Creative portraits / Photography

Cheerful Branding // Helfrick Photography

I was super excited when Mandy from Helfrick Photography reached out about making photographs for her new website. Previously a wedding photographer, she’s transitioning her business to do primarily work with high school seniors – and I am so incredibly excited for her!

As part of her rebrand, she wanted photographs for her website that show who she is and reflect an edgy, editorial style. Which got me really thinking about translating a brand into photographs and how to work with other creatives to give them visual content that connects with their clients.

Branding a creative business is so much more than a website or logo.

Branding is an experience. How you make people feel. Telling your story. Bringing something of value into their lives.

These are things that you need figure out first, and then translate them into your visual collateral. Bring the feelings to your logo, bring your story – your treasures, your history, your values – onto the about page of your website and into the content you produce. And absolutely bring emotion and positive value into every interaction you have with your clients – that is an experience they will remember.

And as a photographer helping other creative business owners establish their brands, I want to know their stories, what they want another person to feel when that person touches their brand. Because I want to create photos that feel the same way. So that the creative looks like their brand and the client can see themselves in the photo of the creative.

When I’m planning a photo shoot for a creative brand, I think about the emotions (what words describe the brand and are integral to the story? how do those words translate into actions, poses, fashion, locations?), the location (where does that person usually do their work? what does that space look like and how can it add context to the story in the photograph? what details are in that space that add to the story?), and the wardrobe (how can we convey the emotion through color, texture, style? is it feminine, masculine, formal, casual, etc?). Then we work together to incorporate these things into the photos I take so that the photos feel like – and really are – an extension of the creative brand.