Headshots and Promotional Commercial Photography for Marketing

Do you cringe at the thought of having your photograph taken for work? Don’t worry, everyone does! But the good news is that you you don’t have to...

With everything happening online these days, you would be surprised how often you need and use your picture. Like it or not, you should never upload something that you wouldn't want your co-workers or clients to see. Lots of professional and commercial clients who come to me for headshots end up realizing that what they really need is several different looks to be used variously throughout their online presence. Here is an example from a recent session:

This client is a lawyer, and wanted an updated work photo, but he had no idea what to wear and hated every picture of himself. We took some time to think through goals. I gave him some questions to help...

Question 1 - What do you want clients to feel when they see your picture? What are you hoping to convey?

Answer - That I’m not intimidating or brusque, but also that I get results. I’ve been practicing law for twenty years and am at the top of my game.

Question 2 - What is the best feedback a former client has given you?

Answer - That they felt like they had a friend in me and that I exceeded their expectations.

Question 3 - Considering that having your picture on the internet is inherantly a vulnerable act, what scares you most about an updated picture?

Answer - I’m chubbier and balder than when I started my career. I don’t want to be judged. 

Considering this feedback and this client, I knew that capturing some of his personality in photos would be key, because he is quite funny and is someone who makes you feel at home. I also know that conventional standards of beauty hold us hostage around age twenty-five, and we are all obsessed with getting back there. But the truth is, perceptions of attractiveness are directly related to what a person is doing or demonstrating or engaged with in a photo. It has less to do with smooth skin and a skinny body than it has to do with curiosity. Does this photo make me want to know more about this person? Does this photo show me a confident and capable lawyer? Can I see myself sitting down and discussing my problems with this guy? A few extra pounds gained over a decade will not even register with a viewer, and age is natural. It also conveys wisdom and experience to a viewer. (No one would trust a twenty-five year-old lawyer as much as they would trust a forty-five year-old lawyer, right?) Having confidence in what you offer the world, and allowing that confidence to come through in your photos is what will get you hired. 

The same is true of the impression you make in dating profiles and to snarky classmates who look you up online to see how your life has gone. If your pictures are old and cropped, they convey insecurity. If you took the time to invest in prefessional photos, and they show a confident, active professional (no matter the size), the message is better and infinately more flattering.

Here’s what we came up with...

Tight smiling headshot for Linkedin), solid color background, full smile to convey approachability.

Three-quarter business casual, standing at a conference table talking to clients and shuffling paper, seated writing, seated inviting the viewer to join, these were designed to give the potential client a sense of what it would be like to work with him.

Second three-quarter with more formal attire. Full suit using the columns of the courthouse as the backdrop, briefcase in hand and blurred people walking across the background. The columns are a recognizable architectural feature of his city, and his position as central focus in a busy frame shows that his career and success belong here.

Photo in suit with no jacket, sitting on the courthouse steps. Cool and confident in this arena, but also completely approachable.

A casual but high-quality portrait for Facebook with his kids and dogs in a city park.

Clients want to view us on at least three different platforms before committing to working with us. Having multiple points of contact helps to form their opinion of our authenticity, trustworthiness, and the quality of our product. Hence, the mix of shots. Depending on your career, you may appear in three places or twenty-three. The point is, you need to be on-point in each place. Your photographs should not be something that was taken at your cousins wedding eight years ago, on a cell phone, zoomed in to crop out the three people on either side of you (whose shoulders still show). They should be as professional as you are, accurate and unfiltered.

Here are some past sessions…

First up, a doctor applying for residency programs...