Company Launch Video for Omanta, San Francisco
Editorial Portraits for a San Francisco Research Startup
For Omanta's launch, San Francisco photographer and videographer Marc Olivier Le Blanc created editorial portraits of co-founders Ranad Humeidi, PhD, and Alfredo Gonzalez, PhD, in studio in the Mission District , along with a company launch video later featured on Y Combinator's LinkedIn.
As a professional photographer and videographer based in San Francisco, I get a lot of requests from startups looking for portraits that feel less corporate and more editorial. That's exactly the brief I got from Omanta, a San Francisco startup founded by Ranad Humeidi, PhD, and Alfredo Gonzalez, PhD. They were so happy with the portraits that they asked me to shoot their startup launch video.
Omanta is a personal research lab that assembles PhD-level scientific teams around patients facing the most complex and rare cancers, connecting disease biology to the strongest available evidence and working alongside physicians to open up new treatment paths. It's serious, hopeful work, and the founders wanted portraits and a launch video that matched that tone: precise, human, and warm rather than clinical.
Ranad Humeidi, PhD
FOUNDER & CHIEF SCIENTIFIC OFFICER
We started with a portrait session in studio in the Mission District in San Francisco. Ranad and Alfredo aren't traditional tech executives, and their editorial portraits needed to reflect that. I photographed them as scientists and founders first, using editorial lighting and a restrained studio setup rather than the glossy look most corporate headshot sessions default to. That approach has become a specialty of mine in the Bay Area: editorial portraits for tech founders who came to me specifically because they didn't want the standard executive headshot.
Alfredo Gonzalez, PhD
FOUNDER & CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Building Omanta’s Company Launch Video
From there, we moved into the startup launch video. As a commercial photographer and videographer, I built the film around the same idea that drove the portraits: showing the people behind the science, not just the technology. We kept the pace unhurried and the color palette warm, closer to a documentary short than a typical brand reel. The launch video was later featured on Y Combinator's LinkedIn, introducing Omanta to a wider startup and biotech audience.
Startup launch video for Omanta, a personal research lab for patients with complex and rare cancers, founded by Ranad Humeidi, PhD, and Alfredo Gonzalez, PhD. Filmed in San Francisco by Marc Olivier Le Blanc.
Photography and video: Marc Olivier Le Blanc.
Why Startups Choose an Editorial Approach
Working with founders like Ranad and Alfredo is a reminder of why I like shooting in the Bay Area and Silicon Valley specifically. Startups here are usually building something with real stakes, and a launch video or set of portraits gets one shot to convey that honestly. Whether it's for a VC deck, a press feature, or a LinkedIn launch post, I approach every founder portrait and video the way I would an editorial photographer assignment: story first, polish second. It's also why so many CEOs and executives at early-stage companies find me through referrals from other founders rather than a standard corporate photographer search.
Still from Omanta’s startup launch video as seen on
Y Combinator’s LinkedIn post.
If you're a founder, CEO, or executive at a startup preparing for a launch, I'd love to talk about a portrait session or launch video. See more editorial portrait work, or browse recent videography projects from around San Francisco and the Bay Area.
Marc Olivier Le Blanc is a San Francisco commercial portrait photographer and videographer working with venture capital firms, tech companies, corporations, and publications. His work has appeared in Forbes, TechCrunch, the Wall Street Journal, and Harvard Business Review.
