The judges said it was the photographs that clinched it.
HNS Signs had just completed one of the most technically unusual projects in their history — hand-painting anamorphic wayfinding signage throughout the car park at The Arcadian in Birmingham. Anamorphic lettering is designed to be read correctly only from a specific viewing angle, in this case from a driver’s perspective. Before each sign could be painted, the wording had to be projected onto the surface, outlined by hand, and then carefully filled in. Hours of precise, skilled work, repeated across an entire multi-storey car park.
They asked us to document it.
The photography challenge
Photographing anamorphic signage in a car park environment presents some interesting problems. The whole point of the lettering is that it only reads correctly from one position — which means you need to shoot from exactly that position to show the work at its best, while also capturing the process and the environment in a way that tells the full story. We shot throughout the installation, capturing the projection stage, the outlining work, the painting in progress and the completed signs.
The lighting in a multi-storey car park is, as you might expect, not ideal for photography. We managed the ambient fluorescent light with our own supplementary sources to get consistent, clear images throughout — both the process shots and the final results.
The outcome
HNS Signs entered the project for an industry award — and won it. When the judges gave their feedback, they specifically mentioned the photographic documentation as a key factor in their decision. The images, presented as an album, told the story of the project in a way that the physical result alone couldn’t convey to judges who weren’t there to see it being made.
That’s a good reminder of what commercial photography does beyond the obvious. It’s not just about making a finished product look attractive. It’s about capturing process, expertise and craft in a way that communicates value to people who weren’t in the room.
Other work from that period
Around the same time, we were also shooting industrial products and factory processes for a local design company — a mix of clean studio work on white backgrounds and on-site process photography. And a London-based client briefed us to photograph Tesco staff across multiple stores within a two-hour radius of Bromsgrove, for a mail drop to local residents. Stourport, Ludlow, Shrewsbury, Welshpool, Worcester, Redditch, Northampton — a useful reminder that our work takes us well beyond the West Midlands when the brief calls for it.
If you’re working on a project that needs documenting — an installation, a process, a campaign — get in touch. We’d love to hear about it.
To find out more about our commercial photography work, visit our service page.
Related reading: Behind the Shot: Photographing HNS Signs’ Installation Work.
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