Pictured: Sam Bowles
An East Midlands based company has launched a star-studded
photographic website - with thanks to support from EMB Ltd, the
leading enterprise and development company responsible for
delivering a range of business improvement services, including the
locally delivered Business Link service.
The Portrait Collective is a division of BowlesAssociates, the
specialist contract publishing agency that has long been associated
with sport, and over the years has built up a large collection of
portraits of all the leading sports personalities.
Many of the striking images stem from specially commissioned
shoots and by showing them together at portraitcollective.com - an
exciting new resource which has been created exclusively for
picture editors, art directors of magazines, books and other
publications.
As Sam Bowles explains: "You're unlikely to find any action
shots on portraitcollective.com - it's all about bespoke portrait
images of leading people in sport. Many big names already feature,
and the collection continues to grow all the time.
"We're really excited about our new venture and believe it has
great potential. That was underlined when a researcher contacted us
to say they'd discovered an image of Sir Ian Botham on our site
that would be ideal as the cover shot for his autobiography."
Dedicated service
Although the core business of Nottingham based BowlesAssociates
is the production of publications of all types, photography has
played an increasingly important role in recent years.
Said Sam: "It occurred to us that the growing library of
portrait images of associated sports people must have a wider
value and we contacted EMB Ltd to see if there was any funding we
were eligable for to assist with developing a dedicated
website."
Funding to expand
EMB arranged a meeting with a local Business Link adviser, who
not only identified potential sources of funding but helped
BowlesAssociates to complete a successful application in order to
secure the appropriate financial assistance.
With the application being successful this enabled the
comprehensive website development project to begin in earnest. "We
are very grateful to EMB for their help and support," adds Sam.
"The project also generated work for local companies who helped
to develop the site and advise us on the complicated terms and
conditions which protect the images against misuse."
Sam says that since the website has been operational it has
become a really useful tool in creating strong links with other
sports, including the GB wrestling team and Badminton England. "We
are also hopeful of opening doors within horse racing and cycling
in the near future."
Portrait Collective has already signed up two additional
photographers and, in time, plans to grow its studio-based support
team in Nottingham. For information and advice on support available
to boost your business, contact Business Link on 0845 058 6644.