CarFix

Commercial Photography

CarFix is an auto repair business with three locations in the Raleigh area. The owner was looking for a new photographer after his previous one moved on, and the connection came through the BNI group Anthony is part of. A couple of contacts in the group made the introduction, they met, and it was immediately clear this wasn't going to be a simple headshot job.

The owner wanted a full marketing library built across all three locations: something his team, his marketing company, and his web presence could draw from for the long term. He was also working with a videographer contact who would handle employee interviews. Rather than treat those as separate projects, Anthony coordinated with the video partner so both efforts could run at the same location on the same days and produce a unified set of deliverables.

What a Full Commercial Library Actually Covers

The scope at CarFix covered every visual need a multi-location auto repair brand has. Team and staff headshots at each location, shot individually so the library could survive staff changes without a full reshoot. Environmental images of each shop. Closeups of the branded vehicles. Detail shots of things like the key drop lockbox, the kind of branded touchpoint that customers interact with but that most businesses never think to photograph. Staff in action. Cars being worked on.

Each of these requires a different approach. Headshots need consistency across three locations so the "Meet the Team" page doesn't look like it was assembled from different photographers across different years. In-action repair shots mean working in a live shop: overhead shop lighting, vehicles at odd angles, technicians who are actually doing the work and can't always stop and reset for a camera. Detail shots need to make a lockbox or a branded door look like part of a considered brand identity, not a snapshot.

The sessions were spread across two dates, similar to the approach used at The Cigar Box, not because the work couldn't be compressed, but because doing it right at multiple locations doesn't compress well. Rushing the team headshots at location three because you ran long at location one produces exactly the inconsistency the session is designed to prevent.

The Owner's Session Was a Different Brief

The owner's portraits came at the end of the day, and they weren't a standard headshot session. His marketing company had given him a clear brief: they needed images of him that read as approachable and relatable: pointing, smiling, engaged, active. The kind of images that work in ads, email campaigns, and social content where the goal is connection rather than authority.

That's a different session to direct than an executive headshot. It's closer to what Don Anfuso went through, but with more range. The owner was essentially acting out scenarios while Anthony built a library of expressions and gestures that his marketing team could use across different contexts. Done last in the day after all the location and team work was finished, when the pressure was off and the working relationship had been established. That order matters.

We also fit in a quick family portrait at the end. It wasn't part of the original brief, just something the owner wanted. Whether it ended up on his About page or just on his wall, that kind of addition happens when a day goes well and everyone's relaxed by the end of it.

Building for Staff Turnover From the Start

A three-location auto repair business is not a static roster. People come and go. When the approach is individual shots rather than a group photo, a new hire means one new headshot, not a reshoot of the whole team. The library built at CarFix was designed with that in mind from the first conversation: consistent style, consistent background treatment, consistent lighting across all three locations, so adding one new face to the mix reads as part of the same library rather than something from a different era of the business.

The owner has come back to the studio for his own updates as well. When his look changed from his original images, he came in for a quick headshot refresh rather than finding someone new. That's what a working relationship with a photographer is supposed to look like: you don't start over every time something needs updating. You call the same person, they already know what they're doing with you, and you get it done.