Look at your photos in a different way

Don’t simply see the value of photos through the lens of beauty.

See the opportunities each and every one of them offer.

During a recent call with a client, we looked at some of the lifestyle portraits we just captured.

The goal was to flesh out stories that compliments these specific photos in order to share them on his social media feeds. 

Before the call, I combed through his image portfolio and pulled 8 photos of different types - headshots, portraits of him thinking to himself, taking a walk, behind the scenes photos of him presenting virtually, to name a few. 

For these images, he was easily able to connect a story based on the emotional sentiment of his facial expression and body language. 

But not all photos are created equal.

At one point, I pulled up a photo of his laptop that had charts and graphs on the screen. It was a performance evaluation he administers to his client’s team to find out if the right people are working in the right positions. 

The moment he saw this one, he, at first, was stumped on how this photo could tell a relatable story to his audience. The photos of him were easy to create a narrative, but this one proved to be a bit of a challenge. 

He kept saying that it’s a hard one because all he’s doing is working on a laptop and he couldn’t even see his face. 

This was the moment where I gave him a little creative push. 

I asked him, for a moment, to forget about the act of typing on a laptop and focus more on what’s on the screen - the performance evaluation data. And then, I asked…

“How does this photo represent how you make your client’s lives better?”

Instantly, the light bulb in his head lit up. 

First, he started to describe the context of what these charts represent - very meat and potatoes information, but extremely useful exposition.

Then, he mentioned the benefits - the immense value that this data provides team leaders and CEO’s when making changes in their teams.

He ended the thought by sharing the emotional benefits of this information by describing how these leaders deeply appreciate data like this in order to make more informed decisions regarding their employees and how that builds confidence within them to effectively do their jobs.

Not a photo of him simply typing on a laptop anymore :) 

Think that type of story would resonate with his audience of CEO’s and other Executive leaders? Think it might inspire them to want to learn more about how he can help their organizations?

When you allow yourself to see your photos beyond the “do I look good” lens and become curious to explore how your images - ALL your images, even the ones without your face in it - can share a teachable moment while also positioning you as an expert in your space, that opens up a ton of storytelling possibilities.

And opportunities to create more engagement and connection with your audience. 

Which, ultimately, is the point of your online content, after all :)

If you’re interested in learning more about effective, genuine and persuasive storytelling for Expert-business owners, I won’t shut up about it in my newsletter. Sign up for it, and that’ll save you a commute to my blog :)