Partners in Life and Business

Mallory Davis, owner of Image 360, downtown Baltimore, needed new headshots of him and his employees for the company’s website. Image 360, a signage and graphics firm, wanted straightforward business headshots. Their clientele spans a wide variety of businesses ranging from retail shops to large institutions such as hospitals and universities.

Since he is marketing to businesses Mallory wanted portraits that projected professionalism.

Ironically, my favorite image from the photo session isn’t a portrait of Mallory or one of his employees. It’s of him and his wife Lee. Lee is a co-owner, serves as an administrator and she shares with Mallory the responsibilities and rewards of their business.

I admire couples who can work together. My wife and I joke that we wouldn’t last a full day as business partners. We can agree on what TV show to watch and where to order carry out but we both have strong opinions when business is concerned. It’s one thing to compromise on Italian versus Chinese food but we aren’t as flexible when agreeing on factors affecting profits. Mallory and Lee’s business partnership works for them. Their personalities are well suited to a joint focus on the bottomline.

At the photo session I took everyone’s headshot including separate portraits of Mallory and Lee. When I finished Mallory asked if I could take a few photos of him with Lee. The first several shots were standard business couple poses. Then without any prompting Mallory and Lee began to ham it up. They struck poses as if they were in a one dollar photo booth.

Their playfulness enabled me to capture a number of touching photos of them as a couple. Images that conveyed mutual admiration and love that’s a product of decades of marriage. The spontaneity that can occur in a headshot session can make it special and lead to a photograph worthy of framing. So, in addition to getting photos for their website, Mallory and Lee received prints to share with their daughter and a new family photo to hang on the wall of their home.