Hi friend! Have you been toying with the idea of having your photo professionally taken? Are you not sure if this is something that would work for you in your life and business? I am outlining all of the reasons you need to invest in a professional portrait session!
Reason #1: Making a Good First Impression
Like most people in 2018, you probably have at least one to two social media accounts, both personally and professionally. If you have been looking for a job in this modern world or tried to grow your professional network, then you have a LinkedIn account. LinkedIn is essential for connecting with other professional people in your industry and showcasing your talents to potential employers. On LinkedIn, you always, always, always want to put your best foot forward! You’re not sharing funny memes and cat videos like you do on Facebook. You put a lot of time and consideration into the content that you share. So why would you consider having an image for your profile picture that wasn’t as polished and professional as the rest of your profile?
Imagine spending all of your time perfecting your LinkedIn profile, only to have to use a blurry image of yourself from a friend’s phone? What about an image of yourself on Facebook where you need to crop out the Chipotle burrito in your hand? Those types of pictures work well on Facebook, where your contacts are your friends and family, but on a platform that emphasizes professionalism, they just don’t fit.
An Expert Weighs In
In this article for LinkedIn written by Ronan Keane, he outlines several tips on how to make your profile exhibit your rockstar professionalism. Your profile photo is what most people spend the better part of their time looking at when they are on your profile! Also good to note, people with the default avatar on their profile fall to the bottom of searches. Just think, all that time you spent updating your profile, and the ultimate thing visitors are looking at is your photo! Ronan also suggests, just like I am, that you need to invest in a professional portrait just for this very reason!
Reason #2: Getting Your Portrait Taken is an Amazing Confidence Boost
I can 100% attest to this! There is nothing quite like getting dressed up and having your photos taken by a professional! While I have had plenty of clients tell me how they love the way they look in their galleries, there is nothing like having this feeling yourself! Just a few weeks ago, my fiance and I had our engagement photos taken by our photographer. I spent a little extra time and care on my hair and makeup than I would on an average day. I was also meticulous in picking out our outfits for the session. Friend, let me tell you, opening a gallery of images of *me* was an incredible feeling! I have never felt so empowered and confident! Seriously, I am in love! I have had such a boost to my self esteem and confidence from the experience. I cannot thank my photographer, Maral Noori, enough! Just this feeling alone totally warrants investing in a professional portrait session. To put it simply, this is a moment that is all about you. The focus is to make you feel comfortable, proud, and bold! I cannot stress enough how having professional quality images has boosted not only my client’s confidence, but mine as well!
Reason #3: Creating Your Brand
Something you might not know about me, I love working with other creative entrepreneurs! I love being able to help them share their vision with their ideal clients. Whether you are a lifestyle blogger, freelance writer, ink artisan, essential oil guru, etc., you need to have a brand that is cohesive across all of your platforms. Most importantly, your potential customers want to be able to put a face to that brand. Buyers want to be able to make a connection with you! Just like all of the time you spend on your LinkedIn profile, you are investing a lot of energy into creating your small business and online presence. You take beautiful product photos, write flowing copy, and have created a killer product or service. The one problem? There is not one photo of the boss behind the brand on any of your social media accounts or on your website!
In a similar scenario, you find a photo from your Facebook profile you’ve deemed to be somewhat “okay”. You crop out your friends or family, but the image quality suffers and looks blurry once uploaded. The biggest mistake you can make is to shrug it off, or put it on the back burner. You have worked so hard on growing your business, so why not put the same time and energy into showcasing the person behind the amazing product? A professional image from a portrait session goes hand in hand with the professional presence that you have carefully crafted.
Reason #4: Celebrating a Milestone
A portrait session is the perfect way to celebrate a particular moment in your life. It’s ideal for commemorating your graduation, whether high school, college, or beyond. It celebrates all that you have worked for and achieved. Professional portrait sessions are a wonderful way to celebrate your relationship with your significant other, whether you’re newly engaged or you’ve been married for years. Maternity and newborn sessions are growing in popularity and display the sweet, special bond between mother and child.
Lifestyle photography is a newer genre that I am a huge fan of, where a photographer comes into your home and photographs life’s little moments between you and your family! These sessions always bring out images that are filled with sweetness and joy that is palpable. As a photographer, I consider myself to be in the memory business, which is why my tagline is “Make Memories”. Photographs hold so much meaning and feeling, and will last forever. You can always go back to that moment and relive that time. A portrait session is about celebrating you, right now, in this moment, so you can cherish this time and feeling forever.
Want to know what to wear for your portrait session? I am working on curated guide on what to wear and how to prepare for your session. If you want to be the first to receive the guide, you can get it delivered straight to your inbox by signing up for my email list here! Let’s make some memories together!
Thanks for pointing out that getting your portrait taken is a great way to boost your confidence! I recently applied for a promotion at my work and was required to submit a photo of myself. Looking through the photos I had and trying to choose one was not very good for my self-confidence. Having a portrait professionally done seems like an awesome way to see yourself in the best possible light.
Amy, thanks so much for the feedback! I feel very strongly that a portrait session is great for self esteem, it definitely helped mine!