Images I shoot for universities, schools and non-profit groups tend to be less staged than the equivalent type corporate shot. I’m usually given loose guidelines as to what my client wants to portray in their images, then asked to find a way to tell that story. The shots range from campus buildings, to classroom interaction, to leadership portraits.

Some schools get a blanket permission slip for kids to appear in promotional photographs; others select a few students whom they have permission for, and I then choose which students work best for the story we're telling in each shot.

This image was used in a website and for fundraising materials for a non-profit girls refugee school.

The school systems that have support the arts programs always want to include them in their school literature, as was the case for the City Schools of Decatur.

Beyond shooting the band room, I also shot an art class, an art display, and the culinary school.

Here is a very stylized portrait of an elementary school principal in the Decatur school system.

Decatur likes to play up its small neighborhood schools. To show off that aspect, I proposed shooting each of the principals in front of their respective schools.

I scouted each school in advance to find the most attractive angle and to know when to find the nicest light. This particular school faced due north, so the sun was always directly behind it – not the most ideal. The final image involved combing several different exposures to capture details in the sky, the building façade, and the best facial expression.

Two examples of classroom shots – one from a middle school science class, the other from an early learning center.

When I photograph classrooms, I look for elements that draw your eye around the room. There should be a main focal point, but then something going on behind that to give the images depth. Teacher interaction is always one of the key elements, but then I look to use the assistant teachers (when they have them) in the background – as seen in the preschool shot.

This high school recently completed a new wing, which was far more attractive than the 1960’s spaceship structure over the main entrance. There was one other area that would have represented the school building well, but I chose this angle to show the relationship of the school to the town center, by including the office buildings in the background.

Here’s the cover for the latest City Schools of Decatur system brochure. A new 4th and 5th grade school had just been built on the site where a decommissioned school once stood, so it was our site for a gathering of students from one of the classes.

The shot of these 3 friends was taken to show student camaraderie at the school campus.

Happy students and a safe, friendly environment are always part of my shot list.

Each School in the Decatur system had a different morning ritual involving the entire school at least once each week. Each classroom also had their own morning ritual to help center the students on being in school, but also to connect the students to each other. Here the school day started with a circle where each student greeted the person next to them in whatever manner they were comfortable with. To get the overall effect, I combined the greetings from 3 different images into my final shot.