Lydia’s Bright, Fresh Personal Branding Portraits
Lydia initially contacted me about simple headshots for her performance career and was open and excited when I shared how I approach them in an intentional, customized way with full personal branding sessions (more inspiration in Linnea and Erin’s personal branding sessions on the blog).
In a personal branding session, I am creating a series of intentional, personalized pictures that are focused on the story of your brand, your voice, and where you want to take your career in the next few years. Together we’ll plan out a session that includes all the elements that make my boudoir sessions so impactful, with a subtle shift in focus.
What makes a personal branding session different from a boudoir session?
In a boudoir session, we’ll think about what is going on in your life right now, what you want to remember about this chapter, and what is resonating with you at the present moment. It is a self-reflective and inward-focused day, while a personal branding session is almost the opposite. We’ll think about what you want to be saying to the world, how you want other people to see you, and the impressions you want others to have of you and your work.
Just like a boudoir portrait session, we’ll start with a consultation before your photoshoot day, where we’ll talk about you and your vision for the session. We’ll dive into your logical needs, your wildest dreams, and the direction you want to go with your brand and career. Then we’ll think about how we can create pictures that support your vision for the future and where you want to grow.
During your consultation we’ll also talk about the visual elements of your pictures, like color palettes. I talk more explicitly about this in personal branding sessions because your website may have a logo, feel or design already that we can be intentional about complimenting. If your site and other branding materials don’t have their own vibe yet or you are just getting started, we can instead focus on the general ideas and feelings you want to convey through your portraits.
We’ll also look at your needs from a practical standpoint and walk through how you plan to use your portraits. Do you plan to use them on your website (check out Lydia’s website), social media, or in branding pieces? Are you planning to print them for auditions or to hang framed portraits in your office? If I know a picture is going to be used on a website and have a text overlay on it, I want to leave white space in the picture for that to be very easy to apply on your site. Or if a portrait is going to be used in a printed program, I want it to be a close-up portrait with a nice amount of contrast so it can print well in black and white as well as color. This kind of technical stuff can get a little detailed, but knowing how you’ll use your pictures can help me make sure they’re truly customized to your brand, and to your needs.
Lydia: singer, actress, and stage manager
Before Lydia’s session we talked a lot about her vision for the future, her dreams, and the direction she wants her performing career to go. We focused on establishing how her portraits would encourage and support her as she works toward her vision. We talked about her identity as a performer and headshots she has had taken before - and how she wanted these to be different and updated. Lydia shared that she has some pictures already in her portfolio with an intense and edgy feel,and wanted to add some that would expand the variety in her portfolio by showing her softer side. She wanted to bring in an approachable, light, and fresh feeling with this session and also convey softness and warmth in a really organic way.
She brought in a bright red tank top with scallop detail that feels super feminine and cool, a white tank top with a clean line and thin straps that make her collarbones pop (which is an outfit suggestion I often make when people want to highlight their shoulders or collarbones), a rose-colored suede dress that feels feminine and warm, and a deep blue dress from her senior recital in college with an elegant high-neckline. This is such a happy dress for Lydia, and I love this epic photo of her swirling in it. It is such a joyful and sweet moment!
Lydia has a creative eye and knew what she was looking for in terms of direction for her portraits. She wanted light backgrounds of whites and creams with pops of color, and the variety of bright colors in her wardrobe and my studio walls really achieved this in her portraits. She loves her red hair and wanted it to pop as well, and I love the personality it brings to her style and pictures. Sometimes in personal branding sessions I will take clients outside or to other spaces, but for Lydia’s session we really liked the clean look and cohesiveness of staying in the studio and keeping the background bright and simple. Her portraits convey a softness and brightness and femininity, and I am so proud with how they turned out!
Lydia, thank you for investing in yourself and career with a personal branding session. I loved working with you, and all the warmth and energy and light you brought into the studio. I’m so excited to see where you grow in the next years!! Thanks for trusting me to create these portraits with you.