Your LinkedIn profile photo means much more than a simple self-portrait. It can became your window of opportunity or a setback, depending on how genuinely the photo represent your real self. I wrote an ebook Your Image, Your Business a couple of years ago. In it, I discussed the importance of authentic business portraits.
My weekends are often busy photographing weddings and family and children sessions. However, during my weekday I’m often helping business entrepreneurs, established companies start-ups and other individuals with their LinkedIn profile photos. Some of these clients have already worked with me during their wedding or family sessions. Because we have already had an opportunity connecting on a personal level previously, they certainly have an advantage. I take time during each session to understand my clients so that I may capture the genuine personality and individuality of each one. Knowing this, my past clients are more relaxed from the very beginning of each repeat session. They are confident in my abilities and trust me with their look, time and money.
How different is my approach while taking business portraits?
So what happens if the clients are meeting me for the first time? My love for people truly helps in to be able to overcome this obstacle. Truthfully, it may take slightly longer to connect to new business clients, but the results are totally worth it. Being ready for whatever it takes, I dedicate a full two-hours for any LinkedIn profile photo session. For the first 20-30 minutes, our sole objective is to work on connecting. Discussing their plans, visions, needs, fears and such gives me a clear picture of what we need to do and how we will be able to achieve it. Unquestionably, my 20+ years of photography experience supports this and guarantees the results.
Actually, this scenario is how Mandy and I met. Conveniently, she was close to my Brampton studio and so she arranged a photo session with me. Once we started talking, I noted that Mandy was already in a high position in her company. This meant that the photos we were going to take were not solely for her present company needs. Her images needed to not only showcase her true personality. They also had to support her initiative as she explored all other options that the corporate world might offer in different directions than only her current job.
What we did for her LinkedIn profile photos?
What we accomplished here was incredible. While Mandy had such a strong, direct business appearance, her personality was so genuine and caring. We needed to portray the connection between the two so that her look and the message portrayed her spectrum of leadership. The key way for us to be able to do this was to play upon her eyes and cheek bones. I worked with my “European accent” which I discovered that Mandy found funny and interesting. Soon she started enjoying the session and her natural smile start to shine. We worked through a couple of different outfits to decide which ones she felt most comfortable with and where her smile came most easily. This gave us the perfect recipe to create a variety of different looks that she was able to choose from in the images.
Undoubtedly, Mandy and I were able to take some really great LinkedIn profile photos that will help her to showcase her true personality for the following year ahead. My goal for all of my business clients is to focus on uncovering the true personalities. Then, I help them to capture these perfectly into great portraits. Considering that majority of my clients are over 27 years old, I understand how important their jobs are to them. I’m driven to capture images of themselves that will guarantee great success for their future professional business accomplishments.
To find out more…
If you would like here, is a blog post ” Top 7 reasons why my clients need me as a headshot photographer “ that outline the top 7 reasons among many, many others why client comes to me for business photos.
My passion and biggest asset is taking the time to make every client comfortable and relaxed before I even pick up the camera. The result? Photos of you that actually look like you at your best! I can prove to you how much you can enjoy having your picture taken. Lifestyle photography is about the experience that happens to be served up along side of some great photos.
Specialties:
Family Photography for families that like to move around and enjoy their photo time, Wedding Photography for couples looking for a mixture of photojournalistic, contemporary and traditional images and Professional Corporate headshots that are far from cheesy and stiff.