Photographing Clayco's Leadership Team for Sophisticated Living Magazine

A Magazine Assignment Worth Getting Excited About

When Sophisticated Living Magazine called about photographing Clayco's leadership team, we knew this one would be fun. Sophisticated Living reaches more than 100,000 affluent readers with every issue, so the bar for the images was high from the start. The assignment: capture Bob Clark and the rest of Clayco's executive team at their recently renovated headquarters in north St. Louis county.

The Space Itself Was Part of the Story

Clayco's headquarters isn't just an office. It's a showcase of the kind of design and construction work the company is known for. Walking through the space, it was clear the renovation was meant to be seen, open sightlines, thoughtful materials, and rooms built to make an impression. Our job was to make sure the leadership portraits felt like they belonged in that environment, not like they were dropped into it.

We spent time photographing the team in a mix of settings across the building. Some portraits were straightforward and formal, the kind of images a magazine needs for a leadership feature. Others were more candid, catching people in conversation or moving through the space naturally. Together, the two approaches gave Sophisticated Living a fuller picture of who Clayco's leaders are and where they work.

Executive Portraits That Do More Than Fill a Page

There's a difference between a portrait that just identifies who someone is and one that says something about how they lead. For a feature like this, we wanted every image to carry some weight. Bob Clark and the other executives needed to look approachable but authoritative, comfortable in their own building without looking staged.

That balance is the whole game with leadership portraits. Too formal and the images feel stiff. Too casual and they lose the gravity a company like Clayco deserves in a regional publication. We aimed for portraits that would hold up next to the kind of polished editorial work Sophisticated Living's readers expect, while still reflecting the personality of the people in front of the camera.

Why the Setting Mattered

Shooting on location at Clayco's renovated headquarters gave us something a studio session never could, context. Readers flipping through the magazine don't just see faces, they see the environment Clayco built and operates in every day. That environment tells its own story about the company's scale and design sensibility, and it made every portrait feel more grounded and specific to who Clayco actually is.

We also used the candid moments across the office to round out the feature. Those images show the building in use, people at work, meetings in progress, the kind of texture that makes a leadership spread feel alive instead of static.

What This Kind of Work Requires

Projects like this move fast. Executives have limited time, a magazine has a deadline, and the building itself has its own rhythm of meetings and activity happening around you. Getting strong portraits in that kind of environment means being efficient without rushing the process, reading the light in each space quickly, and making people comfortable enough to look natural even when they're on a tight schedule.

It's the same skill set we bring to any personal branding or executive portrait session, just scaled up for a company the size of Clayco and a publication with the reach of Sophisticated Living. The goal never changes: portraits that represent people accurately, confidently, and in a way that fits the story being told around them.

Looking for Portraits Like These

Whether it's a leadership team, a founder, or an individual professional building a personal brand, we approach every session the same way, find the setting that says something true about who you are, and make portraits that hold up in print or online. If your company or your own brand could use portraits with that kind of intention, our personal branding work might be a good fit.

Looking for personal branding portraits of your own? Contact us for pricing and upcoming availability.