Last month, I wrote a post on the importance of having a good publicity photo. This month, I talk about the importance of having a good production photo.
But, you say, photo shoots are expensive and time-consuming. Can’t I get away with just one?
Nope, sorry, not gonna do it. Here’s why:
1. You need production photos for your archives. You never know when you might need archive photos: for your website, grant applications, etc.
2. If you were lucky enough to get preview coverage, you must have different photos to acccompany your review. Newspapers generally don’t like to run the same photos that they ran for previews, and they generally like to run photos that are from the show, with the actual set, costumes, lights, props and actors.
Usually, these shoots take place during the final dress rehearsal, so the photographer can flit around and take the pictures without disturbing the audience. Alternatively, some people schedule it for the break between two-show days. The earlier the better–if you have dalies reviewing your show, you’ll need them pretty quickly, so that’s why most people go with the final dress rehearsal option.
Here’s one last tip for you (thanks to Simon for this one): most of the indie companies I work for don’t have the ability to upload their photos to a website for the press to download, which is what the big companies do. Flickr doesn’t work, because it won’t let you upload the size of photos you need to for publication. Photo Bucket is an excellent alternative. Allows you to store your high-res photos, all you have to do is email the URL to the press.
Here are some examples:
This is the publicity photo for Metamorphoses (image Pink Monkey Studios):
This was one of the production photos:
This was the publicity image for Exit Commander Kitty:
And here is a production photo:
Bone in Her Teeth by Leaky Heaven Circus has some of the best photos I have ever seen:
Publicity:
Production:
And my all time favorite:
Rebecca is a contributing columnist and founder of Rebecca Coleman Marketing and Media Relations, a Vancouver PR company. She blogs at artofthebiz.com and twitters under rebeccacoleman.
Simon Ogden 
In my experience Flickr’s paid option ($25 – year) is a much better investment than trusting Photobucket with Google’s photo storage solution being the best free option.
My last bit of response is that having web presence (with enough storage for all your photos and bandwidth to serve them) is a first step not a last step, and is more affordable than buying a round for your cast on opening night.
Thanks, Travis. Some excellent advice.
R
What we tend to do is to have a photo shoot with a number {usually 5 or so} pics that we think will be dynamic production shots. Then the photographer comes and shoots either the dress or a preview.
It is a huge help if the photographer has read the play ahead of time or even come and seen a runthrough. It makes a huge difference in what they will achieve.