard.
Learn MoreExecutive portraits
Leadership portraits with the weight the business expects.
Learn MoreBrand films and campaign video
Directed, filmed and edited by one person, from scope to delivery.
Learn MoreLaboratory and research photography
Technical environments photographed by someone who asks how it works first.
Learn MoreRecruiting and culture video
Made on site, for technical roles that are hard to fill.
Learn MoreHealthcare and physician portraits
Photographed on site between clinics.
Learn MoreWhy it matters in Naperville and the I-88 Corridor
A corridor rebuilding itself is full of companies with a story that is genuinely worth filming and photographs that no longer match it. Research and engineering businesses are also the hardest ones to photograph badly and get away with, because their audiences are technical and notice when the laboratory in the picture is staged wrong. The work here rewards a photographer who asks what the process actually is before deciding where to stand.
Buildings and districts we work in around Naperville and the I-88 Corridor
On site at your own office, wherever that is.
What every session includes
The same standard in every city, because it is the same photographer in every city.
Direction people relax into
Most people dread being photographed. I demonstrate, they mirror, and the guarded expression is gone in about thirty seconds.
Real-time review
Every frame appears on a tethered monitor as we shoot, so nobody leaves the room wondering how it went.
One consistent standard
The same lighting and framing used in every other city you operate in, so the team page holds together.
Professional retouching
Every final image is edited personally. You look like yourself, on a good day.
Photography and video in one visit
Filmed in 4K, which means a production day hands back a still library as well as the film.
On site at your office
The full setup travels. A conference room or an open corner is enough, and your team never leaves the building.
Henry is based in St. Louis and grew up on the North Shore, so Chicago is not a market he had to learn. Programs along I-88 are scheduled as full days, and the travel is quoted as a line item rather than buried in a per-person rate.
Trusted by leading organizations
Naperville and the I-88 Corridor questions
What teams in this market usually ask first.
Do you photograph laboratory and research environments?▼
Can you cover Naperville and Warrenville in one program?▼
Our building is mostly empty. Can you still make it look right?▼
Can you film as well as photograph on the same visit?▼
What do you need from us on the day?▼
Planning something in Naperville and the I-88 Corridor?
Tell me the headcount, the buildings and the dates. A proposal follows a short conversation, and questions are answered within one business day.