09

Photography

A grandmother hugged from behind by her granddaughter
Photography is where the brand meets the people it exists for.

Color and the mosaic do the graphic work. Photographs bring the proof: who we are, where we are, what generosity looks like when it lands.

How we photograph

01

Real people, real places

Shot in our eight counties. No stock look-alikes, no anonymous handshakes.

02

Represent the whole community

Age, race, culture, ability, neighborhood. Across a set of images, the whole region sees itself.

03

Dignity, always

Collaborators, never objects of pity. Eye level, consent, their best moment.

04

Color leads

The palette in clothing, walls, murals, light. Saturated, never filtered.

05

Candid over posed

Connection, laughter, work in progress. A moment, not a pose.

06

Natural light

Daylight or open shade. No on-camera flash, no muddy interiors.

07

Clean backgrounds

Watch for signage, clutter, and stray people. If a background is busy, let it blur.

08

Room for the system

Leave clean areas for type and the mosaic. Shoot wide and tight.

09

Credit and consent

A release and a photographer credit on every image before it ships.

Nine themes

Every image we make or license belongs to one of these. A brand shoot covers all nine. A single piece draws from two or three.

Studio portrait of a woman in an orange suit against a purple ground
01Studio portraits on color
A young woman seated cross-legged in a flower garden
02Environmental portraits
A grandmother with her arms around two grandchildren
03Family
Two friends laughing, one on the other’s back, on a city sidewalk
04Community
A group at an event holding face cutouts and laughing
05Foundation events and staff
A crowd in flowered Fiesta hats at sunset
06Culture
A woman in a rainbow heart sweater laughing in front of a geometric mural
07Murals and public art
The giant lit cowboy boots at dusk
08San Antonio icons and architecture
A field of wildflowers under a big sky
09The eight counties
Reference library. These photographs set the direction. Confirm rights before any appear in public, and replace them with our own photography as it's made.

Studio portraits on color

One person, one core color behind them. Simple clothing, direct gaze, a real expression. Torch, Nopal, River Walk, or Cenizo, or a 300 tint. Never Fiesta Pink: it stays under 25% of any composition.

Studio portrait of a woman in an orange suit against a purple ground
Studio portrait of a young man in a plaid shirt against yellow
Studio portrait of a man in a red jacket against marigold
Studio portrait of a woman in a teal suit seated on a stool against yellow
Studio portrait of a woman in an orange sweater laughing against magenta
Studio portrait of a woman in a blue suit against orange
Studio portrait of a woman in an orange vest against white
Studio portrait of a woman in a green shirt against orange
Studio portrait of a woman in a black turtleneck against yellow
Studio portrait of a woman in a colorblock shirt sitting cross-legged on a green chair

Environmental portraits

People where they live and work: gardens, steps, studios, sidewalks. Natural light, shallow depth. The place is the second subject.

A young woman seated cross-legged in a flower garden
A man in a checked shirt smiling under trees
A rancher in a straw hat and plaid shirt, seated outdoors
A young man laughing in front of a flowering hedge
A man in a denim shirt smiling outdoors at golden hour
A man in a dark jacket seated on stone steps, smiling
A woman with curly hair smiling with her chin on her hand
An artist in a striped shirt in her studio
A woman in a hat looking at ceramics in a gallery

Family

Generations together, close and touching, at home and in the neighborhood. Warm light, nothing staged.

A grandmother with her arms around two grandchildren
A grandmother hugged from behind by her granddaughter
A family of four in front of a brick building with arched windows
A father hugging his child
A family jumping in a green field
Charras on horseback

Community

Neighbors, classrooms, markets, play. Unposed, in the middle of things, shot from inside the group.

Two friends laughing, one on the other’s back, on a city sidewalk
A teacher and children looking at a turtle in a classroom
A hand-painted San Antonio sign held up in front of the Tower of the Americas
A woman with a paleta in front of a papel picado-decorated building
A crowd in Fiesta hats
Rodeo queens on a parade float
A marching band in a small-town parade

Foundation events and staff

Scholarship nights, galas, donor gatherings, board meetings, and staff at work between them. The moment of recognition and the people in the room, not the podium.

A group at an event holding face cutouts and laughing
Staff listening in a meeting
A scholar holding his certificate beside his mother
Staff smiling during a meeting
Two scholars holding their scholarship certificates
Three women smiling together at an event

Culture

Tradition as living color, shot with respect and joy.

A crowd in flowered Fiesta hats at sunset
A Día de los Muertos altar with a skeleton figure and papel picado
A Día de los Muertos altar with marigolds and papel picado
Two women in colorful dresses in front of a historic building
A lit barge in the river parade at night
A woman in a straw hat singing and playing accordion
Folklórico dancers on stage
Fiesta dancers with flower baskets
A performer in monarch butterfly wings dancing under an arch
A matachines dancer at night
Charras on horseback
Fiesta royalty on a float
Folklórico dancers on a river parade barge

Murals and public art

The city’s walls are our color library. Frame people against murals so art and person share the frame equally.

A woman in a rainbow heart sweater laughing in front of a geometric mural
The Virgen de Guadalupe mural on a tall building
A father lifting his child in front of a blue Otomi-style mural
San Antonio spelled in painted letters with a skeleton figure
A Greetings from San Antonio postcard mural
A geometric mural of colored triangles on a brick wall
A painting of a mother and child

San Antonio icons and architecture

The Tower, the River Walk, the missions, the boots, and walls of brick and saturated stucco. Landmarks behind people, not postcards.

The giant lit cowboy boots at dusk
The red Central Library building against a blue sky
The Alamo
The Tower of the Americas lit at night
The River Walk at night
The red Torch of Friendship sculpture
Shelves of colorful cowboy boots
A hand holding a San Antonio sticker against the sky
Mission ruins behind prickly pear

The eight counties

Beyond Bexar: Atascosa, Bandera, Comal, Guadalupe, Kendall, Medina, and Wilson. Town squares, courthouses, ranch land, rivers, main streets. Every county gets a signature image. These are a start.

The Hondo water tower
A child hugging the giant peanut statue in Floresville
Tubers on a green river from above
A small-town main street
A county courthouse facade
A field of wildflowers under a big sky
A tasting room in the Hill Country

Photos with the system

The system bends to the photo. Run it full bleed, frame it with a solid or pattern border, pair it with a section of pattern, or cut the person out over color. Choose the treatment that fits the piece and the picture.

Studio portrait of a woman in a teal suit seated on a stool against yellow
Full-bleed image
A woman in a straw hat singing, the photo bleeding off the frame under a band of pattern
Image bleed with pattern section
A woman in a striped top framed by a Torch and Twilight pattern border
Image with pattern border
A woman in an orange vest, cut out over a section of pattern
Image cutout with pattern section
A laughing woman in an orange sweater, cut out on Limestone with a Fiesta Pink corner
Image cutout with corner element
A woman in a hat at a gallery, framed by a solid Torch border
Image with solid border
A group of scholars in front of a brick building, set on Limestone between two corner wedges
Image with corner elements
A woman in an orange suit, cut out over hand-cut pieces in Bougainvillea, Torch, and Magnolia
Cutout on pattern

Cutouts

Mask the person out and set them on a core color or a light mosaic crop. The person stays real. The world around them becomes the brand.

A young man in a plaid shirt, cut out over a light mosaic crop in River Walk tints A smiling woman with curly hair, cut out and set on Cenizo A woman in a colorblock outfit seated cross-legged on a green chair, cut out and set on River Walk A man in a red jacket with his arms crossed, cut out and set on Nopal A woman in a green shirt, cut out over a light mosaic crop A woman in a teal suit seated on a stool, cut out and set on Torch
  • Choose the subject. One person or a close pair, lit evenly, clean edges around hair and hands. Studio and quiet environmental portraits work best.
  • Let the frame crop. Anchor the figure to the bottom edge. The crop happens at the frame, not mid-body in the air.
  • Keep the ground calm. A core color at full strength, or a light mosaic crop of six pieces or fewer. Nothing busy behind a face.
  • Never cut a person out of a group. Cutouts are for people photographed as the subject.
  • Never place a cutout over a photograph, and never add shadows, outlines, or glows.
  • Keep the mask honest. No re-lighting, no grading to match the ground. The photo stays true. The background does the brand work.

Dos and don’ts

  • Crop with intent. Tight on faces, wide on places. Skip the middle distance, where nobody is the subject.
  • Keep color honest. Light correction only. If a photo needs a filter to fit, it doesn’t fit.
  • One photo per surface unless it’s a grid. Let the mosaic and color do the layering.
  • No black and white, except archival images from our own history, captioned as such.
  • No overlays or gradients on photographs. Type gets a panel, not a tint.
  • No generated people. Illustrations can be synthetic. Photographs of people never are.
A woman with curly hair smiling with her chin on her hand
Don’t desaturateBlack and white drains the brand out.
A woman with a paleta in front of a papel picado-decorated building
Don’t filterVintage grades make Limestone look yellow and Twilight look gray.
A lit barge in the river parade at night
Don’t tintNo brand-color overlays. Use a panel for type.
Studio portrait of a woman in a blue suit, squashed to 62 percent of its width as a wrong example
Don’t distortCrop to fit. Never stretch to fit.

Building the library

Try to keep the library in balance across the nine themes and the five audiences: donors and fundholders, nonprofits, community leaders, scholars, and professional advisors, each in their own setting. Cover all eight counties, not just Bexar, with signature images made on location. Brief the photographer with this page.