How to prepare for a personal branding shoot
You’ve booked a branding shoot! Whoop! This is such an exciting time for you and your business. It’s time to step up your content game and really wow your audience with some killer imagery.
In this blog post, I’m going to detail all the things you need to know to prepare for a personal branding shoot.
First things first...
The first thing you’ll need to do is check in with yourself. Ask yourself how you’re feeling about the shoot you’ve got planned in the diary. Are you excited? Nervous? Apprehensive? Once you recognise how you’re feeling around having your picture taken, you can take the steps to get you feeling fully confident on your session day.
Journalling is a great first activity. Get all your thoughts & feelings out on paper. A few questions to ask yourself and get started are:
– What immediate feelings come up when I think about my shoot date?
– Why am I feeling [X]? (nervous, excited, scared)
– How would I feel if I had high-quality, professional images of what I do, how I do it and who I am? How would that impact my business?
– Think about your business and personal whys and finish these sentences. “I started my business because…” “My business impacts others by…”
Reminding yourself of why you started will help you stay aligned to your goals and the bigger picture work.
Plan, plan, plan
If you know me well, you’ll know that I love a list. They help keep me organised and on track. I encourage you to make a list of all the things you need to do in the run up to your session. The main things you’ll need to do are:
– Find a location
– Choose your outfits
– Source your props
– Book a hair & make-up artist (if required)
– Think about what types of images you need (see my ultimate shot list guide post for help)
– Create a shot list to share with your photographer
The planning stage is one of my fave parts because being organised comes quite naturally to me. I offer a lot of guidance and advice to all my clients when it comes to planning a shoot. If you choose to work with me, then we’ll create a mood board, shoot brief and so much more to keep us on the same page.
Having a shoot done is a big investment and so as the client, you need to be prepared. The last thing you want is to rock up on your shoot day and not have any idea about outfits, props, or image ideas. You’ll be wasting the photographers time as well as your own.
Confidence is key
So now you’ve got all the details planned, it’s time to work on building your confidence. Organising all the items I mentioned above will help in building your confidence. Having a clear vision and detailed plan about what you’re trying to achieve will not only help put you at ease but also your photographer.
I also want to talk to you about a few other things you can do to build your confidence too.
– Create a killer playlist that makes you feel like your BEST self (mine would include Destiny’s Child, Ariana Grande & some dance classics) and listen to it in the run up and on the morning of your session.
– Create a new mailbox within your inbox and save all positive feedback emails in there. This way when you’re not feeling like your best self, you can read how helpful, supportive and amazing you’ve been in providing your product/service to your clients.
– Make a list of all your achievements both personal and professional. Every single one from as far back as you can remember. Even if you think it’s a small achievement. Because actually, it’s the little things that add up and become the big things. E.g. “Passing your driving test, making your first Etsy sale, hitting 1,000 podcast downloads.”
– Start making a habit of celebrating your weekly wins. Every Sunday, get your notebook out and write down three weekly wins. They can be personal or professional. E.g. “Booked a new client on Thursday, Did 7 days straight of yoga, Finished reading a new book.” This is going to get you into a great new habit and make you feel so much better about your progress.
– Daily Mirror Affirmations. Now I know this might sound a bit strange and out of the norm, but it’s going to help in boosting your confidence. When you get up in the morning, after you’ve got yourself ready for the day – stand in front of a mirror and repeat after me. “I am strong, brave and beautiful. I am talented, intelligent and grateful for all that I have. Today is going to be a great day.”
– Daily Confidence Practice. Alongside your affirmations, I’d like you to undergo a daily confidence practice. Read over your list of achievements every morning, alongside your “why” and your positive feedback mailbox. Remind yourself of why you do your job, what you’ve achieved so far and read all the amazing feedback from people you’ve had the pleasure of working with so far.
Time to shoot!
You’re all prepped. Hopefully, if you’ve followed my advice, you’ll now know how to prepare for a personal branding shoot. If you’ve worked closely with your photographer, you’re onto a winner. Having someone else to bounce ideas off of and provide endless support when planning a shoot is invaluable, especially if this is your first photoshoot.
The main takeaway from this post is that communication is key. Not only with your photographer, but with yourself as well. Communicate your image ideas to your photographer and be as detailed as you can. Remind yourself of how amazingly talented and beautiful you are through mindset work and a daily confidence practice. If you do these two things, you’ll SMASH IT!
To keep up to date with new work, behind the scenes content and handy tips when planning your session, head to my Instagram.
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