The secrets to good corporate photography

A corporate photojournalism pioneer and a thriving corporate photographer share tips on how to take great pictures

Customers of Phil Douglis’ once-popular workshops on corporate photojournalism have slowed to a trickle. And for the most part, he’s happy about it.

At 74, he loves the intimacy of the one-on-one courses he offers a few times a year from his home and studio in Sedona, Ariz. He travels the world in search of images to illustrate his 44-year-old column in IABC’s Communication World and his regular blog on MyRagan.com.

Only when asked does he lament what he calls the lost art of corporate photojournalism: The taking of photographs with a point of view. The taking of photographs after answering the fundamental question, which he says is: “What the hell are you trying to say, and to whom?”

Douglis doesn’t know Suzanne Salvo, but he should, because she and her husband Chris have passionately taken over his long-held role as the communication profession’s leading photographic cheerleaders and teachers.

And they’re carrying on most of his ideas.