Autumn’s creative, dance-filled personal branding session
Today, I get to introduce you to Autumn! Autumn is a past client who did a boudoir session with me a couple of years ago and worked with me again recently to create personal branding portraits. She is a professional dancer (so talented!) who recently moved back to Minnesota after dancing for a professional company in another state.
Autumn reached out to me because she was looking to have some personal branding portraits taken for her professional dancing portfolio. She’d had pictures taken before but didn’t feel super connected to them; she didn’t feel that they really reflected her passion and feelings for dance, and they didn’t show her in quite the way that she wanted to present herself. She wanted pictures that would feel a little more unique, warm, and creative. I was so psyched to create these with her!
Autumn’s personal branding style
Like most of my personal branding clients, Autumn was looking for a mix of pictures. She wanted some pictures that would work well for a headshot — simple, clean portraits — as well as other pictures that would feel full of personality and story. She wanted her pictures to feel poised and directed while still exuding confidence, strength, and creativity. She also wanted her pictures to really show her versatility, her outgoingness, and her fun personality. As an artist, Autumn wanted her voice to show in these pictures, and I think it came through in such a beautiful, authentic way!
In addition to these classic personal branding pictures, Autumn wanted to take some pictures that would incorporate dancerly postures and poses. It became such a fun collaboration: Autumn would show me a dance pose that she wanted to use, and I would tweak it a little so that it would look great on camera. She also spent some time just flowing and dancing through the space while I captured some completely candid moments full of movement and power. What incredible energy in the studio!
Autumn wanted some pictures to embody her modern and contemporary dance styles, so we created a series of portraits focused on asymmetry, creativity, and strength. In this photo, she is working super hard to keep her back perfectly upright and leap high off the ground. She makes it looks so simple, but this took SO much strength on her part to leap up while staying perfectly poised! I love the asymmetry of her posture and the way the brickwork contrasts with the white wall in the background!
There were moments where Autumn would just dance and move throughout the studio, and I would get to just capture it on camera, documentary-style.
I just love the light coming in behind Autumn as she moved throughout the space. It felt so incredible to get to photograph art as it was unfolding before me!
A classic personal branding portrait, Autumn’s warm, creative, friendly style really radiates out of this photo.
Autumn, I’m so grateful you chose to work with me again to create these personal branding portraits! Working with you to create these pictures was so fun and collaborative -- I loved every minute of it. Thank you for trusting me to channel your personality, creativity, and passion for dance in these photos!