personal branding photoshoot for an adhd coach in boca raton
The funniest thing happened before we even started photographing!
Victoria had reached out to me about having her branding photos done, I had sent her a Personal Branding Questionnaire I send to all my clients so I can get to know them better, we had picked a date for the photoshoot and were ready to go. On the scheduled day of the photoshoot, I arrived at her beautiful home, tons and tons of outfits and shoes prepared for us to play with, and we sit down to chat for a few minutes before we come up with an exact plan of action for our time together.
We both speak the same language - Russian - so we start talking about Victoria’s journey with ADHD and how she helps people, then we get into talking about her new website that is being built, then we jump into talking about Pinterest and how it is an amazing traffic driver for my business. The next thing I know, I am teaching Victoria how to create pins on Pinterest to drive traffic to her website. We end of talking for a looong time about this thing that we are both passionate about - growing our businesses to help others. Until we realize that we are having ADHD right here - by not focusing on photographing as we were supposed to - but talking about something else. As we burst out laughing at ourselves, we quickly come up with a plan of what outfits we will use to photograph, and admit that ADHD is something that many people have to varying degrees. We also recognize the beauty of it - instead of going from point A to B as most people would, when you have ADHD, or your mind is less logical and more creative, you might go from A to F and then back to B. We get there, just not using the same route! :)
Victoria’s home was large and beautiful, and we chose a few of our favorite spots for photographing - her office, and the living room area that was bathed in natural light. My beautiful model had a loooot of gorgeous outfits and stunning shoes and we chose one baby blue suit, one outfit with the red jacket - to get the attention of the ADHD people :) and one more casual outfit in which Victoria was sitting on the floor.
One thing that I noticed about Victoria, before we even got together to photograph, was this. From the images of her website that was under construction, I understood that she had done some modeling work before. She is absolutely gorgeous and the camera loves her. What is important for branding photos, on the other hand, is to portray a person in a less model-y, less posey way, so that the person comes across as relatable. Because when potential clients will be looking at her website and will skim through her content and images, will they be able to feel that she gets them, that she is one of them. And while I was photographing her, I had to be very conscious of it, and guide her in posing so that she could be herself - with beautiful posture, radiant, and beautiful, but more real, herself, relatable - so that her people would find her.
Another hilarious moment during the photoshoot happened when I suggested a simple prompt. I said, “since everyone has ADHD these days because of our phones”, why don’t you grab your phone, open up Instagram, and start scrolling?” She does as I suggest, and the first reel she comes across is this reel in Russian about April Fool’s Day (we photographed on April 1!) We burst out laughing and this is how the image above was born. You can’t fake that kind of joy! :)
Another funny thing that l remember about this photoshoot has to do with Victoria’s dog. The dog is very furry and has a very high-pitched barking voice. Victoria said, “I used to say, I want to a bald dog that doesn’t bark, but somehow I ended up with this guy.” The total complete opposite of what she wanted, but he is so loved of course. I honestly feel sad that we didn’t have enough time to photograph with the dog, because those images would definitely help my client connect with people. We only had one hour together, and I am proud of the images we created during that time - photos that are not too super model-y, not too posey, but relatable and that will help Victoria establish her business and start helping people. I see another branding session in the cards for her - the one where we can tell more personal stories about her. The important thing is that now she has photos to launch her website and social media, and that is the most important thing.
Thinking of having your personal branding photoshoot done? I would love to work with you! Please click this calendar link to schedule your complimentary 20-minute discovery call or contact me here and let’s create some magic together!