Photos of Downlights, an award-winning social enterprise supporting young adults with Down syndrome & cognitive disabilities.

Through the manufacture of luxury, hand poured soy candles, they give their staff employment opportunities and help them learn a variety of workplace skills.

Birgit photographs Downlights to create images that promote their products and their mission.

She takes both studio and lifestyle product shots, as well as team portraits. These are used on their website, social media and for other marketing and promotional activities. The product photos taken in Birgit’s studio are used in the client’s online store. These flat lay, more catalogue-look images need to show customers exactly what they are buying.

The lifestyle photos are an opportunity to be more creative and show off the luxe, high end candles to perfection. Images demonstrating how the candle glasses can be repurposed as makeup and jewellery containers after use are also an important part of the brief.

Product photos: The candle containers are made of glass and cut-crystal, which causes reflections while being photographed.

Birgit is adept at managing photography with just the right mix of available light, candlelight and additional flash lights when shooting on location.

Birgit works in consultation with the client and their graphic designer to ensure they have enough variations in styling, size and format for use in different types of media. They debrief after each photo session to consult on what worked best and what was most popular. This allows Birgit to not only meet the client’s stated brief but also to anticipate what else would work well.

Photographing the team portraits is a delight.

Birgit enjoys working with this wonderful, fun loving team and witnessing the special relationship they have with each other and with their boss, Jennifer. She is a superstar and is always on hand to make them laugh and encourage them to be proud of their work.

Birgit takes the time to chat with each team member before and during the shoot. As with any shoot, everyone reacts differently and needs a different approach to help them relax and enjoy themselves. Some of the team are very shy, some are light sensitive, some are apprehensive meeting new people and some have had a bad experience having their photo taken before. To help create a positive experience, Birgit took the photo portraits in a very small studio set-up at their workshop. While this was challenging space wise, the familiar workplace really helped the team feel more in control.