Lately, I have been asked multiple times about why someone needs a personal brand or better yet, “what is a personal brand?”. My answer is simple, everyone already has a personal brand. Your own personal brand is whatever you put out into the world. What you want everyone else to know or think about you. Every time you find the perfect picture to post on social media or check your outfit before you leave the house you are thinking about your own personal brand.

If that is the case, then all of my photo sessions are personal branding sessions. Some are to capture a family or kids laughing and interacting with each other, some are engagement shoots meant to capture the right photos for wedding announcements, some are newly wed moments captured at a wedding used to remember this moment in time. Perhaps this is why photographers are commonly thought of as story tellers. We tell the story of your personal brand.

Common uses for personal brand photography

However, the most common personal branding sessions are interactive headshot sessions, meant to create multiple images that are curated for a specific event or a consistent look/feel. These images will help the owner or business tell a consistent brand specific message. The voice, brain, or face behind the company.

The below images were taken for a real estate agent, who invests in putting herself out into the world. She is active on social media and her marketing includes personalized branded images that also go along with her guidance on the real estate market. Clients will trust someone more if they see your face and understand your personality.

Common uses:

Website - Branded images on your website is key; why use stock photos if you can use personalized photos that match your style and colors
Content - especially for social media, having photos makes your messages stand out more and stop people from scrolling by
Marketing - specific images of people or products that mimic your brand, colors, or themes
Interaction - there is definitely a place for the traditional headshot. However, if you can get an image of you that shows more movement or interaction, clients become more engaged too.

Other uses for personal brand photography

As I mention above, personal branding is not just for businesses or the entrepreneur. In fact, all of the same common uses for personal branding that a business might use, you can use too. For instance, I recently did a personal branding session for a women that wanted photos for her profile and social media. While she is an entrepreneur and a successful business person, she didn’t want the photos for her business life. Instead, she wanted some images for a dating profile. While meeting with her, she mentioned that she knew she could use selfies or get a friend to take her photos. But, she also said that she knows when to hire a professional or bring in talent that she doesn’t posses. We ended up doing a lifestyle session in her home focused on her hobbies - cooking, running, reading, and her fur baby.

When I started to think about it, she had all the same uses for branding photos that a company might have (minus the website in this case).

Common uses:

Content - especially for social media, having professional photos helps you stand out in a crowd. A recent article came out mentioning that make influencers might look like they are taking mirror photos or selfies, but really they have a second camera to get that perfect look.
Marketing - while we might not think of it in terms of “marketing”, but there are plenty of times we are all marketing ourselves. One common place is a dating profile. Having images that promote you doing the things that you like attract more suitable partners.
Interaction - just like marketing above, interactive or more interesting photos of you in action help to tell the story or brand that you want to represent