www.swimmingpoolnews.co.uk
Pool&SpaIndustry JUN 2012 SPN
33
Tony Line, Managing Director of London Swimming Pool Company, offers advice on how to plan an industry award winning entry
T
he SPATA industry awards have long been ‘the event’ where companies showcase what they are achieving, not just to their peers, but if they manage their PR effectively, then to the wider world. It should be part of each company’s marketing process – and a key thread to attracting customers and new business.
The awards event takes a great deal of organising.
I have been lucky enough to see this from all angles, running a successful business that has entered the competition, to being a competition judge and a technical advisor for the judging panel.
All judges are working on a completely blind basis and have no idea what a company has submitted for entry. Judges will be looking for competence with pool build and plant room quality, compliance with SPATA / BISHTA Standards, getting the award entry details correct which means reading the entry paperwork and making sure your entry is in the right category and submitting great images with getting your entries in on time.
I have seen a mix of fantastic entries some of which go through to win awards and others a complete mystery why they have ever been submitted. For example, poor images with incomplete technical detail, placed in wrong categories and plant rooms that should never see the light of day are entered – this still happens but thankfully much less so now. Plan well in advance and don’t wait until the entry forms arrive before photographs are taken. The key time for early photographic images to be taken are when the pool is completed and everything is pristine.
With indoor pools then there is much more flexibility with the most interesting shots perhaps during autumn or with snow on the ground. Images can be taken both in daylight or at night time however for fully lit images choose the winter time as it gets darker early allowing
photography at a reasonable time that doesn’t impinge on the evening routine of the client.
TEN TOP TIPS TO BECOME AN AWARD WINNER: 1. Go digital with a good camera, tripod and a couple of multi functional lenses perhaps an 18-55mm and a wide angle 10-22mm, take a lot of images and
out of perhaps 100 there will be a dozen gems that will do wonders for the awards – and your website. 2. Make sure the pool is clean, deck surround dry, furniture placed for effect, toys and cleaning equipment out of the image. 3. Balance your image by squaring up in the frame, don’t use wide angle lens on corner shots as they distort. 4. Create interesting images that will catch the eye of judges because if a visual impact is created then they will be drawn back to your work at the critical and difficult final selection stages – don’t forget they may be looking at several hundred images and making choices in one long day and you want to increase the chances of your pool being in the running. 5. Remember it will not be just about great images, you must back up and prove your technical competence by being in compliance with SPATA Standards with good plant room shots. I can tell you fantastic images will be disqualified if you cannot back up with some hard facts. An added bonus is to have a written recommendation from your client. 6. Avoid cloudy days for photography. 7. Use the pool water, windows or mirrors or combinations of these as a reflection medium. 8. Unless you are a professional then flash may ruin your work so use a tripod mount, remote shutter operation with very slow shutter speed and with zero water movement.
9. Clean the plant room, polish everything including the pipe work. 10. Sometimes you will be lucky enough
to have created a very special pool that is just going to be a winner and put your business on the map but my advice is to find a professional photographer who can shift away from images that everyone else is doing and produce something different. Be prepared to spend £350 / £500 per day for travel, on site photography, PC work after, young photographers especially from top art schools / universities wanting to make a name for themselves are going to be a far better proposition than Barry down the road who does low cost weddings and bar mitzvahs.
Finally, check out what your competitors are doing and what images they have on their websites. I guarantee you may learn quite a bit however one thing is certain – you will never know what they have in the pipeline until the award event. spn
i FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
F LONDON SWIMMING POOL COMPANY ( 020 8874 0414 :
www.londonswimmingpools.com
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