Duke University Press Photoshoot
The HALO 22 team’s relationship with DUP goes way back. Most notably, more than a decade of boundary 2 covers. So, we were thrilled when they reached out about another new project: Photographing publications for marketing and an upcoming website redesign. It’s no small task to creatively shoot a series of collections this size—there were 14 different groups of publications. Many would show off the subject matter collections, and some needed to focus on the DUP brand.
The first step in planning the shoot was to figure out content groupings and nail down a repeatable production process. Our process outline, in summary:
Shoot with an eye on specific aspect ratios for vertical, horizontal, and square options.
Perform a quick initial edit pass after each shoot to help guide the next session.
When all shoots are complete, review for selects again with the entire body of work in mind for context. This step leads to client-ready deliverables for their first review.
With client feedback noted, execute a final edit pass for cropping and exposure adjustments for deliverables for the client. We deliver full-frame images so DUP’s in-house design team can crop and fine-tune their marketing materials.
Having our process plan in place meant that we could produce consistent styles for each collection and rely on our team’s efficiency to compress the production timeline as much as possible.
So, how’d it go? We’re certainly proud of the outcome. Creative angles, high contrast, and bright colors—not to mention all the fascinating titles—resulted in a complete set of engaging, marketing-ready images. The client was a huge fan, too:
This is the first time since 2020 that we had professional photos made for our digital and print materials—so much has changed in the last four years. The HALO 22 team was able to work with our needs and within our limitations to give us plenty of choices for our upcoming marketing campaign. David brilliantly captured our brand through a fresh lens. My team enjoyed working with HALO 22 and are so happy with the results.
—Mandy Brannon, Journals and Collections Marketing Manager
Explore some of our favorite shots below, and visit Duke University Press to check out their fascinating literary offerings.
