Personal brand photography in Edinburgh
Personal brand photography is often used to describe images of you for your business - photos for your website, LinkedIn, and marketing that represent who you are and how you work.
For most people, this simply means wanting images that feel like a better, more accurate representation of their business than what they currently have.
The question then becomes what those images actually need to show, and where they will be used across your business.
That’s where my approach starts.
Rather than focusing on how the images will look, I begin by defining what your business needs to communicate, then plan the shoot around that so every image has a clear job to do.
What people usually mean by personal brand photography
When people look for personal brand photography, they’re usually trying to solve something quite practical.
They may be updating their website and realising their current images no longer reflect how their business works now, or they’re maybe revisiting their LinkedIn profile and finding they don’t have a photo that feels appropriate to use. In some cases, they might be launching something new and need images that support it properly, rather than trying to shoehorn older photos in and hoping for the best.
It can also be less defined than that - maybe they just have a sense that their business has moved on, but their images haven’t quite kept up.
In all of these situations, the aim is the same: to have a set of images that represent their work clearly and can be used confidently across their business.
Why personal branding photography often falls short
Personal branding photography works beautifully well if done properly, but it often falls short in practice for fairly simple reasons.
In many cases, the focus is on creating a set of images that look good together, without a clear sense of what each image is needed for. The result is a gallery of photos that feel polished and look great but are harder to use than expected.
Or perhaps your images feel too corporate instead of showing how your work actually operates. I’ve written more about that here: How to look professional online without looking corporate.
You might find yourself scrolling through them and thinking, "Oh I look good!" and they're perfectly fine, but none of them quite do the specific job you need in a given moment.
This is where things start to feel inconsistent. You end up using the same wee handful over and over again whilst the other images are left untouched, and choosing what to use becomes a big decision each time rather than something easy and straightforward.
It’s not a question of the images being good or bad, though ... It’s that they haven’t been planned around how they're actually going to function within the business.
How I approach personal brand photography
My starting point isn't the personal brand photoshoot itself but what your business needs to communicate.
Before any photography takes place, we work out what your images need to show, where they will be used, and how they fit into your business overall. That might include your website, LinkedIn, specific services, or how you introduce yourself to new clients.
From there, the shoot is planned around a defined set of priorities. Rather than covering everything in a general way, we focus on the images that are actually needed and build the session around those.
This gives the shoot a clear structure - you don't have to work things out as you go, and we know exactly what each part of the session is there to achieve.
The result is a set of images that are created with a specific role in mind, rather than a collection that you then have to figure out how to use afterwards.
What this gives you in practice
You know right away what each image is there to do and where to use it.
That removes a layer of decision-making from your day-to-day marketing, because you’re not having to work it out each time.
What a session might focus on
That depends on your business and what you need the images to support.
For some people, the focus is on how they work day-to-day - their workspace, how they interact with clients, or the environment their business sits within. For others, it’s about representing a specific service or updating a particular part of their website.
In most cases, it’s a small number of priorities rather than trying to cover everything at once.
If you’re thinking about where a session might take place, I’ve written a guide to the best locations in Edinburgh for brand photoshoots.
How this fits into my sessions
If you’re looking to update a specific part of your business or need a focused set of images, Elevate is designed for that.
If you need a broader, more varied set that supports multiple areas of your business over time, Soar is the better fit.
Personal brand photography in Edinburgh
I’m based in Edinburgh and work with clients across the city, as well as travelling across Scotland for shoots.
Sessions can take place in your own workspace, at a location connected to your business, or somewhere that reflects how you want your work to be represented.
The focus is always on choosing a setting that supports what your images need to show, rather than simply finding somewhere that looks good.
Next steps
If this sounds like the right approach for where your business is now, you’re very welcome to get in touch.
The next step is a short call where we talk through what you need and whether this approach would suit your business. There’s no pressure to decide anything on the call, it’s simply a way to see if it’s the right fit.
