Being in the business of virtual coaching and working with clients you very rarely meet in person is a great example of someone who needs frequent brand image photography. You may have launched your growing business with a few great cell phone shots of yourself, but to keep the ball rolling and look as successful as you are, doing a Personal Brand Shoot is eventually going to be on your calendar. You should be prioritizing your photoshoots the same way you ask your clients to prioritize their end goals.
My friend Rikki Petersen of @Girl on Fire Health Coaching has quickly scaled her health coaching business over the last couple of years. I love watching her professional growth and how many people she has helped gain success along the way. I’ve known Rikki for a long time and one day pulled her into a shoot asking her the night before if she was available. I needed a “fitness model” for an ad shot for a local small gym. I figured it was a win-win, as I needed the shots and she could easily use them in her at-the-time new coaching business. Voila! Here we are 3-shoots down the road and having fun.
This last shoot was our longest shoot to date. We picked Jacksonville, Oregon as our location so that we could utilize both downtown and nature scenes within close proximity. I love Jacksonville for headshot type photography because you can get SO MUCH photo content in such little walking distance and the added bonus of any country scene within a mile of downtown. This makes for an efficient shoot! Any shoot goal is to try to get as much usable stock and brand imagery to use for as long as possible. We live in Southern Oregon which visually gives us four different seasons. At most, you can get 4-5 months out of one shoot if planned properly.
I spend a little time reviewing what my brand shoot client does with their online presence. This includes observing and making note of “their voice” and how they like to share images and messages. This definitely helps me with suggestions on posing and what props and outfits to bring to a shoot. With Rikki she’s a health coach, so she’s always talking about workouts, food, day-to-day life management, and such. I like to keep shoots as slim as possible. After two hours any normal person’s face starts to hurt from projecting a bag of emotions at my camera. We chose a workout outfit and a day-to-day casual outfit and my third option is a top change or jacket addition.
An added detail to a personal brand shoot is the right props to use in getting shots to build and add to your personalized stock library. What’s that? A “Stock Library” is a collection of shots that wouldn’t necessarily always be of your face, but is obviously shots with your personal touch. This can be you in “Boss Mode” (aka working), close-ups of any branding visuals you have, subliminal messaging using your props for storytelling, etc. For instance, I had Rikki bring a lunchbox and an apple. It’s a total conversation piece for the working client who takes lunch and apples are a long-time visual aid for “eating healthy” (“An apple a day keeps the doctor away!”). Our surprise bonus prop was an extra person. As we were posing outside a local cafe using the table, a woman finishing up lunch offered to stand in as a client. You just never know!
Rikki’s Minimal Prop list included:
- Lunchbox
- Apple
- Water Bottle (has her logo on it)
- Planner (book) & Pen/Pencil
- Phone
- Sunglasses
- Coaching Book
- Fav Coffee / Drink (she brought a cold and warm weather drink from Starbucks)
Rikki has to show her face on about 98% of her content posting. Her business coach is constantly advising DO NOT USE STOCK (that isn’t your own). This is so true! At the end of the day, getting shots in multiple locations with multiple varied poses can stretch your content use pretty well. I can’t wait to see them online over the next few months and we are already planning some shorter follow-up sessions.
