Branding Photography Sessions for Creative Professionals

Branding sessions for creative professionals:

With so many creative professionals working for themselves these days, it is hard to stand out and separate yourself from the crowd. The question is, how do you get noticed by potential clients and how do you create an online presence that helps you stand out in a crowded market?

Online marketing leader puts it this way,

“Branding on a business-level is common, but today branding is becoming just as important on a personal level. After all, you might work for a business that works with other businesses, but it’s people working with people and that’s what makes business relationships valuable.” Neil Patel

There are definitely advantages to being a freelance creative building a personal brand. You can attract potential clients with a lot more personality than a large corporate is capable of doing.

Your personal brand should speak directly to your ideal client and there is no better way to do this than through images that highlight YOU!

Advantages of a personal brand over a corporation:

Knowing the person behind the brand will put your potential clients immediately at ease. Especially if you share common interests.
A personal brand can emphasize your unique strengths in the marketplace.
You can connect your passion with your profession- For example, you love rescue dogs, eating clean and taking care of the environment. Your images can reflect these passions and help others with similar passions be attracted to working with you.
Publish content to reinforce your credibility
Makes you more approachable, which helps foster trust with clients
Develop your personality on social
You can easily provide support to other like minded individuals by connecting with them on your social channels.

At Blue Sky’s we offer several different ways for you to remain in front of your ideal client.

Blue Sky’s Branding collections:

Half Day Branding sessions– For your half day session you can include 2-3 different locations that best showcase your brand and your brand aesthetic. A typical half day session will include 6-8 outfit changes and 50 fully retouched files for you to use across all of your digital marketing assets.
Fully Day Session- The full day session is perfect for the entrepreneur that has a clear vision of how they want their brand to be showcased online, who their ideal client is and how to connect with them through compelling images.
Annual Membership Session- Our annual membership has been designed for the entrepreneur that is serious about growing their business! The membership includes a quarterly strategic planning sessions, both photography and some small promotion video clips and up to 365 images edits to use throughout the calendar year. We will partner with your business and work hand in hand with you to identify and market to your ideal client.

To enquire about booking a personal branding session with Blue Sky’s Studio click here!

2021 Small Business Branding photography session giveaway

Is 2021 the year you commit to developing your personal brand? Since 2020 has been a super challenging year for many small businesses, I want to help by giving away four half day branding sessions! In these sessions I will provide you with a professional headshot that will get you noticed. But that isn’t all, we will deep dive into your brand and create an entire library of images that you can use in your marketing to help attract your ideal client!

What is included in this giveaway:

Up to 5 hours of shooting for your business
50 fully retouched files for your marketing
A consultation and branding questionnaire to make sure we get the best images for your business
7-10 outfit changes/ looks
Multiple shooting locations that work with your company
Your session highlighted on our social media and blog to help promote your business!
Valued at over $2000

To submit your small business to win, please fill out this form:

Link to form

You may be asking yourself, how do I use these images in my business to help develop my brand?

Take for example our wonderful client Kailyn. Kaitlyn is an executive Well-being and burnout coach, helping restore energy, fulfillment and ease to your everyday. Her mission is to help high-achieving women in high-pressure environments bring self care, passion and enjoyment back into their life.

Here are just a few of the branding questions we went through when planning her session:

What feeling do you want to invoke with your brand?

Color, delight, joy, energy, vibrancy, zest for life, healthfulness/ well-being
Fun, playfulness, passion, movement
Depth, power, strength, intelligence results, competence
Calm, stillness, rest, spaciousness

What do your clients get when they work with you?

Life restoration, valuable insight, passion, playfulness, support and commitment

We selected each style/ vignette based on these answers. This included clothing, makeup and hairstyling and location selection for the session. Here are some of my favorite images from Kaitlyn’s professional branding photo session. To check out Kaitlyn’s website and see how she used some of these images, you can click here!

To book your branding session you can call us at 949.510.3862!

Blue Sky's Promotions, Headshots, Personal, Personal Branding Photography

My recent trip to the Hospital

Some of you may have heard, I recently spent some time in the hospital. While I was at my sickest, my brother asked me, “aren’t you totally stressed out about your photography business?” My answer actually surprised even me. I said no.

Why?

I felt so sick, my priority was recovering my health. If I had to have forced downtime, I was going to focus on getting better (after spending time in Mexico, I got Sepsis from an bad intestinal infection. By the time I actually went to the hospital, I was extremely sick).
I have surrounded myself with an amazing team. Brittany, my studio manager, and Lily, my second photographer and editor, stepped up and took over my sessions. I am eternally grateful to both of these wonderful women!

3. Being sick puts everything into perspective. You know, don’t sweat the small stuff! Everyone was so understanding and supportive about their orders and having Lily be their photographer that I just felt well taken care of.

I am grateful to report I am feeling much better and so excited to get back behind the camera. To celebrate my “come back” I am bringing back “Model for a Day” Sessions. These sessions are perfect for Professional headshots/ business headshots sessions or for high school senior pics.

Headshot/ senior session promotion includes:

Session fee: $249 (regular price $548)

Professional Makeup and Hair styling
3-4 looks during the session (outfit or locations changes)
Matted fine art print ($249 value)
1-2 hour session
Personalized reveal session 7-10 days after your photo shoot
Great for professional headshots or senior portraits

We only have 10 of these sessions available. The sessions need to be booked by March 31 and shot by April 30. To book your session now or to get more information click the link button.

I wish all of you good health and happiness!

Headshots, Personal Branding Photography

What to wear to a Corporate Headshot session

What to wear to a Corporate Headshots

Now that you have booked your OC corporate headshot, what are you going to wear? It is really important to put some thought into what you wear, and how it will fit with your brand. The general clothing guidelines apply to anyone having their executive headshot taken by a professional photographer.

Photoshoot guidelines:

Get plenty of rest the night before your session. You will want to look fresh and rested in your images.
Drink a lot of water the day before the session. This will make your skin look healthy and hydrated.
Bring two or three outfits, so that the professional photographer can go through each look and confirm that it will look great in portraits.
Plan to arrive 10-15 minutes early. Corporate headshots can feel a little intimidating. To help you feel less stressed, schedule a little extra time so you are not rushing.
Make sure you hire an experienced headshot photographer. The photographer should be able to give you a lot of posing guidance, check that your clothing looks perfect and shoot a variety of images, so you can choose the images that you love the most. Since this is going to be used in a multitude of locations, and it will be used to help you connect with your clients, you want it to be an image or a set of images that you are proud of.
Consider bringing some additional looks to your session to start a complete library of personal branding images. In today’s social media environment, it is important to have lots of images to share on social media, to use for articles about you and your business and to help develop a relationship with your ideal client.
For men and women- make sure you eyebrows are groomed. The focus of any headshot is your eyes. The eyebrows frame the eyes, and should therefore be well groomed.
Come with clean, moisturized skin.
For women- I highly recommend investing in a professional makeup artist that has experience with portrait photography. The makeup artist will ensure you look and feel your best and that the makeup is tastefully done for a professional headshot.
For men- your hair should be well groomed, however it is best to have a haircut no more than two weeks prior to your session.
The best outfit for any professional headshot is to dress like you are going to meet your ideal client!

For Women Executives:

All clothing should fit well and be tailored to your figure. A tapered jacket, with a simple blouse works great.
For a very corporate look, black, grey and navy always looks great in a corporate headshot. For the blouse, light, solid colors are always flattering. The blouse fabric should be light, such as silk, so that the overall look is flattering and not bulky.
For any corporate photography session, plain colors are your best choice. Patterns or prints distract and date your photo. Choose mid- tone colours in blue, green, wine and purple because they are universally flattering. Avoid wearing tops in flesh tones (cream, beige, pastels, peach or yellow) as they will blend your face into your clothes.
For accessories, less is more. A simple strand of pearls or necklace with small earrings. For a corporate photoshoot, lots of jewelry is distracting and should be avoided.
For shoes, make sure they are simple and not too distracting. The shoes should finish off the total look of your outfit.

For more casual branding sessions

Consider wearing a fitted or wrap dress. These are timeless and flattering on any figure.
Layering looks always adds interest to the clothing and works well with denim or with a dress.
For accessories, you can dress a casual look up a little more with hoop earrings or a gold necklace. Add some personality to the session, but don’t overdo the jewelry. The focus should still be on you as the subject.
The casual look also works great with a hat or a scarf. These accessories add some personality to the session.

For Men Executives

A well fitted tailored suit in a darker color such as black, navy or grey works best.
For the shirt, select a light color such as white, cream, light blue, or even pink. Consider your brand colors when selecting the outfitt. The colors should look great with your brand colors.
You can go with or without a tie depending on your profession. If you opt for a tie, you should consider bringing several choices and have the photographer help you select the best one. Red, blue or even purple tone ties work great.
If it fits your personal style, you can also add a pocket square or layer the look with a fitted vest.
Avoid any fabric with a very busy print as it can be distracting. The tie should a
lso be subtle and not have a very busy print.

For Men’s Business Casual

A collared shirt or even a polo in a color that looks great on you is always a good choice.
To dress up a casual look a little, you can layer a casual shirt with a blazer.
A nice, fitted sweater in a solid color layered over a collared shirt is a timeless look for a casual corporate headshot.
You can pair a dressier shirt with a nice pair of dark denim jeans to dress down your clothing.
Avoid plaid shirts or complex patterns. These do not photograph well.

If it is time to update your headshots or even create a whole library of personal branding images, I would love to book a session with you. Click here to send me your information.

Headshots, Personal Branding Photography

Branding photography for Creative professionals

You don’t have to have a corporate job to benefit from a personal branding photography session. In fact, creative jobs typically need a wide variety of images for self promotion. Professions such as artist, musicians and dancers are the perfect candidates for a branding photography session.

Here is a recent branding session I did with the beautiful Saya, she is a musician and a marketing professional. Her session was about having fun and showing all the sides to her unique personality. Here are just a few of my favorites from her session.