Personal branding, lifestyle, and corporate portraits often have a similar canned or stagnant look because the approach is all wrong. If you’re reading this and shopping for a photographer to create the next visual representation of your career, ask yourself: “Is this photographer interested in my personality and how that personality fits into the next five years of my unique career?” It seems simple but your new career images used to further your business or professional goals shouldn’t look like senior portraits, they shouldn’t look like your wedding or engagement photos either but so often I see this mistake.
When you’re looking to level up your professional image it’s important to make that investment with a photographer that specializes in creating these kinds of images. I didn’t hire a food photographer to photograph my destination wedding and I won’t be hiring a sports photographer to photograph my newborn.
“Who’s seeing the photos and what do the photos say?”
Ask yourself “where are these images going to be seen?” Are you posting this fresh new look on LinkedIn, or are you needing something for a print article in an industry magazine? Are you speaking at a conference or corporate event where your portrait will be projected to a group of your peers? Please don’t make the mistake of sending in the selfie from your backyard, I’ve seen this too many times at large events. Your professional image says a lot about you, whether it’s a great photo or not.
Personal / Professional Branding Portrait Do’s:
Ask yourself: who will see the photos? New clients, hiring managers, internal staff, outside sales?
What do you want to visually say to those people when they see your new portraits? Warm and inviting, strong seasoned leader, or somewhere in between? No wrong answers here, your adjective prompts should give the photographer a starting point for crafting your look.
Invest in wardrobe: If you haven’t been in the office for a while and don’t have any new professional clothing, consider a couple new options. It’s been proven to boost your self confidence with a new wardrobe. You know how good you feel when your wardrobe is on point. What better time than now to level up your wardrobe and if you need help your photographer should be able to point you in the right direction.
Use your best colors: I love black, blue, light grey and anything you say is your color. Some people look great in jewel tones, or earth tones, but other people like bright colors for statements pieces. All these are great options but not all are the best for everyone.
Consider a professional make up artist. Your Photographer should know a few options.
Invest the time: Don’t smoosh a portrait session in on your lunch break, or after work. The problem with these options is that you are not in the moment or worse, you have a rough day at work and now you need to perform.
Work the process: This shouldn’t be offered as a mini session or a quick shoot. If you are signing up for a mini session you’re not signing up for any complexity to your look and likely that same image has been produced before you, and will be produced after you, for many other people.
The process takes time. Your photographer should be taking the time to get to know you, this helps to relax you but also it should empower you through dialogue centered around your career trajectory. If you feel inspired while you’re being photographed you’ll likely see that feeling in your portraits. If you’re feeling awkward and giggling about the process, you’re going to look silly.
Personal / Professional Branding Portrait Don’ts:
Don’t hire a plumber to take you career or personal / professional branding photos. Hire a photographer working with other businesses to level up their look.
Don’t leave it to the last minute. This isn’t a passport photo - communicating your brand and who you are in a set of images requires a crafted approach.
Don’t assume your photographer knows anything about your goals. You need to discuss your hopes and dreams and see if they can be conveyed into your corporate portraits in a meaningful way. If they don’t ask about these, find someone who does.
Don’t bring a friend. People who bring a friend have overlooked one very important DO from the list above. That is to focus your energy into this process. If you’re having a conversation with your photographer during the process and constantly looking over at your buddy or goofing off making jokes, you are taking yourself out of the moment and wasting everyone’s time. You don’t bring a friend to the dentist so don’t bring a friend to your professional portrait session.
Don’t be afraid to say exactly what you want to do with these photos. If you secretly want some of these images for dating apps and don’t tell the photographer there will be a weird moment in the shoot where they think these looks are too spicy for the office. Just tell them ‘I want some portraits for the office but I also want a few looks for dating apps’ so we can have a clear direction.
Don’t forget to shop around for a photographer that matches the looks you want. The photographer should have a website or portfolio that clearly defines their speciality or demonstrate a range of capabilities.
Sean made it clear that he didn’t want a traditional looking corporate photo and wanted to lean in on his use of color in his wardrobe. This session was to produce a unique image to use on editorial articles and event speaker opportunities.
A note on the subtleties of body language and light and how they can dramatically change what your professional image says to your dream clients. Brighter light and a softer expression on the left communicate a different energy than the moodier lighting and closed arms on the right. Portraits speak for themselves so we aim to speak directly and clearly to your audience.
John needed a few looks for use in internal communications as well as external client facing communications. The one on the left speaks to the internal team as an approachable friendly professional. The image on the right depicts a stronger seasoned leader which will be used for outward facing communications to other companies, or times when authority is more the desired message.
Patty is a therapist and wanted to create a warm inviting portrait series to speak of that warmth to anyone who was searching for a therapist. If you’ve read this far you know your face can say a lot and we can say whatever you want with the right approach and energy.
Her images are meant to convey a good listener and safe presence, like your best friend who is also well equipped to lead you through a tough time. These images will be used on her website as well as directories.
House Real Estate based in Sacramento is a leader in their field and wanted a new kind of image for agents instead of the normal light bright environmental portraits that we all know and love for Real Estate agents. This series was part of a campaign to introduce themselves without the distractions of the beautiful homes they sell, and instead was an editorial portrait to introduce the team in a new way. The images were published in a series of print advertisements throughout the communities they serve. They were also used on Billboards, and social media campaigns.
Interested in starting the conversation about your next set of professional images or learning more about my process? I’m happy to help guide you. Remember it all comes back to this question:
“Who’s seeing the photos and what do the photos say? ”