Personal Branding Session


During this crazy past year, I decided to introduce Personal Brand Photography as an official part of Gray Mornings Photography and I wanted to take a little time a break down here what that means! While I'm at it, I thought I'd share a few of the lifestyle headshots I did of my beautiful sister.


Personal brand photography is the art of using high-quality images to tell the story of your brand. Using photos to market and advertise your brand not only positions you as an expert in your field but it gives your clients and audience a more authentic brand experience. Whether you’re a brick and mortar business owner, coach, online entrepreneur, influencer, maker or artist, beautiful, professional photography can really take your branding to the next level.


GMP would love the opportunity to assist you with your personal brand photography by offering you a professional, customized photo session that brings every aspect of your brand to life. Not only will we help you create a visual version of your branding message but we’ll also create a photo experience that will leave you feeling great. Your brand photography will draw clients in and give them a reason to choose you.




How is a personal branding session is different than a headshot session?


Personal branding photography is a relatively new aspect of visual branding, with new business owners jumping on board to take their branding to the next level. A personal branding photography session differs from a typical headshot/portrait session in several ways. With headshots, the focus is simply you, usually shot from the waist up. Headshots are incorporated into personal branding sessions which is mostly what you see here in this blog post, but we don’t stop there. We try to delve deep into not just who you are visually, but tell the story of what you do and why you do it via detail shots, lifestyle shots, photos of you in action, you with your products, etc. The possibilities are endless and each session is customized to best reflect the type of business you run and the message you wish to convey about your brand through images.


The photos you see here of Maggie are just an intro to her session. We broke the ice and got her comfortable in front of the camera by using simple props that she would incorporate into her every day lifestyle which is a big part of her brand as a health, fitness and lifestyle coach!




Here are a few things we cover right from the start to get your session on the books!



Booking your session


It’s always best to book your photo session in advance of any big event, launch or release, especially if you are working towards a specific deadline. It’s also important to take the time required for photo selection and editing into account when booking your personal branding session. The turn around time of your session is typically two weeks, but depending on the length of your session and time of year, it could be up to four weeks.


The Brainstorming Session


This is where we get excited! Once you’ve set a date for your photo session, we can begin brainstorming ideas! We will typically do this over email, because we know that you are busy and answering some of these important questions takes some time to sit down and think and it's easy for us to refer back to those emails when coming up with a shot list for your session. The photos from your personal branding session are very multi-purpose. They can be used for your website, promotional materials, blogs, ads, social media, headers, banners and more. That’s why planning and analyzing is so important. Knowing where and how you want to use your images will help us understand whether you’ll require vertical, horizontal or square images for instagram.


Your Brand Description


Our goal is to paint the perfect picture of what it is you do, and what sets you apart. These images will provide an important glimpse into what it would be like to work with you or receive the quality product you are producing! This is evident in the session I did with Brandi, of Stitch 36 earlier this year. We spent some time in her home studio where she pours love into her heirloom products. I think in creating these photos of her in her work space gives the customer a glimpse into what goes into the products she's making.


I hope these few ideas help you to begin thinking about what a personal branding session might look like for you and your business! I am going to make this a weekly series to cover next steps and delve deeper into planning your session!



If you are interested in learning more now about scheduling a session with GMP, I have a condensed version of this series in our Personal Branding Photography Welcome Guide that you can receive via email. Just contact me at stephanie@graymornings.com and I'll be glad to send that your way!