Photography is one of the best opportunities to convey the personality of DC. A good image becomes the opening sentence of your story, grabs people’s attention and ingrains itself into a person’s memory.

The style of images used in each of our communication pieces tells a story about the college – who we are and what we mean to our audiences. As such, it is critical to define the criteria for selecting photography that reflects our personality and positioning.

The following types of photography should be used at all times to relay our commitment to student success:

• Opportunities to gain work experience while in school.
• More than 140 full-time market-driven programs.
• Premier student experience.
• Inclusive learning environment.
• Exceptional faculty with real-world experience.
• Vibrant campus community.
• Opportunity to gain the skills they need to obtain a great job and make a difference in the world.

DC’s photography is warm and welcoming and portrays career-focused, confident individuals. The images are primarily focused on individuals (e.g. employees and students using learning tools) and should evoke the notion that success matters in a variety of ways.

The images contain a mixture of close-up facial shots and full-bodied images.

Our photography showcases DC’s campus, classrooms, labs, student space and student life. The images convey the learning experience and success at DC. The imagery should change in perspective with some photos reflecting the viewer’s point of view and others from the observer’s position.

The intention is to draw the viewer into the DC experience similar to the way people engage in life as participants and as spectators.

Photo Guidelines

Event Photos – Techniques and Tips:

1. Rely on natural lighting as much as possible – if the event takes place in a low-light venue, utilize a flash
2. Map out shots of speakers and stakeholders ahead of time – if possible, get a complete schedule of the event from the event organizer
3. Develop a shot list – key speakers, important moments of the event
4. Embrace both candid and staged shots – group photos, individual photos, action photos
5. Convey the event theme – re: capture the ‘story’ of the event
6. Capture a mix of landscape (horizontal) and portrait (vertical) photos
7. Take a signature photo of the event (preferably in landscape orientation) – one photo that captures the purpose of the event – ie: cheque presentation with group, group shot with award given to recipient, crowd shot with key note speaker, etc.
8. When taking a signature or group photo(s), please take multiple shots – Audibly counting down quickly (before taking the shot) helps prevent photos with people blinking

Event photos – Technical requirements:

1. At least an 8-megapixel camera – most modern phone cameras meet this requirement
2. DSLR (with lenses) is ideal, however point-and-shoot, or your phone’s camera work well
3. Picture files can be offloaded, and put in a folder on the i:\ and sent to Communications and Marketing.
4. If possible, picture files should be renamed according to the date and event, utilizing the following structure: YEAR-MONTH-DAY-NAME-OF-EVENT-XXXX.jpg – (ie: 2017-11-01-durham-college-fall-convocation-0001.jpg)

Examples of photography: