I shoot for brands in a variety of activities from headshots to live events to retail activations. These are retail activation installs and strikes in Orlando and Boca Raton at Bloomingdale’s.

Wow just when you think you know a lot, you learn a lot more! While I make micro weddings the center of my work, I’ve been hired to do a lot of really cool things.

Some definitions for my readers who aren’t from this retail world:

• A retail activation is a tangible experience out in the real world (like in a store) to promote openings, excite shoppers, and stimulate purchases.

• Installation is exactly what you think it is—it’s teams coming in and putting it all together.

• Strike is a new word I learned and that’s when they take it all apart.

These photos are from installations and strikes at Bloomingdale’s in Orlando and Boca Raton for the brand Havaianas. I was hired by The Uplift Corp which is “North America’s first Experiential Events (Pending) B Corp, producing sustainably focused experiences”. I LOVE it when companies whose values align with my own find me in their search for photographers.

If you don’t know what a B Corp is, check it out here. You don’t need to be in business to find this interesting. As the B Corp concept spreads, vendors like me will start to prioritize them as clients. This certification isn’t a piece of corporate PR bullshit. Companies need to be able to prove that they walk the walk to get and keep this certification. Love it!

I’m an intensely curious person and I learned about things I didn’t even know I could be curious about! I by all kinds of things out in the world without thinking about the fact that a team (or many teams) are responsible for designing, constructing, styling, and installing those things that we see. They didn’t just pop on their own. So I found it super interesting to observe the many different independent working parts that were synchronized to tear down this activation for Havaianas at Bloomingdale’s.

All of this is just another thing to add to my list of interesting things I’ve photographed! It was fun to get out of the wedding world for a day and do this work.