Let’s Be Honest About Year-End Budgets
By December, most companies are tightening up. The holiday party usually survives the cuts, but anything that feels optional gets questioned. Photography is one of the first things to land on the chopping block but I’m here to argue that is a short-term move that costs you long-term value and why hiring a photographer for your company holiday party is a necessary line item despite that 4th quarter budget.
You’re already paying for the space, the food, the drinks, the staff, and probably some kind of entertainment. What you don’t want is to get to January with nothing to show for it. Hiring a photographer for your company holiday party is one of the smallest line items with the biggest long-term return. Otherwise, how exactly are you going to blackmail Melinda from HR without photos of her doing the cupid shuffle? Without a photographer, that investment ends when the party does. Not to mention, no one wants to rely on blurry iPhone photos taken by someone who was halfway into a hangover by dessert.
Hiring a photographer for your company holiday party gives you something lasting. You get usable images that support internal comms, recruiting, future event planning, and team morale. You also give your people something that matters. Good photos of themselves and their coworkers, looking like the team they actually are.
Out of everything on the invoice, photography is the only piece that still holds value the next day.
Employee Morale Doesn’t End When the Party Is Over
The point of a holiday party is to celebrate your people, and not just with speeches and swag, but with time together and real connection. Good photography captures that: not just who was there and how you decorated, but really good photographer captures how it felt to be there.
I love photos and I love them because they have the innate ability to shape memories and make sure they are cherished significantly longer than they would be without them. When employees see themselves in real, thoughtful photos, it doesn’t feel like an afterthought and subsequently, they don’t feel like an afterthought. Honestly, seeing great photos of yourself makes you feel like someone was paying attention and in a corporate setting, that feeling can go an incredibly long way, especially at the end of a long year.
As a photographer, I encourage the companies who hire me to share the gallery with their employee roster so that everyone has access to relive all the fun. That being said, I cannot take responsibility for how little work folks are doing while they send them around Slack the next week. Here’s a handful of other great reasons why hiring a photographer for your company holiday party matters: because internal comms can help employees feel connected long after the hangover fades. Use corporate holiday photos in onboarding decks and internal newsletters and by doing so, you’re going to help maintain company culture. Culture is built through moments like these and photos are one of the only ways to keep those moments alive.
Hot Tip: Really Good Photos Get Used
One of the biggest reasons to hire a photographer for your company holiday party is that really good photos get used. Beyond morale and memory, great fun company holiday party photos are one of the easiest tools for internal marketing and culture building. Holiday party galleries are a goldmine for internal teams. They give your comms department fresh content for internal newsletters, all-hands decks, Slack channels, or end-of-year wrap-ups. They also make your people visible in a way that doesn’t feel staged or impersonal. You might discredit it, but people love to see themselves and their coworkers reflected in the culture they’re being asked to contribute to.
And when it’s time to promote next year’s party? Strong visuals make a difference. You don’t have to dig for a decent image or mock something up from stock. You’ve already got the proof and it’s in those gifts that got stolen during the all hands white elephant gift exchange that went a little off the rails last year. It becomes a lot easier to get buy-in for the next event when people can actually see what they missed or remember why it was worth showing up. TL:DR is that I’m here to remind you that photography doesn’t just document the party – it builds the case for why these moments matter in the first place and helps shape, maintain and encourage your company culture.
Use Holiday Party Photos to Attract Talent
Every company says they have a great culture but most candidates aren’t going to believe it until they see proof. Holiday party photos are an easy way to attract talent in a way that isn’t forced or choreographed, assuming that you’ve got a team of people who actually enjoy working and hanging out together. In fact, hiring a photographer for your corporate holiday party is significantly cheaper by the hire than hiring one to create internal corporate lifestyle images for the same use. Take those photos and use them in recruiting emails, careers pages, onboarding decks, and social posts.
Honestly, hiring a photographer for your company holiday party isn’t a luxury and it’s one of the few things you’ll spend money on that continues to return value after the event is over. A good gallery gives your people something to be proud of, makes your internal comms team’s job easier, gives your recruiting team real content to work with, and it makes next year’s event easier to promote. You don’t get that from phone photos. Not when half of them are dark, crooked, or taken by someone who was double-fisting a White Claw and a bacon-wrapped scallop.
You’re already investing in the experience. The photographer is what makes it last.
If your company is planning a corporate holiday party and you want someone who takes photos that are fun enough to show personality, but clean enough to show professionalism, then I am probably the photographer for you. Get in touch.
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