Your story matters for a brand photoshoot

I’m at a stage in my life where I no longer care if people think I’m pretty or ugly, smart or stupid, but if I’m honest, I can’t get myself to like pictures of me or feel comfortable with getting them taken.

If you have your own business, you probably know that people need to “know, like and trust” you, and images of yourself are simply necessary to help convey who you are. Yes, I know all that too, but getting a headshot for my website and social media was a task that I dragged out for years, because of every excuse in the book I had not to take action.Perhaps I was asking too much of my photos and figured it was impossible to have them portray all the feelings of my brand, all the quirkiness, contradictions … 

Rationally I knew this was nonsense, so I finally challenged myself to get professional shots done. The intention was to keep the look and feel of the pictures as an extension of my brand. I envisioned the shoot around the keywords that described my brand and looked for a photographer who could deliver on that.Not easy :(, until I found Shawna. She got me right away, with my clean, fun, minimal and natural look: genuinely me.

On the day of the shoot, even if I wanted to pretend to be someone else, I couldn’t. It was a typical day with my 5:30 am wake-up call to drop off the kid at practice and walk the dogs.

Then,  one of my dogs decided that my makeup was very tasteful and licked my face when I was running to meet Shawna. I was so distressed, but she kept her cool, reassured me, and made me feel fabulous.  So much more comfortable than I ever could have imagined.  I loved the experience.

I want to share my take home lessons as a brand designer and former procrastinator of my photoshoots in case they can help you as much as they’ve helped me:

1- Your brand needs you, so show up. Challenge yourself to take action every day, putting yourself and your message in the spotlight.

2- Define your brand keywords and keep them in mind when choosing your photographer and envisioning the process of your shoot.

3- No matter what, don’t pretend to be something you’re not. That’ll never work for you or your brand. But the good news is that even if you try to appear as anything you’re not, the universe won’t allow it, and that’s why you’ll look gorgeous.

Share your best photoshoot story, your lessons, and your headshot!  Would love to see it:)