What is The Role of Photography in Luxury?

When we hear the word ‘luxury’, the first image our mind conjures is that of elegance, with a side of timelessness and exclusivity. It is an everlasting beauty representing a worthy investment. Each luxury brand has an identity and a uniqueness to it. The uniqueness- a touch of extravagance, it owes to the designer’s  creativity stemming from the brand story, i.e its heritage. This is what makes luxury brands stand out from all others. It requires to engender the perception of luxury as well as the development of a quality product.

But beyond all that, luxury ultimately is not just the unique product or the extremely high price or even the exclusivity, but a mindset. It is the certainty that the brand core values align with the company, and hence it carries on the legacy of the brand. It is the assurance of the company’s dedication to provide superior quality as per customer’s aspirations.

It is, after all the people that make a luxury brand.

The luxury brands adopt an approach, different from that of consumer products, in terms of communicating. This is because the message being conveyed by these brands has a higher level of sophistication and complexity as compared to the consumer brands. Investing in luxury implies becoming a part of that glamour. This is where luxury photography comes in.

Luxury brands thrive on loyalty. They have their identification. What they need is recognition and to maintain it - and that is particularly where photography comes in. The right kind go photography can  make a brand recognisable in a split second. Maintaining a steady brand image in the market provides the unique attribute to each brand and portrays common values that the consumer as well as the brands stand for. This can be achieved through the use photography. Photographing luxury product ensures it reaches the target customers and titillates their senes.

Pictures speak a thousand words; in case of luxury photography, they speak the language of opulence. The purpose of it is to make the client and the subject of the photographs feel luxurious. Luxury photography essentially seduce the senses. One of the best approach for luxury brands to inspire customers has always been through storytelling.The main purpose is to create desire, and the photography is the entrance that world of glamour. They play with the style, colour, story, sentiment in order to assist the brand in conveying its message across.  According to the photographer Mike Diver of photography duo Diver and Aguilar, the campaigns go luxury fashion brands such as Armani, Dolce & Gabbana and Chanel, with the use of photography created the most impact, with respect to others. The visuals that they portray, bring alive the individual values that these brands hold. For instance :

Dolce & Gabbana is instantly recognisable for its fantastical theatrical masterpieces, inspired by Fellini or The Acts of the Apostles.

Cartier for the use of its iconic panther & the colour red in their highly polished advertising.

Photography in luxury focusses on different individual aspects of brands - those that provide the brands with exclusivity - in order to communicate the distinctive appeal of each brand to it potential clientele. An alternative to that is focusing on the rich heritage of the brand instead. According to Mike Diver, it is essential to understand the brand philosophy beforehand. For instance : Graff, known for the size of its gem stones, would want the photographs to focus on the purity of stones, whereas brands such as Gucci, would have a slightly different focus.

With the advancement of digital media, the role of photography has gained momentum. Behind the scene videos of photoshoots and video shoots draw attention of some customers, so much so that they could have a greater impact than the actual video. These added to the ways of engaging them with the brand and the creative process as well as increasing he customer base.

Similarly, luxury hotel photography is an art, which is essential to visually tempt potential customers to buy into an entire luxury experience. It evokes a feeling so powerful such that the customer feels as if he is in a simulation. The photography aids in capturing the little details so as to create a yearning for the place, using a refreshing colour scheme. In addition to that, a human subject that the customers can substitute themselves for, would help with the process of storytelling through pictures. Luxury hotel photographs include the staff in action in order to portray the warmth, politeness of the staff. Basically this photography portrays everything a potential client would hope for, in a tantalising manner, so as to create a yearning in the customer.