This article originally appeared on Wonderful Machine.
Our email signoffs these days, for obvious reasons, tend to be some version of “stay safe!” Talking with Cary Norton about his recent assignment for Hoar Construction, it feels as though this client’s ethos has been about safety long before any of us had a sense of why the number “19” was so important. This was Cary’s first project with Hoar, but he knew the intermediary agency, Clarity, quite well.
“Hoar put their trust in Clarity, and David Blumberg, the creative director at Clarity, knows my work well and knew it’d be a good fit. Plus, I’ve worked with a couple of the guys at Clarity on various campaigns in the past, one of which was a manufacturing project.”
Though time-consuming, the ask was pretty straightforward. Cary needed to get shots of each step of a build, highlighting the people in the trenches who construct these massive edifices along the way. Cary’s work now lives on Hoar’s website, with nearly every page housing at least one of his images.
“We talked through the goal of capturing the human element that drives their process, which is to say showing the people behind all the steps it takes to work on a major construction project. We had an idea of the type of key visuals we wanted, and we scouted the locations to get a sense of how that aesthetic would translate into the reality of the job sites.”
Throughout the shoot, Cary kept in mind the main themes of the project: safety and efficiency. Those are broad words that cover a lot of ground. Hoar, however, has a specific way to tackle the latter term: the use of SmartBuilds.
“We wanted to detail each part of the process — from reviewing drawings to pouring concrete piers to breaking forms — from beginning to end. We also wanted to document how much care and pride goes into each step.
“And specifically, we wanted to highlight some of their SmartBuild processes. SmartBuild is a whole system of making sure raw materials are easily moved (i.e. on rolling racks or carts), so the crew isn’t wasting time schlepping the same stuff over and over, to wiring up panels for entire rooms offsite so they can install electrical projects efficiently.
“Throughout everything we shot, we wanted to illustrate their commitment to safety.”
Both Clarity and Hoar were immensely pleased with the work. Based on the reaction, it doesn’t feel like it’ll be long before Cary is asked to collaborate with one or both parties in the near future.
“The reaction from everyone has been wonderful. We all look forward to a continuing relationship so we can keep telling their story.”
Credits:
Clarity Studio:
Strategy Director: David Ytterberg
Studio Director: Clay Morrison
Creative Director: David Blumberg
Hoar Construction:
VP, Marketing: Anna Powell
Creative Manager: Jessica Porterfield
Photo Crew:
First Assistant (On Site): Andi Rice
First Assistant (In Office): CW Newell
