While vacationing with his family on the Outer Banks, one of the founders and his family hired a photographer to follow their kids around while they played on the sand dunes and in the surf. No formal studio. No artificial poses. When he got the photos of his kids just having fun, he was moved by how beautifully the photography had captured his kids naturally … just hamming it up. The seeds of Life at Play had been planted.
Mentioning this experience and the idea of capturing natural images of people to a long-time friend, the two explored the possibilities of hardware and software support for such a business and the types of situations (i.e. events) where such a business would have the most impact.
In the meantime, the third founder, being a seasoned entrepreneur, with strong interests in art and photography, was at an event where a photo booth was being used to take pictures of the guests. He was very much impressed with the idea of taking a memorable photograph from that event when he left that event.
The three soon joined forces and refined the vision for Life at Play to not only include a premier, natural event photography business but to also link it with a premium and viral marketing business. Combined with proprietary software that (a) seamlessly converts photos into highly effective premium and marketing pieces; (b) uses the power of the internet and social media to expand the reach of Life at Play’s base event photography and marketing business; (c) reaches out to event attendees to remind them of the event and offers them additional alternatives to expand the impact and footprint of the event and event sponsor and their related photos; and (d) invites attendees to manipulate, print and purchase both event photos and their own photography, both in standard photo formats and on hundreds of premium products; the Life at Play idea, which started on the windy dunes of the Outer Banks; was ready for launch as a viral, interactive, natural, fun photography and marketing enterprise.