A lifestyle photo shoot is a photo session that’s typically in your own home and that focuses on candid and authentic scenes from your family’s life together, and they’re popular for newborn photos. Whether you prefer a lifestyle photo shoot over a photo session at an outdoor location or at my Mercer Island studio is simply a matter of preference, but some clients do worry that it will be stressful to get their home ready for professional portraits. To ease your worries, here’s how to prepare for a stress-free photo shoot at your home.

A branding photo shoot is a fantastic investment for your business. Having professional, polished, on-brand photos means that every single piece of marketing you use, every social media post, every ad, and every page of your website is more effective. But booking that photo shoot is just the first step. As you’re preparing for your session, one of the first things you might wonder is what you should wear.

Your branding photography should be a staple of your business’s marketing. After one photo shoot, you should have an abundance of custom branding photos and headshots that you can use in all of your marketing for the next year or two until it’s time for a refresher. But there’s a common mistake a lot of professionals make in planning their branding photos: they only think about the shots they need at the moment, not the shots they’ll want in the coming months. Then, a while down the line, they kick themselves thinking, “I can’t believe I have all these photos, but none of them are right for this campaign.”

So, how do you make sure that you have branding photos that fit every season? Here are a few considerations you’ll want to keep in mind when planning your branding photo shoot.

Human beings are intuitive; you can almost always tell the difference between a genuine smile and a fake smile. That’s true in day-to-day life, but it’s also true for portraits. When you picture your children and your spouse in your mind, you picture all of them smiling and laughing together - those happy moments are when you feel most connected with each other. That’s why overly posed and artificial family photos can fall so flat, because that’s not who your family is in your mind. But how do you bring authentic joy to the surface in your family photo shoot?

A branding photo shoot is more than just headshots. Yes, headshots are important, and you’ll get some incredible ones out of our session, but your branding photo shoot also gives you so many more images for your business or your professional brand. That includes a category that’s known as “behind the scenes” branding photos. Let’s take a look at what those photos are and why they can be so helpful to your brand.

For so many families, this time of year around the holidays is full of photos. After all, the whole family is together (a rare occasion for many families) and dressed up, and you’re feeling especially appreciative of each other so you want to capture these special times together. If all of this has you thinking about doing a professional photo shoot, I’m here to help!

One of the first decisions you’ll need to make is whether you want an indoor photo shoot or an outdoor photo shoot. It’s all a matter of preference, but there are pros and cons for each one.

When a new client reaches out to me, as a metro Seattle photographer, one of the first things we talk about is what they’re looking for from their photo shoot so that I can book the perfect type of session for them. That’s not just the case with family portraits and senior photos - it’s true for more business and career-oriented photography too.

In fact, it’s so common for clients to mix up headshots and branding photos, not knowing the difference or knowing which one will give them what they’re looking for. To help you know which direction to go, let’s look at headshots vs. branding photos and which circumstances are the best fit for each.

As a photographer, I’m proud to have a varied portfolio of photo sessions - I enjoy family portraits, newborn photos, maternity photos, and other types of sessions, all for different reasons. But for the past few years, I’ve been especially investing in my branding photography, in part because, as a woman business owner myself, I’ve seen the need for branding photography that’s specifically geared toward women. Here’s why!

One of the most common misconceptions for business owners is that a great professional headshot is something that’s nice to have, but that if you don’t have one, it’s not a big deal. The reality is that you’re not just missing out on the benefits that a strong headshot could bring you - having no headshot or a poor headshot could actually be costing you clients.

Prospects will form a first impression of you, and your headshot helps to determine whether that impression will be positive or negative. Here are some signs you might be missing out on business because of your headshot.

I get the absolute joy of capturing heirloom portraits for so many families in the Seattle area. But I’m a mom too, and I know exactly how precious family portraits are, so I make time to have my own family’s portraits taken too. I’ve been the photographer and the client, so I’m here to give you some insights to make the process easier. If I were looking for my family’s photographer today, here’s what I would look for.