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“I hope this isn’t weird. I just wanted to tell you that what you do is so important. My son never smiles in photos and he’s smiling in these. Please keep doing what you do.”

Those were some of the first things that Courtney ever said to me when she called me, out of the blue, after receiving her son’s school photos from the Montessori school that I work with every year.

THAT, my friends, is an ideal client. From then on Courtney and I connected and talked of being creatives and the joy and struggles of those gifts. She’s an amazing human for so many reasons, not the least of which is that she simply cannot do fluff talk and gets right to the hearts of things. She hears you, she’s honest, she’s raw, vulnerable, full of faith and ridiculously talented and passionate. She would fit right in with the coolest art scenes of NYC, but instead navigates suburban life outside Nashville, TN.

When she said she wanted to do a personal brand photoshoot, I was practically jumping up and down. After the planning session we had (that I have with all my On Fire clients), I could barely contain myself. I was beyond stoked for this brand shoot.

Her art is dark, deep, soulful; it makes you a little uncomfortable - and that’s the way Courtney wants it. She wants you to feel moved out of your comfort zone, but also so in love with the paintings that you must have them on your wall. I knew this is what I wanted for our shoot. I wanted to make the majority of our shots a little off - maybe the horizon would be a little crooked or I’d miss getting a foot in the frame or the composition would be not quite right. Something so that the viewer would go, “Hmm…there’s something off about this.”

Her brand photography shoot also needed to be moody, have a touch of angst, struggle, and passion. In short, it needed to match her brand dead on so that the images would serve as award-winning supporting actors in the story of her artwork.

She was my first personal brand photoshoot that was an artist/painter, and I have since done 2 more, and I am in love. Artists allow me to bring out my own artistry even further, and each has her own unique style, and creating inside of that is just the coolest.

So, this is some of her shoot. To see how she’s doing an UNBELIEVABLE job using her brand photos & incorporating her own photos of her work and other photos from her phone, check out her Instagram.

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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!