Chelsea Workman ePortfolio
My name is Chelsea Workman.
I am a commercial and editorial photographer and storyteller, living in Tallahassee, FL. My husband, Alex, and I own our own business called The Workmans. I got my AA from Indian River State College in 2009 and decided to finish the remainder of my bachelor’s degree after having kids. I am in the process of finishing my degree in Public Relations, with the hope to better serve my clients as I create content for them.
While I work with people in multiple industries, a lot of my work is in politics. Portraiture is not partisan, so I am able to get to know people on all sides of the aisle in roles ranging from interns to elected officials. People don't often think about photography when they think about politics, but we have found a really unique space where we can capture beautiful content, ranging from portraits to stock images to event coverage. We have the privilege of working with many people in the Florida Legislature, as well as some of the Florida delegation in Washington, DC. I enjoy getting to know people and capturing their personality in a photo that they are proud to have.
Through creating images, I am also helping organizations tell their story. Communications and public relations are a combination of intentional images, carefully crafted stories and bringing humanity to an organization. I value this process, and I hope to continue to help organizations better tell their stories through photography and marketing.
Current Resume
RECENT WORK
Tallahassee Coffee & Culture Walk
This project was created for ENC3252 to fulfill the requirements for a place-based branding assignment. To the left is the text document that was submitted and HERE is a link to the immersive experience online. This project was a step-by-step journey for a new resident to explore a section of downtown Tallahassee and four local coffee shops along the way, through the sights, sounds and experiences one would have with their senses.
As someone who helps tell stories for a living, this project was fun to work on, but it also stretched my creativity in writing. I can describe how to get from point A to point B, but it was a great exercise to better describe a journey someone would go on as they experienced this walk. There are times where people may never get to experience certain things because of their location, abilities or other reasons, so this place-based branding project helped bring the story to life so that the reader could imagine themselves in Tallahassee, walking through Cascades Park, sipping on a hot latte as they smell the flowers and hear the sounds of nature and city.
My photography background also came in handy, as I was able to capture all of the images for this project. It further proved my desire for beautiful imagery to help tell a better story. The design was meant to be clean, easy to follow and rich with colors from the images
Native Advertisement
This project was created for ENC3252 for a native advertising assignment. Native advertisements can be a great tool for advertising in environments that people frequent often, like news sites, social media and editorial sites. This assignment was an advertisement on the Duluth News Tribune website about Visit Florida. I was able to choose the publishing site and the editorial content, so I went with a news website that already had established native advertisements and an organization I was already familiar with.
Native advertisements can come across as inauthentic sometimes, so I wanted to ensure the content was compelling and realistic. Duluth gets incredibly cold in the winters so it felt like the perfect juxtaposition for the Visit Florida advertisement. Sandy beaches would be calling anyone’s name that is snowed in for another day in Minnesota.
I was able to use some of my own images, but I had to search for a few additional stock images to fill the space and paint a full picture of what Florida winters can be like. Images are so important in the things I create because they help further tell the story through visuals.
Content Marketing
This project was created for ENC3252 as a content marketing piece. This was to showcase how we would put together a full content marketing plan for an organization. I chose Maria Maria, which is a Mexican restaurant located in Tallahassee, FL, where I live. I have had the pleasure of working with the team at Maria Maria to capture content of their restaurant and their menu, which you can see displayed throughout the plan.
Maria Maria serves authentic Mexican cuisine. I asked them to explain what that meant and how they differ from any other Mexican restaurant in the city, and they explained that they only serve the food they serve at home. They have taken family recipes and knowledge passed down from generations to create a well-rounded menu of authentic flavors and dishes they love. There is often a line out the door because people love it so much.
They have been lacking in the marketing department, and I created this content marketing plan to help give them a guide for how to better tell their story beyond the walls of the restaurant. A signature story plan was created to communicate how Edgar’s mother and grandmother (Maria and Maria) have shaped the path of this life and the future of this restaurant.
The images used in this project were created specifically for Maria Maria and have been used in the restaurant, some marketing efforts in the past and various editorial pieces written about the restaurant and the team. All were captured by my husband and myself. As with the previous projects and this one, the images help better tell the story and the intentionality behind telling an authentic story is so important to have a successful content marketing plan.
What I’ve Learned
My experience in school and work has been a little different than the typical path my peers have taken. I began my educational journey as a teenager, like my peers, but life took a turn and I took a path that didn’t include completing a degree. It seemed like the wrong choice because it was not what so many others were doing, but it turned out to be a valuable learning experience in its own right. There is incredible benefit to education, but there’s also benefit in learning things through experiences and through trial and error. Like with marketing and public relations, you try things that work and you try things that don’t work. You pivot when you need to and you take every opportunity to learn from what you’re doing so you can apply those ideas and experiences to other things in the future.
This class was no different. I learned things that worked and was able to complete some assignments with ease. I also learned things that didn’t work very well, and other assignments gave me more trouble as I figured out how to pivot and make adjustments to best serve the purpose of the assignment or the “client” I was working for. This experience has helped me become a better writer and more aware of how to best write for the audience I’m creating for.
Going back to school in my 30s has proven challenging, as I’m juggling a full-time job, a family and schooling. However, it has also proven that I am capable of doing great things if I put my mind to what I’m doing and do it with the best of my abilities. This translates to my work as I create the best images and products for my clients. There are times that I am asked to work on a project that is beyond what I believe I’m capable of, but as I did in this class and I do with my clients, I know the questions I need to ask to begin to piece together a plan to communicate the most authentic parts of an organization to their audiences. Each client is different, and each project is different. I just know that I am capable of working with a team to tell the best, most authentic version of their story with thoughtful words and beautiful images.