PR firm Porter Novelli hired Photographer Director Eli Meir Kaplan to build a national image library for the USDA’s Women, Infants, and Children program. They needed documentary-inspired commercial lifestyle photography that represented the full diversity of WIC families, which meant shooting across suburban, rural, and urban spots all around the D.C. area. Eli had over sixty setups to get through, and every single scene came with specific cultural details to get right, from the food on the table down to the books on the shelf. That many shots required a second photographer.
“The biggest challenge was directing that many people, especially little ones, through a large shot list that involved mixing and matching different real families together while keeping everything looking natural. We let the families settle into the scenes on their own, and capture the real moments as they happened instead of trying to force them. If a setup wasn’t working, we’d reset the scene and start fresh.”
Barrie Creative produced and the crew was incredible at keeping the team moving across all three days. The images are on the official USDA WIC website, representing the program to families all over the country.
For more of Eli’s work, visit his Workbook portfolio.
Represented by Freda Scott Creative.
