You’re ready to finally face the lens and get yourself an awesome set of images that you can use for all the things in your business and then you wonder, “Who can actually take all the photos I need? Who understands what I need? Who can I trust with my insecurities in front of a camera?”

Do NOT just go for the first photographer you come across. When it comes to getting brand photos that you not only adore, but are also ridiculously useful, it’s really important to make sure that your brand photographer totally gets your brand AND that you get along with him/her.

Here are three stellar tips to help you choose the perfect brand photographer for you.

1 - Only use a brand photographer.

This is KEY. Seriously. Your wedding photographer, family photographer or newborn photographer may be award-winning, but that doesn’t mean she understands all the photos that you need to launch your course, for example. It’s so important to realize that being able to take good photos is NOT ENOUGH. You need someone who has been working with brands for a while and who can hear about your brand/business and discern what you do and don’t need, and come to the table with lots of visual ideas.

2 - Look at their portfolios with a discerning eye.

It’s easy for a photographer to put “brand photographer” on their website and still not be as useful as you need them to be. When it comes to creating a bank of images for you - especially if you’re going to be using them for something as visual and in need of regular updating as Instagram - the last thing you want is 30 images of you standing in the center of the frame smiling. You need VARIETY! It’s the spice of life, right? Oh, and also of your website and your Instagram feed and anything else you plan on putting more than 2 photos on.

So, be on the lookout for variety in their portfolio. Look to see that the subject isn’t always in the center. Look for creative angles. Look for creative use of of objects, color and texture. Make sure that there is a variety of EMOTION in their portfolio. It shouldn’t all just be standing and smiling - you want to be able to tell ALL the pieces of your brand story as well as speak to your client’s pain points. Think of the things you want to talk about in your business and look at a photographer’s photos while asking yourself, “Does it look like she could photograph everything I need?”

3 - Get on a discovery call.

Hopefully, you’ve found a few personal brand photographers that look like they can give you what you need! Whoop! But now it’s time to hop on a discovery call with each of them. None of this, “I don’t feel like talking on the phone” stuff. The two of you will be spending several hours together creating images that you’re hoping to use for months (or longer). The last thing you want is to get together and realize that she is NOT your cup of tea. Your photos will look forced, stiff, uninviting - and you’ll probably hate using them, and that’s just a waste of money and time.

So, take advantage of that discovery call, share your vision, your hopes and your worries and make sure that you vibe with your photographer. You want to be as comfortable as possible in front of the camera and have tons of fun, so take the time to find a brand photographer who’s your kind of people!

And that’s it! Looking for more brand photos and tips? Come follow me on Instagram!

Local to Nashville or coming for a visit and ready for a brand shoot?! Contact me to set up a discovery call!

Jamie Trull and I met shortly before the cusp of her gigantic business blow-up. She was talking to an out-of-state friend who told her that she should attend the Blissdom Conference. So, Jamie looks it up, sees me listed as a speaker, recognizes me from our neighborhood Facebook page, and BOOM! The rest is history.

Well, almost.

When I first met with Jamie, she was doing 1-on-1 small business finance coaching for women owned business, so I asked her to send me her pricing info. OMG, you guys. The PDF that she sent me was the ugliest thing I’d ever seen. We’d literally just met hours prior, and I sent her a message saying, “You can’t charge these prices looking like this.” HA! And I redesigned her PDF.

From there, I officially took on her visual branding - colors, fonts, patterns (ever see Jamie wearing animal prints? Yeah.) and her brand photography.

When we got around to her personal brand photoshoot, I knew she was going to be creating at least one course, and that it was going to be about finances in business. I’m not the kind of photographer that just takes photos of you with a mug and laptop and moves on. NOPE, I take a look your brand story, your promotions, your products/services and think: HOW CAN WE SAY ALL THIS IN PHOTOS? This means we shot for each module in her course, we shot images that would work for FB ads, her sales page, her website, her Facebook group and more. We shot to tell the story of her motivation, we shot the “mompreneur” storyline - all of it. And LET ME TELL YOU, Jamie is a MASTER of utilizing each and every image to TELL & SELL!

Check out how she uses her images:

ON HER WEBSITE

ON HER INSTAGRAM

ON A SALES PAGE

And, if you’re not already in her group that hit 30,000 members as of the time of this writing, then you might want to check it out! It’s a FREE Facebook group called Financial Literacy for Women Business Owners and it is a rockin’ hoppin’ place full of information, help, celebration and resources!

Check out what Jamie has to say about working with me!

When I arrived at Meg’s home, my immediate question was, “Why is this not ANYWHERE in your Instagram feed?!” See, Meg is a painter, whose style is distinctly like her mother’s, and she is also a non-practicing architect. And, with her architect’s eye and skill, she designed her current home. And it’s stunning.

I was immediately thrilled about her upcoming brand photography shoot just two days later.

As I walked through her home, hearing how she simply hated the entire process of posting on social media, I knew that showing the beauty of the spaces around her house would only serve to lend legitimacy to her artistic eye as a painter.

Not only do people love seeing behind-the-scenes, they also want to see evidence that you’re good at what you do. That you not only talk the talk, but that you walk that gorgeous walk as well, and Meg certainly does. As we walked around and chatted during her pre-session consultation for her brand shoot, I began talking about showing her house along with her art. I talked about how she could share her artistic process, how she learned painting from her mother, how she designed her home, her favorite spots in her house, what motivates her as a painter, etc.

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Often, we’re not excited about social media because we don’t know our ideal client and we don’t have a plan.

See, like most women, Meg wants to be able to leverage Instagram to sell her paintings, but she’s been inundated with the idea that she has to share all kinds of private things in order to be successful. MANY women tell me this. They say, “I’m a private person, but I know I need to be on Instagram for my business.”

Like I talked about in a recent weekly live in my Facebook group Create Your Badass Brand, you do not need to spill personal and private details about your life in order to be successful, I PROMISE! For someone like Meg, simply sticking to the categories of things I just mentioned would give her plenty to talk about, AND feel like her audience was getting to know her!

We can talk about things we love, things that motivate us, things that can get us stuck, dreams we have, even a favorite eye cream - all without divulging intimate details about our marriages or our finances or any other private matter that is no one else’s business and still make it so that we have created a connection to our audience.

Once we got through that and the ideas for images and content started rolling, Meg began to realize how much easier it was going to be posting on Instagram once she had the photos to help her say what she wanted to say! By the end of our consult, she was telling me she was EXCITED!

Two days later we had a beautiful shoot, which resulted in not only a unique brand photography session that showed off her super artsy in-home studio and her at work, but also the beauty of the home around that she created. I can’t wait to see what she does on social!

If you’d like to see more of Meg’s work and what she’s up to, check her out on Instagram!

Good gosh was Diana a treat to work with! She’s a clarity coach for millennials (how cool is THAT?) and helps them make decisions! You guys, I’m technically a “Xennial” (those few 6 years right between Gen X and Millennials where we didn’t have the internet growing up, but we applied for jobs online), and I’m pretty sure I could use her help, because I can TOTALLY get stuck in second guessing myself! Anyone else?

Diana was already working with a web designer and re-brand coach, Tiffany Tolliver of The Emma Rose Agency, when she found me. Working with the two of them was AMAZING. The funny part is that I met Tiffany at Amber Housley’s intimate event, Inspired Retreat, last May and she didn’t know Diana had chosen me to be her brand photographer, so when we each found out were were like HEY, GIRL, HEY!

Tiffany had done tons of work already on Diana’s new brand, including all her brand colors, her brand words and they even picked out this amazing Air BNB called Niido’s Treehouse in a super trendy apartment complex in Nashville! How cool is this place?! GAH!!! The photos of it had me drooling before I even got close to the building!

Don’t worry if you don’t have someone helping you with all that yet! When we work with my On Fire packages, I help you figure a lot of that out! Also, if you need to get clear on your ideal client, I have a blog post to help you do that and have fun at the same time! And THEN, once you’ve got that, I’ve got a freebie guide + workbook where you can figure out what kind of imagery you need to use to ATTRACT that amazing client on Instagram!

I was also excited to work with Diana because this was my first brand photoshoot for an African American woman of color, and goodness, you guys, is this an under-represented area when it comes to not only female entrepreneurship, but entrepreneurship in general! I was like, “Yes! I will give you amazing photos to support you in doing amazing things!” (Which is also how I treat all my amazing ladies.) Just the other day there was a woman in of my biz groups on Facebook saying how hard it was to find inspiration on Pinterest for women of color brand photography, and IT IS!! So, we’re definitely getting Diana’s shoot on some boards!

So, as I was ogling all the photos of Niido’s Treehouse and the common areas we would be able to shoot in, I was dreaming of beautifully lit photos on the green couch, sun streaming in, soft diffused light…and then…it rained. Like, so much rain and darkness and thick clouds. And Diana’s schedule was squished and we only had a certain window and, because of the weather, the whole place got DARK. FAST.

We definitely got some amazing shots of her in the apartment in front of that to-die-for muted green bookshelf with that golden frame that worked so gorgeously with her skin, so that was a major plus! As for the rain outside and the darkening sky, it wasn’t what I’d pictured and it wasn’t ideal, but you know what? WE MADE IT WORK. I’d even go so far as to say WE ROCKED IT.

I had brought one of my lights with me, so I just moved it around until I found a spot I liked and we kept shooting!

So, one of the things I like to do, even with my Getting Started packages, is to make sure my clients have a few shots that will help them tell stories - either of the creation of their brand or something more personal (though, they are often one-in-the-same) - so when Diana started talking about the high expectations placed on her at an early age, I knew we needed something for that.

Toward the end of the shoot, back in the room, I had the idea of her “casually” knocking a bunch of books off the table as a way to represent breaking through that perfection syndrome for her. She loved it, so we shot it.

In designing her shoot, Tiffany & Diana had decide on a shoot that was:

• Regal

• Classy

• Velvety Smooth

• Like a masculine-scented candle

We needed people to see her photos and feel:

• Safe

• Like Diana could be a friend and a guide

• Inspired

• Confident in Diana

Personally, I LOVE her shoot, (even with the dark clouds!) and I love even more how Tiffany so brilliantly and beautifully incorporated the photos into her brand!

CHECK OUT DIANA’S WEBSITE TO SEE HOW SHE USES HER PHOTOS
CHECK OUT DIANA’S INSTAGRAM TO SEE HOW SHE USES HER BRAND PHOTOS TO TELL HER STORY

Lindsay Stafford, the owner of Prickly Dame, mama to two adorable kiddos & wife to the original guitarist of the band Train, makes some dang cool jewelry. She started woodworking in 2015 and now makes jewelry out of reclaimed wood.

She recently launched her business online and wanted some photos for a “creator card” that she’d be putting with each purchase as well as having some new personal branding photos for her website.

In our current online consumer world, potential customers and clients want to see your face. They want to feel like they have a general idea of who you are, and having a variety of photos on your website - especially where you are looking directly into the camera (basically, virtually making eye contact with your customer) - can help achieve that. If you’re not a recognizable giant brand like Target or you don’t have that personal connection point, people are simply not as likely to purchase from you as they are from someone willing to share a bit about themselves.

Now Lindsay, like most women and business owners I’ve worked with, came to me going, “I HATE getting my photo taken.” She’s obviously very photogenic, so it’s not about whether or not “the camera loves you.” For anyone who is camera shy, it’s about feeling awkward, feeling like you don’t know what to do and like you don’t know how to relax and be natural so that the camera can capture the real you. So, how do we overcome this?

It’s all about your photographer, truly. You’ve got to make sure that whoever you choose to do your branding photography is someone that you feel comfortable with. It helps if you can laugh with them and even feel like the two of you are friends. A photographer doesn’t just hold up a camera and snap photos. A photographer’s job is to help you shake off your camera anxiety and have some fun. For this shoot, Lindsay even asked if my neighbor - a friend of hers - could stop by to help her loosen up! OF COURSE I said that’s fine! I’m always game for anything that can make my clients feel less self-conscious!

We blasted some music that she loves, had her friend there, laughed a lot and maybe poured a small glass of champagne (not me, ladies, I need to keep my wit’s about me when shooting)! And we did the whole shoot in about 30 minutes.

The result? Photos that she LOVED and that are getting tons of Instagram love and that are now all over her website. Why? Because they accurately represent who she is and also show off her awesome jewelry!