Case Study: An Adventure Branding Shoot

How epic is this photo? 

When my client Syliva Winters contacted me in June asking for photos for her podcast website and media features, I had no idea what I was in for. Her podcast, When Women Fly, is all about women breaking barriers. So the aim was to capture pictures that embodied the spirit of flight, literally and figuratively!

She needed her new images soon so we quickly moved into shoot plan mode. Most of the time, shoot planning involves identifying shot ideas, props, and outfits for my client’s sessions. Sylvia’s shoot plan call was no exception, however, we also heavily focused on the logistics for this shoot.  We had three separate locations, all outdoors, all vastly different from each other. 

First, we started off at a private airport early in the morning because we knew it would get busier later in the day. Starting off early here also allowed us to get to our second location before it would also get busy (which you’ll see why below).  

During our shoot plan call, we reviewed satellite maps of the airport to understand where the airplane would be parked and how it would be affected by lighting at that time of day. We identified priority locations that she could then convey to the ground crew. I also discussed with her arrival procedures, where I should park and if I needed to wear anything specific being on the tarmac. Luckily there wasn’t anything major I needed to do - in fact, I just showed up, parked in a designated area, walked over to the little terminal, and we were escorted to the plane! Makes me rethink flying commercially!

When we got onto the field, I played a bit with the angles, the doors of the plane, as well as her positioning with the light and the wind. Between all of the prep work and a little experimentation, we were able to create some awesome images.

For the second story, we moved to Walden Pond where Sylvia and her daughter went paddle boarding. This park gets very busy because it has a beach and is great for swimming. They even close the gates when it gets too full and since we were shooting on a Friday in summer we knew we’d be taking a bit of a chance at getting shut out. Starting out early at airport, which is just down the road, we were able to get to Walden Pond and find a space close to the boat launch. During our shoot plan call we discussed these logistics, while also buffering in extra travel time between sites. 

On top of the parking concerns, I had to be deliberate in choosing my outfit because I knew I was going to be getting into the water. I wore a dress with built in shorts which was made with quick-dry material. Considering I ended up getting in pretty deep, I was grateful for my choice, including my water shoes! 

I brought my fanny pack to hold my lenses so I could change them up quickly and not have to walk to the shore each time to switch lenses. I will say it was slightly nerve-wracking changing lenses in the water because one mistake could have been costly!

On more involved shoots like this one, I do like to bring my assistant to help. For example, since I brought my paddle boards as a courtesy to my client (her boards were at her home in Vermont) my assistant was there to help load/unload them from my roof rack. She was also a great help while I was in the water and I needed to grab an additional lens that couldn’t fit in my fanny pack.

In our third and final location, we visited The Codman Estate so we could grab photos that would embody the idea of flight through running. This beautiful old home is right down the street from Walden Pond, making travel time minimal, another strategic decision on our part. It also helped that my client was very familiar with the location and was able to direct me to a gorgeous garden and a few running trails. Parking here was very easy. 

However, the lighting was a different story. It was now the middle of the day so the sun was directly overhead, creating harsh shadows. In hindsight, I would have suggested we shoot this portion of our session earlier in the day or near sunset. Many of the shots that we took under tree cover did not make the cut because of the speckled lighting, but we were able to make several work.  

My outfit came in handy again because at one point I was lying on the dirt ground trying to capture her feet in the air as she was running. It was a lot of work but we loved the end result!

Below on the left is the original About page for the podcast, and to the right is the updated version with two new images that I captured (circled in purple). I especially love her new Bio image!

About Page Before

About Page After

You can check out other websites that I’ve helped update with new branding photos and learn how to match your brand shoot with your brand aesthetic here.

If you’re updating your website you can click here to download my shoot planning guide so you can get a more in-depth look at how I plan my brand photography shoots. 

Now I can’t wait to work on my next adventure branding shoot!