Public Relations Personal Branding Photography Case Study
A case study this time featuring Public Relations and Content expert Kathryn Baird.
Sometimes working with a slightly different type of single inspiration is a great conduit to fresh ideas to plan my Personal Branding Photography service. Kathryn loves to talk and connect with people in her line of work, she knew that she didn’t want to come across as another stale and dry professional services provider. What’s the opposite of dry? And what about when you add bubbles to represent Kathryn’s bubbly personality? CHAMPAGNE!
If using symbolic meanings to generate a unique portrayal of your Personal Brand sounds like your approach too, then stick around.
About This Personal Branding Photography Case Study
Meet Kathryn Baird
Kathryn is passionate about modernising how the North views and uses Public Relations. She is a self-confessed content creation geek and loves how this works in tandem with the more traditional side of public relations.
Public Relations Planning of Personal Branding Photography
Kathryn and I have been planning this beauty for over a year! During this time, we have both been working away on the mood and vibes of how we wanted the final images to look, with a shared private Pinterest board.
One thing I love about folks in the Public Relations Sphere is that their rapid rate is always plugged into the “END GAME” mindset. It’s a wonderful dual state to be in.
Timing
The scheduling of this personal branding photography session had to be released at the exact right time for Kathryn and the communications messages in her business. That is why she has decided you are reading this very blog, right now. Timing like this from a photographer’s perspective involves a fair bit of reverse engineering. To announce photography on a set date, you have to pre-empt what needs to happen and by when to make that possible.
It’s this kind of military organisation that I thrive on. When you know you are a part of a much bigger well-oiled machine, you strive that little bit harder to deliver your side, with your team on point.
Kathryn’s Personal Branding Photography Wish List
Over the months that we chatted about how Kathryn wanted her session to look, and feel I gradually developed this clear-cut wish list.
- Bubbles, Sparkles VIP Flavour
- Timing of the final stages of this shoot would be CRUCIAL.
- Telling more of the story of Kathryn the woman, not just Kathryn the PR consultant.
Public Relations Personal Branding Mood Board
With the wish list, planning and consultancy all in my brain, I was then able to start refining Kathryn’s mood board. Here is what I created especially for her. We then used this as the visual brief for the crew.
A Bubbly Personal Branding Photography Shoot Day
Shoot day was a joyful giggle. We had 3 locations to get around, 5 looks to capture, and 4 different hair and make-up looks!
At The ND Makeup Studio
ND Make-Up is now based in a seriously beautiful studio space. Renovated and styled with a similar luxury essence that fits with Kathryn’s oh-so-well. It made so much sense for us to take advantage of this location at the top of our session.
Hotel Indigo
We hot-footed wardrobe, crew and all equipment to nearby Hotel Indigo to keep the luxury Headshot energy flowing. Adam and the team were simply marvellous! We had a suite awaiting us complete with everything we could need.
We all loved how cute Kathryn was in her rollers, so we turned this into a relaxed shot or her at work, checking print media and speaking with her clients.
Making use of the great balcony gave us this fantastic northern city vista to use as a backdrop for Kathryn in all her glamour-puss look. She owns the city!
Bonbar
We are so grateful to Bonbar for welcoming us for the final set of Kathryn’s Personal Branding Photography session. Mood lighting and champagne were all waiting for her arrival to capture night-time networking Kathryn.
What I love about this set of personal branding photography is the fusion of Kathryn’s bubbly personality and love of the social side of her professional world.
A lot of business of this nature is rarely done around that glass desk in a fluoro-lit boardroom these days (…was it ever). You find the next Headliners networking (and usually partying) in the most exclusive nightclubs. We were thrilled when Bonbar jumped on board and allowed us to shoot there.
This is exactly where Kathryn holds meetings with clients like this. Her style included bubbly networking and relationship building.
Editing & Retouching
Kathryn wanted simple retouching on her final collection. We worked on bringing her brand colours out in the final work a little and kept the rest down to polishing things up.
With Extra Special Thanks to my Creative Crew
Styling
Nichola English – AKA The Wardrobe Provocateur joined the team for Ceryn’s personal branding photography shoot this time around. Nichola added a serious slice of Boho to the mood board that gave a great rounded feel to the session. See if you can see these influences in the outfits.
Hair and MakeUp
Marie from ND Make-Up joined the team for Ceryn’s shoot. Marie is no stranger to me challenging her on-the-fly skills as an artist. If you can create the perfect hair and makeup in the middle of blustery freezing woods then let’s face it… you are a PRO!
Venues
Hotel Indigo
When it came to sourcing the right spot for a cityscape view, I reached out to the team at Hotel Indigo to see if we could use one of their Penthouse Apartments.
Huge thanks and love going out to the Hotel Indigo team for their help in my location scouting work on this shoot.
Reflecting On Kathryn’s Public Relations Personal Branding Photography Case Study
Kathryn was able to time the buzz from her Personal Branding Photoshoot with the wider plans for her business development.
Finding creative ways to reflect on her bubbly personality opened up a wealth of venue ideas, outfits and emotions for this high-energy photoshoot.
