James keeping his business 'In The Frame' in a challenging climate
By STUART TYNAN
YOU may be very familiar with the work of James Osborne, even though you may not realise it.
He is the founder of In The Frame, a photography and video production company, and he has worked globally from here in Ireland to Sweden, Germany, Switzerland and to the United States, securing exclusive contracts with clients such as Supermac's, Hedera Hashgraph, Pendulum Summit, Tayto Park and world-renowned mentalist Keith Barry.
His work has also featured on media outlets like RTÉ, Sky, JOE, TG4 and Virgin Media.
He stepped into this line of work eight years ago and he certainly hasn't looked back since.
“I studied photography and art in college back in 2012 and instantly fell in love with the creative process.” he told The Connaught Telegraph.
“I became a freelance photographer for a production company in Galway and I've been with the company since then, covering a wide range of events including weddings, corporate, commercial, architecture, family and pet portraits.”
Like many businesses, the pandemic has affected James and it has hit him harder than most considering this would be his busiest time of the year with the wedding season normally in full swing. But this is not the usual 'normal'.
“Usually, I would be booked most weekends, and weekdays are dedicated to commercial projects and post-production.
"Due to the restrictions currently in place, with weddings being postponed and most businesses closed, the past couple of weeks have been quieter than expected.
"But it has given me time to focus on my business and work on some personal projects.”
“Many of my bookings for the rest of the year have either been cancelled or postponed. Some of next year's bookings have been affected too.
"However, I have been very lucky that in the business I am in, clients have booked months in advance, therefore allowing me flexibility to work with each client in rescheduling their booking.”
As well as the peak season for business, his chances to network and meet new creatives and businesses in the media and entertainment industries have fallen through due to travel being halted, but he is hopeful those opportunities will return next year.
“I love to attend network events such as Dublin Tech Summit and Power of Video. Attending events like this opens up new opportunities and it has brought my work to places such as Stockholm and New York.”
OPPORTUNITIES
With the sudden changing of his nature of work, James is using this time now to adapt his work life going forward, as well as seeing a possible opportunity to share the vast amount of knowledge he has learned.
“My plan is to bring as much of my work online as possible, reduce any unnecessary travel and work from home when I can.”
“One of the services I provide is photo and video editing; this is something I hope to focus more on as my business moves forward. Creating an online course is an idea I've been toying with for a while now.
"I feel there's value in sharing knowledge and teaching others what I know.
"I also work with a lot of brands to help promote their products, creating content for those brands from my home studio is something I'm hoping to implement, whether it is for photo or video.
"I do feel that set production will become more difficult with the new safety measures we will have to take moving forward.”
That's not to say he is writing off the remainder of 2020. While there are no guarantees, he remains hopeful of a busy period come the end of the year.
"With the lockdown currently seeing many families kept away from each other, he feels his work come Christmas time will have one particular theme.
“I imagine seasonal work such as Christmas family portraits to be popular this year. After families spending so much time apart, I expect people will look for sentimental gifts such as these.
"These are projects that I really enjoy because they are very personalised, fun to shoot and reward instant job satisfaction.”
FUTURE
With all the postponements from this year, and with any bookings already scheduled, James is expecting a particularly busy year in 2021.
“Big events will start to return such as weddings, communions and other family gatherings.
"I also expect trade shows and many commercial projects to pick up and potentially exceed the market demand seen in 2019, mainly because I feel that companies will diversify and embrace online activities.”
“As a result, demand for rich media and online content will increase.
"We have already seen this trend amongst supermarkets in recent weeks and with improved broadband connection across the country in recent years, even the most remote businesses have the opportunity to evolve.
"I do feel a business like In The Frame will continue to succeed in 2021.”
You can view James's business at https://www.intheframe.ie