Company to Watch: Corporate Images

Intriguing Business Opportunity Comes Into Focus

Denise Smith was searching for a word or two to describe the process, or technique, applied to many of her images — one that makes them look more like paintings than photographs — and not doing particularly well.
“Let’s just they’re computer-enhanced; we have a little magic formula, or something we do in Photoshop to enhance the image to give it more of an artsy look,” she told BusinessWest, opting to be rather vague about what she does to images to give them such a unique quality that they’re now hanging in several area businesses and executives’ offices.
They can be seen in the main lobby of NUVO Bank’s facilities in Tower Square, for example, and also in several Hampden Bank branches, including Longmeadow, Indian Orchard, and West Springfield. Meanwhile, Russell Denver, president of the Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield, has several of Smith’s images of downtown Springfield hanging in his office in the TD Bank building.
If it were up to Smith, her works would be appearing in many more area businesses. Such exposure would be clear evidence of success with a new business endeavor she launched roughly a year ago. Called Corporate Images, the venture is an offshoot of a photography studio that has, for more than 20 years, focused mostly on family and bridal portraits.
And it’s one that Smith believes has enormous growth potential, because it has several components — everything from headshots of a company’s employees to photographs that can be used on a Web site, to images of people and places that can be put on an office’s walls.
“Image is everything for a business,” she explained. “And we can help a company project a very positive image, from the look and feel of its Web site to the office décor that says so much about the company.”
Tracing the history of how a hobby turned into a multi-faceted business, Smith said she had only a passive interest in photography until high school, when her uncle, a professional photographer, passed away and her father bought all his equipment and gave it to her.
She took a few classes in photography at area colleges, developed an affinity for the art, and eventually took a job with Loring Studios doing mostly high-school yearbook work. After a few years, she left Loring for another studio, but always yearned to go into business for herself.
In 1989, she did, with the launching of Denise Smith Photography in her home in Longmeadow.
Over the next several years, she built up a solid reputation for children’s photography, and is best known for her portrait work, which includes a suite of services under the brand name Bella Donna (‘beautiful woman’ in Italian), specifically photography of brides, mothers, and mothers-to-be.
Seeking to diversify in a competitive marketplace, Smith launched Corporate Images in the summer of 2009 to focus on a different and potentially lucrative market — the business community. And she said her work with NUVO and, later, Hampden Bank provided much of the inspiration for the new venture.
At NUVO, Smith was commissioned to capture what she called “different angles” of Springfield that would go well beyond conventional shots of landmarks such as the Campanile, Symphony Hall, and the Memorial Bridge.
“Sometimes the biggest challenge is to capture images that everyone is already so familiar with, and generate a product that is so different from what other photographers have already created,” she explained. “We worked to create a result that truly speaks of how beautiful Springfield is and how vibrant our community is, from motorcycles to architecture to rock and classical music.”
That result includes several unique views of downtown, including one looking south from the North End, as well as a set of images of the entertainment district during one of the so-called ‘biker nights.’ There are also several tight shots of architectural elements from historical buildings, and one dramatic image (actually three different images pieced together) from opening night at Symphony Hall.
For several Hampden Bank branches, Smith put together a snapshot (or several of them) of the community in question. In Longmeadow, for example, the branch’s walls hold images of the town library, Community Center, and old cemetery, and even the fire department, gathered on and around one of its pumpers.
Many of the images now hanging in these various venues, as well as dozens more on Smith’s Web site (www.denisesmithphotography.com) are printed on canvas and computer-enhanced to provide that quality that makes them look like paintings.
This technique, coupled with the use of different angles or views of a specific subject, has prompted Smith to adopt the marketing line, “we take the ordinary and make it something extraordinary.”
In addition to works that can be displayed on office walls, Smith is also handling a number of assignments for companies’ Web sites, especially portraits of key personnel. This is just one component of the multifaceted business that she expects will develop into a highly successful branch of her larger photography business.
Moving forward, Smith hopes her current displays and other forms of marketing will build awareness of her work, and her venture, and thus help expand the portfolio. And she’s being aggressive and imaginative in the pursuit of ways to create visibility.
For example, she’s currently working with the Springfield Business Improvement District and its director, Don Courtemanche, on a special project — photographing the inside of Springfield’s old Court Square Hotel for an exhibit, slated for this fall, designed to spur interest in the restoration of that landmark.
“These are really never-before-seen images,” she said, adding that she has now been in the hotel several times for some shooting. “It’s very run down in there, but there is a lot of beauty still left. There is some beautiful woodwork on the staircases, for example. And on each floor, there are original wall murals that depict different eras in Springfield’s history, and they are just fabulous.
“I have a lot of very interesting shots of rooms, hallways, and the walls, and the exhibit should be very interesting,” she continued. “These are things that not everyone can just get in and see.”
Creating works that people don’t see often, if ever, is the broad mission behind Smith’s work and her various business ventures. You might say she’s focused on the big picture — in more ways than one.

— George O’Brien