Most business photography records where somebody is now.
A new director joins the company, so they need a headshot. A business launches a new website, so the management team is photographed. A press interview is arranged and suddenly somebody needs to find a suitable portrait to send to the journalist.
But for founders and directors of ambitious start-ups, there is another way to think about photography.
Instead of only photographing the position you occupy today, why not create images for the opportunities you are working towards?
Creating images before the opportunity arrives
A founder may currently spend most of their time building a business behind the scenes, but their ambitions could be much broader.
Perhaps they want to become a recognised voice within their industry. They may want to speak at conferences, appear on panels, give keynote presentations, contribute to podcasts or be interviewed by the business press.
The problem is that the photographs required for those opportunities often don’t exist until somebody suddenly asks for them.
Then comes the familiar scramble through LinkedIn profiles, old corporate photographs and phone pictures, trying to find something suitable.
A better approach is to build that visual library in advance.
What would a future keynote speaker look like?
This does not mean pretending that somebody has already achieved something they haven’t.
It means thinking seriously about how their ambitions could be communicated visually.
If a founder wants to become a keynote speaker, for example, their photography might need to convey confidence, authority, intelligence and personality.
That could involve more than a traditional head-and-shoulders portrait.
We might create environmental portraits, more editorial photographs, images with space for magazine copy, relaxed portraits for podcasts and interviews, and stronger images that could sit comfortably on a conference website or speaker biography.
The objective is not to manufacture success.
It is to create photographs that are ready when success produces the opportunity.
Building a PR image library
One photograph is rarely enough for somebody developing a public profile.
Different communications require different kinds of images.
A newspaper interview may need something completely different from a LinkedIn profile. A conference organiser might want a strong portrait for a speaker page, while a PR agency could need landscape photographs with room for headlines or copy.
A well-planned shoot can therefore produce a useful library of images for:
- keynote speaker profiles and conference programmes
- press and editorial interviews
- business and trade publications
- LinkedIn and executive profiles
- podcast appearances
- company websites
- investor communications
- award entries
- opinion pieces and thought leadership
- announcements and press releases
- marketing and social media
At Headshot London we already create corporate portraits that are used in publications, online articles, reports and marketing communications, so thinking in terms of a broader image library is a natural extension of a PR or corporate portrait shoot.
Start with the ambition, not the camera
The interesting part of this kind of photography often begins before anybody picks up a camera.
We can start by asking questions such as:
- Where do you want your company to be in two or three years?
- What do you want to become known for?
- What subjects would you like to be invited to speak about?
- Which conferences would you like to appear at?
- What kind of publication would you like to be interviewed by?
- How should somebody perceive you before they have ever met you?
The answers can influence everything from location and clothing to lighting, composition and expression.
Instead of simply asking, “What kind of headshot would you like?”, we begin asking a more interesting question:
Where are you trying to go?
From corporate headshot to editorial portrait
There is still an important place for a straightforward corporate headshot.
It is often the photograph that appears most frequently across LinkedIn profiles, company websites and internal communications.
But once somebody begins developing a more visible public profile, it can be useful to move beyond the standard headshot and create a wider range of portraits.
Environmental photography can show a founder within the world they are creating.
An editorial-style portrait can reveal more personality.
A carefully lit studio image can give somebody greater presence and authority.
A more informal portrait might be appropriate for social media, interviews or founder stories.
These photographs do different jobs, which is why producing several distinct styles during the same shoot can be considerably more useful than creating dozens of variations of essentially the same headshot.
Photography as part of personal positioning
Founders increasingly become part of the public identity of their companies.
Investors, potential employees, journalists and customers may encounter the founder before they encounter the business itself.
Photography therefore becomes more than decoration.
It contributes to how somebody is positioned.
Strong photography cannot create expertise, credibility or leadership where those things do not exist. But it can help communicate qualities that are already there.
For somebody with genuine experience, interesting ideas and ambitious plans, good portrait photography can help make that visible.
Create the photography before you need it
The ideal time to create PR photography is not necessarily the day after a journalist emails asking for a high-resolution portrait.
It may be six months earlier.
Creating a carefully considered library of photographs gives founders, directors and communications teams something extremely useful: choice.
When a keynote invitation arrives, there is already a speaker portrait.
When a journalist requests photographs, there are several suitable options.
When the company announces a funding round, launches a new product or wins an award, the imagery is already available.
Instead of finding a photograph at the last minute, the business can choose the right photograph for the opportunity.
Photographing where you are going
Some of the most interesting portraits are not simply records of a person’s current job title.
They hint at what comes next.
For founders and directors building companies, careers and reputations, photography can become part of that process.
Not by pretending the future has already happened, but by considering it carefully.
The conference stage may not exist yet.
The magazine interview may not have been commissioned.
The keynote invitation may still be a year away.
But the person who will eventually stand on that stage is already being created.
Perhaps their photographs should be too.
If you are a founder, director or senior executive looking to create a stronger collection of corporate, editorial or PR portraits, Headshot London can photograph in the studio or on location and create a library of images designed for different business and communications requirements. Get in touch to discuss a shoot.
This is one part of what we do. Another is our Augmented Imagery service. You can also see our headshots and PR portfolio.
The impossible, made possible.
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