Photographing the People Behind SGS Vitrology's New Glasgow Lab

SGS Vitrology tests the safety and effectiveness of biopharmaceuticals, and their new Glasgow laboratory needed an image bank to match: a proper library of stills and video, built up over a series of shoots rather than one rushed day with a checklist. This was the second shoot in that series, and the brief was refreshingly clear. Capture technicians at work in a natural environment. Favour groups of colleagues working together over posed individual shots. Show confident, engaged, approachable people doing their actual jobs. And because the lab itself is new, get as much of the equipment and facilities in frame as I could.

Female scientist in PPE pipetting a sample inside a biosafety cabinet at SGS Vitrology's Glasgow laboratory, with a colleague reflected in the cabinet glass.

That last part is easy. New labs are full of kit worth photographing: gleaming stainless steel autoclaves, electron microscopes glowing under red safelight, rows of BioMAT cabinets, full cleanroom manufacturing suites.

Technician in full cleanroom gown and hairnet checking equipment on a stainless steel processing vessel while holding a tablet at SGS Vitrology's Glasgow manufacturing suite.

The harder part, and the more interesting one, is the people. Getting natural shots of technicians at work means being in the room with them, not directing from the doorway. For this shoot that meant gowning up in full PPE myself and working from inside the cleanrooms and biosafety cabinets, camera in hand, while the team carried on with real testing work around me. Everything that enters that environment has to be clean, camera included, so all the gear got laid out and sanitised before going in.

Behind the scenes

A few shots from the day itself, showing how it came together for both stills and video capture:

Photographer in PPE shooting handheld with a camera monitor rig into a biosafety cabinet, where a technician in a blue gown works, during the SGS Vitrology Glasgow shoot.
Photographer in PPE filming a technician seated at a PCR cabinet using a camera mounted on a monopod with a monitor, during the SGS Vitrology Glasgow shoot.
Photographer capturing two scientists talking beside a microscope and cell culture bottles, reviewing shots on his camera screen, during the SGS Vitrology Glasgow shoot.
Photographer in PPE photographing two technicians working at biosafety cabinets down a laboratory corridor, during the SGS Vitrology Glasgow shoot.

Working this way is what gets you the moment where two colleagues are actually laughing rather than performing for the lens, or the split second where someone glances up from a microscope with real focus still on their face. Those are the frames that show what a company's culture actually is, not just what its lab looks like.

Two SGS Vitrology scientists in blue PPE laughing together beside cell culture bottles and BioMAT safety cabinets in the Glasgow laboratory.
Young analyst in an SGS lab coat smiling at the camera while preparing a sample with a pipette in the Glasgow laboratory.
Scientist in a lab coat and safety glasses operating an electron microscope under red safelight at SGS Vitrology's Glasgow laboratory.
Two SGS Vitrology colleagues laughing together during a discussion in the Glasgow office, one gesturing towards a screen.

A few more moments from across the lab:

Technician in full PPE smiling while placing a sealed sample package into a stainless steel pass-through sterilisation hatch at SGS Vitrology's Glasgow lab.
Analyst in a white lab coat and purple gloves smiling while holding a tray of sample vials in SGS Vitrology's Glasgow laboratory.
Analyst examining a sample vial beside a gas chromatography instrument while holding a clipboard at SGS Vitrology's Glasgow laboratory.
Analyst carefully pipetting a solution into a beaker on a magnetic stirrer at SGS Vitrology's Glasgow laboratory.

SGS Vitrology summed up the day well themselves: “a brilliant opportunity to showcase the team and the work that we do to ensure safe and effective biopharmaceuticals.” That's the goal with every one of these shoots: build a library that shows the expertise and the people in equal measure, so SGS has real images ready whenever they need them, rather than another stock photo of gloved hands holding a test tube.

If you're building out a facility and need photography and video that shows your team as they actually are, get in touch.

crossmenuchevron-down