Your shop is better than your website makes it look.
Photography, shop tours, and brand films for metal fabrication and job shops selling to OEMs, contractors, and purchasing managers who will never walk your floor.
A buyer has a drawing, a deadline, and a few shops to choose from, and your website is how he narrows the list.
A lot of the shops I walk into are better than their websites. The laser is newer than the photos, the press brakes are running, and there's a robotic weld cell in the corner that nobody online would ever know about. The team is busy doing the work, so nobody stops to document it.
That gap costs you, because the companies sending you work are trusting you with their parts and their deadlines, and most of them will never visit. A purchasing manager comparing quotes wants to know if you have the equipment, if your people know what they're doing, and if the parts will show up right and on time.
Show the floor on a normal day, show the people running it, and show finished parts on the way out the door. That answers those questions before anyone picks up the phone.
A shop that does careful work shouldn't lose a quote to a shop that just has better pictures. It happens more than it should, and it's fixable.
The work on your floor is good. The hard part is getting a buyer who's never visited to believe it.
Most of the shops I work with are family-owned, and the people who'd normally document the work are the same people running the machines. So I build every shoot around your production schedule and photograph the floor the way it actually runs.
I've photographed DS Fabrication's laser, press brakes, and robotic weld cell, filmed inside Equipter's factory in Leola, and shot RoadRunner's attachments from raw steel to finished product. Every project is planned with Donald Miller's StoryBrand framework, so the content answers your buyer's questions instead of showing off equipment for its own sake.
And I'm on every shoot myself. There's no version of this where you hire me and get somebody else.
Facility photography of every process you sell, from engineering and cutting to forming, welding, and finished parts.
A shop tour or brand story film your sales team can send with every quote.
People at work, because buyers trust the welder as much as the weld cell.
The Storefront
For shops whose website photos are older than their equipment. One day on your floor and a professional first impression for every buyer who looks you up.
Plus team portraits and three or four short clips cut from the overview.
The Process
For shops whose buyers ask a lot of questions before they send a drawing. Show them how a job moves through your shop, step by step.
Plus four to six short videos answering the questions your buyers ask most.
The Foundation
For shops ready to show who they are, how they work, and what their customers say about them.
Plus a how-it-works video, one or two customer testimonial videos, and short cuts of everything for social.
Book a 30-minute call and tell me what you make, who buys it, and what your website gets wrong today.
I plan the shot list around your production schedule, then film and photograph on a normal working day.
You get finished films and organized photos for your website, quotes, LinkedIn, and trade shows, and you own all of it.
This is really good! No change requests on this one. Great edit.
Sam BeilerDirector of Sales and Marketing, Equipter, Leola PACan you shoot while we're running production?
Yes, and that's the footage you want. At DS Fabrication I photographed the laser, the press brakes, the weld floor, and the robotic cell while the team worked a normal day. We plan the shot list around your schedule so nothing stops.
Some of our work is for customers under NDA. How do you handle that?
Tell me before the shoot what can't be shown, and I'll frame around it. Customer parts, drawings, and screens stay out of the shot, and you see every photo before it goes anywhere.
Who owns the photos and video?
You do, outright. Use them on your website, in quotes, on LinkedIn, and at trade shows for as long as you want.
Is this worth it for a job shop our size?
Weigh it against what one new long-term customer is worth to your shop. I'll give you a written quote after a 30-minute call, so you'll know the number before you commit to anything, and I won't guarantee results I can't control.
We hired a photographer before and couldn't use most of it. Why is this different?
Most shoots go wrong before the camera comes out, because nobody decided what the photos were for. I start with your buyer and the questions they ask before they send a drawing, then build the shot list around those answers. You get two rounds of revisions on films, and I'm on every shoot myself.
How long does it take?
Photography alone is usually about two weeks. A brand film runs four to six weeks from the first call to final delivery. If you have a trade show or a sales push coming, tell me on the first call and I'll tell you honestly whether it's possible.
Your shop already does the work. Let your buyers see it.
Every quote request you never get is a buyer who looked at your website and picked another shop. Better photos won't change your pricing or your lead times, but they stop you losing work you never knew you were up for.
Book a discovery call
A creative studio in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Brand films, photography, and design for family-owned manufacturers, outdoor structure companies, and trades businesses.
Narrative film work lives at Stump & Root Films.