"You have to bring a Nigerian outfit to the photoshoot!"
Without a pre-session strategy, there is no plan.
And without a plan, you’ll end up forgetting your Nigerian outfit, :)
Once upon a time, when I would book portrait sessions with clients, the only thing we talked about was what time the session starts and where we were going to meet.
Everything else was left up to chance.
Fast forward 5 years, and I can’t believe that was how I would run client sessions.
Fortunately, we live, learn, adapt and elevate on a daily basis, :)
The most important conversations that happen with respect to a branded lifestyle portrait session are the ones before the camera is out of the bag, and the client is standing in front of the lens.
As a speaker, author and expert-based business, you have a lot going on.
You’re entire goal is to create image content that visually punctuates the sentiment of every story that you want to share.
The content that you create needs to inform, entertain and inspire those who come into contact with it.
The consistency with which you share these posts help develop connection and ultimately, trust.
As a result, there is no way in hell you should show up to your session without a gameplan. There’s too much to accomplish to simply wing it.
Granted, working extemporaneously is a part of the sessions in which I conduct with clients, but it’s based off the highly-specified, shot sheet that’s created during the pre-session strategy call.
If you opt to freestyle the entire session, certain aspects of your expertise, workflow, client interactions or aspects of your personality will get lost in the cracks.
When I sat down to talk to my client and colleague, Chinwe Esimai, about the importance of the pre-session strategy call, she brought up how the call alerted her to the importance of incorporating traditional Nigerian attire into her session (she’s from Nigeria, by the way):
The devil is in the details, folks.
It’s what paints a vivid picture of who you are, who you serve and why you do what you do.
If you wing it during your branded lifestyle portrait session, you’ll miss out on a lot of opportunities to include aspects of your life into the images so that the texture of these photos truly represents you.
Keep this in mind as you qualify photographers for your next round of portraits.
And if you’re in need of finding a photographer who can help you along this journey, schedule a call with me and let’s see if we’re a fit to work together.
PS - For those of you who aren’t in the know, I mail out these blogs 3x a week, and lemme tell you, they’re a real party, so, if you’d like to get in on this,sign up for it here and I’ll throw in a free gift for you, because I care, :)