Beyond the "Working Shots": Get out from Behind the Desk!
When you think of branding photography, the first thing that may come to mind is the typical sitting behind the desk, working behind a laptop. But as an entrepreneur, you know that there is so much more to a brand than just typing away. You need to show your brand’s personality - and yours as well! To gather some ideas of how you can move beyond the working shots and get out from behind the desk for your next branding shoot, read on!
Branded Stock Images
But before we dive into personality and expressing yourself, I wanted to talk about some other images that can help with showcasing your brand., branded stock images (think stock, but personalized to you) can be very useful when it comes to your brand’s website and social media. My client Courtney works primarily online and most of her creative process is done on the computer. So pulling together flatlays of some of her product printouts, personal items and curated props in her brand’s colors provided a unique opportunity to capture the essence of her work.
Above you can see how Courtney uses these branded stock images on her website for her banners as well as her online products. She also employs Pinterest to grow her brand and many of these photos are perfect for pins
Express Yourself
Now back to photos of you! We all know that a winning smile is always great when it comes to photos, but sometimes it can be a good idea (and even a lot of fun) to use a lot of expressions during your branding shoot. A celebratory pose can be used for a business anniversary or milestone, a wink can be cheeky, and a scowl can be used to express a pain problem that you want to share with your clients.
My client Isabel of Striped Dog Creative provides a great example of showing a range of emotions on camera.
You can see how she implements these expressive images on her Instagram as both graphics and reel cover photos.
Show a Different Kind of Working Shot
If you work with your hands, why not show that process too? My client Jocelyn is an artist that works in several mediums. When we assembled her shoot plan, I knew that we needed to get photos of her in action, creating her next design, as well as working with different materials. This can also be done with other service providers such as showing photographers taking pictures, interior designers hanging curtains, or medical professionals in the middle of mock consultations or procedures with a client.
Show your Hobbies & Personality!
Have you heard the phrase Unique Value Proposition (or UVP)? This is something that uniquely positions you within your industry and allows your audience to understand WHY they should choose you and your brand in a sea of many others. One way you can start to set yourself apart is to show up in ways that showcases your personality. This does a few things: 1) it allows prospective clients to get to know what it’s like to be around you or work with you, and 2) it can help build that connection with your audience.
The easiest way to show your personality is through branding photos! When I worked with my client Erica, a real estate agent, we did grab a few typical working shots, but we also got some off-duty images. Erica loves to golf and is part of a league. In sharing these photos of her favorite hobby, she is giving her clients a peek at her life and what she enjoys in the hopes that they’ll relate to her. The same for these bed shots - because what entrepreneur hasn’t found themselves working in strange places while having to do some serious (or not so serious) multi-tasking?!
Now that you know there is so much more to branding photography than sitting at a desk behind a laptop, let’s chat about booking your next session. Click here to schedule a call with me!