Getting ready for a personal branding shoot

I love being behind the scenes helping brides, tv presenters or models get ready but I’m not a natural in front of the camera. Sure, I do YouTube videos but those I can shoot by myself, not really posing for anyone. I am also the person that has to try really hard not to pull a crazy wide grin when a camera comes out. Personal branding and portrait shoots are way out of my comfort zone!

So this was going to be a challenge.

So the night before my shoot with the lovely Eva from https://www.evatarnok.com I was a little bit apprehensive. I had picked out my outfit days ahead of time, a white linen dress from Son de Flor and Superga trainers to go with the white buildings in South Kensington where we were shooting. I wanted something I could move in and feel comfortable…something that felt like me so any ideas of high heels had to go.  But more importantly, I wanted my clothing to reflect me and my attitude, my brand. I want to come across as approachable, playful and fun to be with. Girly and cute but not overly sexy or glamorous.

I really thought about my hair and makeup as well. I wanted to look relatively timeless and not adhere to any trends currently on the likes of Instagram as these will really date the photos in a matter of months. I played up my eyes and used a very natural set of lashes and kept everything else neutral.

As my hair is growing out of a pixie, there was a limited amount of things I could do with it. It being the pandemic summer of 2020, I also had not had my colour done in months! The easiest way to hide very - very - long roots is adding waves and movement. In my case very slight waves as I wanted to maximise the length.

My top tips for getting ready for your personal branding or portrait shoot:

1. Choose your photographer carefully - their personality is so important! It’s a two way communication throughout the whole shoot so it’s important you connect with your photographer. Also share a moodboard beforehand, I love Pinterest for this. 

2. Study your chosen photographers style and the lighting they use. This will directly translate into how much makeup you’ll need. As a rule of thumb, if the style is very light an airy, amp up the makeup by 30% as it will otherwise disappear in the final photos.

3. Wear clothes you can move in if you are shooting outside. If you want heels for the shoot, bring flip flips or trainers and wear them between shots.

4. Try out your whole look beforehand and take photos. Always make sure you feel like the clothes are flattering as you don’t want to look at hundreds of photos and just pay attention to a waistband that is clearly digging in.

5. Sounds obvious but have fun! Try and forget about yourself, forget - or at least ignore - your insecurities and just go for it.

We had 2h scheduled for the shoot and I thought there was no way I would be ok being in front of the camera fo so long. Eva is super nice, chilled out and calming so that made the process a lot easier. For the first 15min I was quite awkward but then I really got into it. I was starting to have fun and I felt like something could actually come out of this. Eva game me positive feedback the whole time and I felt like I could trust her to make me look cute and fun.

I love the photos and will be using them for years. I am so happy we had the shoot! I’m not about to schedule another one anytime soon - I really don’t need any more photos of myself for a long time - but when the next one comes, I know I’ll do just fine!