OWN Engineering: a case study
capturing the explosive energy of a growing engineering firm
The wonderful folks at Vario marketing in KC approached me a couple years back about a local engineering company whose modest, unremarkable past was in the process of being overtaken by an avalanche of fresh energy. Thanks to the leadership team of the past few years, OWN has grown exponentially with offices in Kansas City, Springfield MO, Joplin, Columbia, Destin Florida, Rogers AR, and more all the time.
To be honest (and not all that surprising), corporate work isn’t always the most interesting. But that’s not the case with this company. I’ve worked now with OWN engineering- (formerly Anderson) enough to feel like a friend and co-worker with this crew, building a new stock library for them through a full re-branding process at locations around the country- capturing headshots, company retreats, finished projects, construction progress, office culture, and more. And I’ve seen an employee-owned company that genuinely cares about its people. As a result of being taken care of and recognized, the folks at OWN- from entry level to CEO- are excited to work at this company and are doing quality, master-level problem-solving work in their industry. They believe in the company, and so do I.
Here’s some samples of different types of work I’ve down for OWN, in collaboration with Vario:
Employees in the field
in the office
The offices always feel like very open, collaborative environments- we wanted that to show in the images.
on site
Shots from the field of site inspection, soil sampling, surveying, and more; an image library of varied roles and sites to show a full spectrum of types of work.
Here’s a gallery of surveyors and engineers out in the field, at locations in Missouri, Arkansas, and Florida.
work completed
OWN does a variety of civil engineering work, and I’ve enjoyed getting to capture shots of finished projects that show off the complexity of their planning, consulting, and design capabilities. Rather than simply capturing structures with architecture as the primary subject, the goal has been to capture a bigger picture (pun intended) of the project- including the parking lot, the traffic lights, the drainage systems, and more that most of us never even consider when we see a new construction project.
Employees have fun together too
With regular company retreats, ping-pong Fridays, milestone celebrations and more, OWN folks know how to play and celebrate just as well as work.
Headshots
For every “serious” photo taken for OWN, there’s been an imaginative outtake. Employees bring their own props to show off their personalities- and when you hover over the photos on their site, you get to see their “fun side!” It’s hard to pick a favorite, but I think I’d have to go with the employee who posed taking a phot of his own life-sized cut-out…
DETAILS
Call these type of shots whatever you want… detail shots, b-roll, pick-up shots, texture… it’s a category of imagery that’s often overlooked by most- but you designers out there know how important these types of shots are. They fill in the gaps for giving a fuller picture of what it FEELS like to be present in the scene; in this case, the scene being the offices, job sites, and testing facilities of OWN.
