personal branding photoshoot for a Men's Sexual Health and Wellness Educator
“This woman knows what she is doing and she means business!” I thought to myself when I got her email. Olga, who was coming to Boca Raton from New Jersey and who was referred to me by another client, emailed me a document that in great detail explained her brand, services, and ideal client which made my job of preparing for her shoot so much easier! Of course, we spoke on the phone first and it was clear that we were a good fit, so we proceeded with preparations for the shoot.
With a branding photoshoot, there a so many different possibilities of how you, the business owner, the face of the brand, can be depicted to visually communicate your process and what it is like to work with you. I suggested several ideas for Olga of what I thought could work for her brand. She preferred to focus mostly on headshots and lifestyle photos of her so we did exactly that. I also knew that many of the photos we were creating would be used for Olga’s website, which was under construction at that time, so I was mindful of that and created many horizontal photos which usually work well for wide banner images on a website.
Because of who Olga’s ideal client is, it was important for us to find an upscale, luxurious looking backdrop for her lifestyle photos. We got very lucky and were able to do our photoshoot in the gorgeous Boca Raton Resort. (Honestly, we were so discreet and almost invisible, that it is almost as if it didn’t happen. :))
Olga brought six or seven outfits with her, as well as jewelry to match it, and once we met, we chose which outfits would go best with each scene. We ended up not using all of the outfits, but I definitely think it is better to be over-prepared than under-prepared. I did a beach photoshoot for a yoga teacher once and the only pair of shorts she brought got splashed by the sunrise waves and she had to wear wet shorts for the rest of her shoot (so I photographer her mostly from the waist up). You don’t want that. Bring more than you may need, you never know how the photoshoot unfolds, you may even use all of the outfits and create a great variety of images!
“Oh my, I look so good!” she exclaims when I show her one of the images on the back of my camera. This makes her more comfortable, she relaxes more into her natural state and starts being more confident in front of the camera. I love it. For me personally, it is like an explosion of visual orgasms when I look on my camera screen. I have this wise goddess in this gorgeous setting and she looks amazing, I just want to scream (and I normally would, when I photograph in nature, but we were trying to be invisible, so I kept quiet and just grinned from ear to ear :))
“Can you imagine that we got to photograph in this beautiful place?” she laughs in disbelief.
“I know” I reply. And like two giddy little girls we go from one section of the hotel to another to see where we can play.
I create several images like the one above where Olga’s graphic designer can add text off to the side. If a client who hires me has a graphic designer who is very specific about the types of images they need for the website, a client will provide me with a list of shots they need. Oftentimes, however, it doesn’t work like that. People come to me because they know they will need photos for a website, and we create a variety of images. Having created several websites and marketing materials (even though I am not a graphic designer) myself I know what kind of photos work well and I always create them for a client.
Olga received 30 images from her personal branding photoshoot and the ones presented here are my personal favorites. In my opinion, Olga looks classy, elegant, refined, knowledgeable and projects an image of wisdom, trustworthiness, and warmth.
Need to create brand photos for your business? I would love to work with you! If you are just in the beginning stages of starting a business, or if you are rebranding an existing one, I have the experience, talent, intuition, gear and desire to create great images for you :) Please reach out and let’s see if we are a good fit.