Photography
Real people. Real rooms. Never stock.
Commercial and brand photography of the people, spaces and work behind a professional firm, shot on location across Colorado and beyond. Every frame here is a real client, named.
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Mark W. Nelson and Colleen S. Nelson
Nelson Law Firm · Denver, Colorado
Genuine photographs create genuine human connection. In an age of AI-generated faces and stock smiles, images of a firm's own people, rooms and work are proof that it is real. A picture is worth a thousand words, so UPWARD makes sure every frame tells a true and powerful story, because connection is where trust begins.
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Headshots and portraits
Nelson Law FirmDenver, Colorado FACE ColoradoJohnstown, Colorado Wick & Trautwein, LLCFort Collins, Colorado Who Tells the StoryBoulder, Colorado Nelson Law FirmDenver, Colorado FACE ColoradoJohnstown, Colorado Wick & Trautwein, LLCFort Collins, Colorado FACE ColoradoJohnstown, Colorado
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Ambiance and at work
Nelson Law FirmDenver, Colorado Nelson Law FirmDenver, Colorado FACE ColoradoJohnstown, Colorado Clay Cooley CadillacMesquite, Texas Wick & Trautwein, LLCFort Collins, Colorado FACE ColoradoJohnstown, Colorado Who Tells the StoryBoulder, Colorado Wick & Trautwein, LLCFort Collins, Colorado Nelson Law FirmDenver, Colorado Hammer & Nails Grooming Shop for Guys – MansfieldMansfield, Texas FACE ColoradoJohnstown, Colorado IRG Physical & Hand TherapyWashington IRG Physical & Hand TherapyWashington Clay Cooley Genesis of MesquiteMesquite, Texas Nelson Law FirmDenver, Colorado Nelson Law FirmDenver, Colorado
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Exteriors and aerials
Clay Cooley Hyundai of RockwallRockwall, Texas Nelson Law FirmDenver, Colorado Clay Cooley CadillacMesquite, Texas Wick & Trautwein, LLCFort Collins, Colorado McClain's Longhorn RVSanger, Texas Clay Cooley Genesis of MesquiteMesquite, Texas IRG Physical & Hand TherapyWashington Clay Cooley CadillacMesquite, Texas
The shoots behind the stories
Six clients, in their own light.
Pick a client to see the range of a single engagement, then open the full gallery or the success story.
For a Colorado firm, law firm website design in Colorado covers the shoots near you.
Founders on the stained-glass staircase, staff at work, the library and parlor of a historic house, and aerials for the construction-defect practice.
Conference-table meetings, outdoor headshots on the brick streets of Old Town, the reception desk and branded details.
Finished showrooms, facades and aerials of the dealerships and shops the firm built, from Mesquite to Sanger, plus a video interview with Clay Cooley Cadillac and Clay Cooley Genesis that now leads the firm's homepage.
A nurse-led med spa in Johnstown. We photographed the team, the space and real treatments in progress, so patients see the nurses they will actually meet instead of strangers from stock.
For PatientPay's customer success story, we traveled to IRG Physical & Hand Therapy in Washington State, one of their clients, and photographed and filmed the clinics, the staff and the gym floor.
Outdoor portraits of co-founders Amanda Cherry and Norma Johnson among sunflowers, on the ridge path and on a park bench.
More stories with photographySAKG
What you get
A directed shoot, and a library you own.
Your best clients spot a stock photo in a second. A smiling model in a suit says nothing about you. Real photography of your actual people, shot well, is one of the biggest trust levers a firm has.
- 01On-location photography of your leadership, team, and space
- 02Environmental and candid portraits that read as trust, not stock
- 03Project and job-site photography, or facility and campus work, as the firm needs
- 04Aerial drone photography where the work deserves the wider view
- 05A directed shoot: we plan the exact frames your site and profiles need
- 06A full, edited image library, yours to use however you see fit
About the shoot
What firms ask before a shoot.
Do you photograph our actual team and facility? +
Always. Stock photography quietly tells patients you're hiding something. We shoot your people, your space, and when it helps, drone work of the campus. It's one of the biggest trust levers a practice has.
Do you travel for shoots, or only work in Colorado? +
Colorado's Front Range is home and where we shoot most often, but the camera travels. We have directed and shot photography on location in Kansas City and across Texas. For photography we come to you, because the trust in a real portrait comes from it being your actual people in your actual rooms.
Why not just use stock photography? +
Because your best clients catch it instantly, and it quietly tells them you have something to hide. Stock says generic; real photography of your people says confident and specific. We use stock only for a location we genuinely cannot reach, we never lead with it, and we never pitch it as a shortcut.
Do you shoot drone and aerial photography? +
Yes. We shoot aerial drone photography of completed builds, campuses, and job sites when the work deserves the wider view. For a general contractor or a hospital campus, a clean aerial can carry more proof than a page of copy. It is planned into the shoot, not bolted on afterward.
Can we book photography without a full website project? +
Yes. Photography is often part of a build, but a directed brand shoot stands on its own. We plan the specific frames your site, profiles, and marketing actually need, then hand you a full edited library, licensed for everywhere you use it. If a rebuild later makes sense, the imagery is already there.
Behind the camera
Cody Strate
Every frame on this page is Cody's. For more of his work beyond these clients, look here.
The ask
The right photograph earns trust before a word is read. Let's shoot yours.
A conversation
One conversation, with the two of us. No account manager between you and the people who'd do the work. And if you're happy with what you've got, that's fine too.
Cody usually replies within a business day.