If print media is “dead,” you wouldn’t know it by the impact of Washtenaw Community College (WCC) marketing. From postcards to periodicals, it’s never long before the institution puts its name, value, and success latest stories in front of Saline residents. Check your mailbox. [1,2,3,4,5]
WCC Associate Vice President of Marketing and Communications Brendan Prebo has given staff photographer Kelly Gampel glowing praise for the visual element of these initiatives. “We brought her in with some specific needs in mind, but when we saw what she could do it opened the door to more opportunities for us to use her work,” he recently told Saline Journal. “She’s gifted.”
Ms Gampel has worked professionally in the field for five years and has been on the payroll of Washtenaw Community College since October. Assignments cover the gamut, from student orientations to the Vice President of Research and Advanced Engineering and Chief Technology Officer of Ford Motor Company. In the last few months she’s photographed robotics systems on campus and conferences at Cobo Center in Detroit.
Does she ever get nervous working with high power people?
“I’d be remiss if I didn’t say that I still get nervous whenever I’m sent to photograph someone really notable,” she responded. “But more so it’s their bodyguards that make me nervous because they’re always watching you, it seems like. At this point in my career, I’m confident in my skills to capture photos and interact with them if need be. If you compare the 2012 Kelly who was interning and had to photograph Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, to the 2016 Kelly who photographed New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, there’s a noticeable difference in my confidence level.”
She further recommended establishing repport with subjects very much as one would in “keeping up with a new friend; you ask questions about the portion of their life they have already let you into or you talk more about their organization.”
Like many in-house photographers, she often finds herself working to satisfy a variety of differing constituencies — all at the same time. One is the individual looking for something specifice for intended end use. Another is the subject or someone responsible for the subject matter being captured. There can be other stakeholders, too, such as department liasons with vested interests in how ongoing relationships might be affected by Ms Gampel’s work.
She credits a “more collaborative approach” within the Washtenaw Community College culture as key to avoiding conflicts here, leaving “little room for friction.”
Although all copyrights here clearly reside with the employer, Washtenaw Community College does a stand-out job of crediting Kelly Gampel wherever practical as author of her work. This is important in attracting and retaining talent. Its an additional opportunity to lead by example for WCC as a learning center that itself provides career instruction in this discipline. [6,7]
In keeping a healthy balance between work and leisure, Ms Gampel avoids actively seeking out opportunities to take professional photographs during her off time, though she does have Canon equipment to do so. She prefers to rely upon her “cell phone to snap photos of landscape, friends and my cats.” This presentation helps maintain boundaries with friends and family as well.
“Call me lucky because I do not find myself getting those requests at all,” she said to Saline Journal. “My friends and family have always paid me for my work, whether it be weddings or portraits. They recognize that it’s not OK to ask someone to do this type of work for free.”
That’s how professional photographers have always had to stay in business, and it’s the key to keeping them around for the businesses that continue to have need of their work.
References
- “Is Print Media Really Dead?” Coffee News.
- “‘Print is dead’ – then why do even the tech giants use it for their apology ads?” Morag Blazey (March 29, 2018) The Drum.
- Washtenaw Community College (WCC) (home page).
- “Direct Mail Statistics” DMA.
- “Why Direct Mail Marketing Is Far From Dead” Steven Pulcinella (August 30, 2017) Forbes.
- “Photography (PHO)” WCC.
- “Photographic Technology (APPHOT): Associate in Applied Science Degree” WCC.
