When Rosemary got in touch to tell me all about her business I was so excited. Her colourful wardrobe, gorgeous illustrations and her energy were the perfect ingredients for an exciting shoot.

When Bella came to me and told me she’d assembled an epic group of female founded, product-based business owners for a pop up shop in Shoreditch I was so excited. The plan was for the team to exhibit their products for three weeks and host various workshops, launches, try on services and basically have all the good times AND they wanted some photos to mark the occasion.

Picture this, you’re scrolling through the internet looking for a new jacket and you come across this website. It’s clunky, whiffs a bit of the 90s but has exactly what you are looking for right there. It’s perfect, sequinned, sparkly, the ultimate hen-do party piece, but the photo is dull, flat, the jacket is shoved in the corner of a room and quickly snapped on a phone.

Office headshots are way better when there are puppies involved. Fact.

So when Gifta UK got in touch and asked me to capture the team’s headshots for their new website, LinkedIn profiles and personal brands I was excited. Then they told me two members of the team had four legs and were furry. Winning.

I am so excited to share this branding shoot that I shot on an overcast February day at the British Library in Kings Cross. When Emma, a mega talented copywriter, got in touch for a power portraits session I immediately suggested the Library as a location that felt relevant to her field of work and it did not disappoint.

And I’m not talking about OnlyFans…

Let’s level here. Your customers want to buy from you because they like you, they admire you, they want to be you or they can relate to you. You and your service or product make their lives easier, make them feel seen or heard and make them feel special.

I want to start this blog with a disclaimer - I am not cured from self esteem issues, imposter syndrome and all that good stuff that queues up to kick you when you’re down. I still have that little voice in the back of my mind that tells me I’m not good enough and I don’t know what I’m doing.

You’ve probably had this whole thought process instead of clicking on this big contact me button haven’t you:

CONTACT BECKY BECAUSE I REALLY NEED SOME PHOTOS

Amy is the ultimate wild women. She runs two businesses, one a photography brand focusing on maternity, newborn babies and family shoots and the other a space for photographs to play, learn, grow and be wild. Everything she does is to provide joy and capture precious memories for everyone she works with and she’s not afraid to show her personality and get a little bit weird (legit she lay down in the middle of a bandstand in Arnold Circus next to a bike because the stripey light was nice. Definitely put on a show for the Londoners just casually eating their lunch in the sun!)

Laura got in touch for a number of reasons. She was about to move to the other side of the world with her graphic design studio, and her family to the sunny beaches of Australia and she wanted to keep some metropolitan, London vibes in her messaging to new and future clients. AND she wanted a celebration of herself and her successes.

So as you can imagine, I was jumping with joy at the prospect of combining branding photography with empowerment vibes.

Realising you need branding photos for your business is a huge step in itself. Firstly, it’s an act of self love and recognition of success and intention. If you’re looking for photos you’re ready to lean in and make your business thrive, communicate with your customers on a more professional level and challenge yourself to show up in a visible way! Congratulations!

It was very exciting for me to be asked to go to Bath for a branding photoshoot. I haven’t visited Bath before, have always wanted to go and with some magical twist of fate the shoot was just before my birthday weekend.

So I set off, fiancé in tow, to Bath for what will have been my wettest branding shoot to date. (Luckily I was armed with a raincoat and a transparent umbrella).

In short it’s your face. I mean I’m not wrong…

But seriously branding photography is a celebration of you, your business and your talents. It shows your current, past and future clients, who you are, what you do and how you do it in a way that isn’t dull, in front of a white background or lit so harshly your skin becomes a mirror. I’m not talking about stuffy headshots here. I’m talking about vibrancy, colour, personality, confetti, champagne spray, laughter, LIFE.

I loved this shoot. It was so full of energy, laughter and excitement and it captured the many expressions and personality traits of Beth. Although we snapped a couple of laptop/podcast mic stock photos for her library, most of the photos are stand out and different for branding photos. No fuzzy lamb couches or perfect, hazy white fake-ness. Just real moments, in real places where we had a real good time…

Once you’ve had your shoot you have a delicious gallery of personalised images all waiting to be used everywhere from websites and email signatures to LinkedIn and Instagram and even TikTok! You never have to try and disguise a gin and tonic in a badly taken selfie again (in fact you can even celebrate your love of gin and tonic’s in your shoot! More on that later…) and everything just becomes a bit easier.