Getting high-resolution photos of memorials in clients’ respective spaces had always proved challenging for Eickhof, especially as a growing national and global brand. When I joined the team there was a long wishlist of memorials to get quality photos of. I was tasked with purchasing a digital camera that would produce quality results and remain accessible for team members who didn’t have strong camera skills.
I tackled the photo list in a variety of ways. As a professional photographer, I went on field trips to document many projects located in Minnesota. When a member of the sales team was scheduled to go on a sales trip, I identified which memorial projects they would be traveling near. I also determined the best time of day for them to photograph those memorials and communicated some best practices for photographing them. We also began hiring photographers located near memorials of special interest to us. As a result of these efforts, we grew our website portfolio of projects by 40%.
During my time at Eickhof I also learned some rendering skills. I worked in Sketchup to create 3D models of clients’ proposed memorials. Then I utilized site photographs provided by our clients and created photo-illustrations of their proposed memorial sites.