A branding or small business photoshoot should feel like a natural part of your working day, not a performance. Simple preparation beforehand will help the images feel honest and true to your work. Here’s a quick guide to help you get ready for your shoot in Suffolk.
Lets meet up
Maybe the most important thing we'll do is have a chat. I am curious to hear about your small business, what drove you to create it and why it is so special to you. If you are a musician I want to listen to your music, if you are a maker I'd like to spend a little time getting to know your products and materials. This insight will inform which images I take and direct me to the most important textures or tools, the parts that are meaningful to you.
What will these images be used for?
If we're shooting for your website, it helps to be a bit more specific — things like homepage images, about page portraits, banner crops, or product shots all need slightly different approaches.
For social media or general updates, you can keep things looser but having a rough plan of the shots we need is important: this will help us get the most of the session.
Make a moodboard
A Pinterest board helps me to understand your aesthetic, what inspires you visually and your influences. It might be images, a colour palette or even a book. I like to collaborate on this and add images once I feel I've got your vibe. This is a great starting-point for our conversation about the shoot.
Wear what you normally wear to work and don’t pose!
Wear clothes you feel good in — comfortable, practical, and the kind of thing you’d pick on a good workday. Solid and neutral colours usually photograph well but the main thing is that you feel like yourself.
Tell me how you like to be photographed but don't pose: branding photography is mostly movement and conversation. I might ask you to repeat something, or stand somewhere with nicer light, but you won’t be holding stiff poses. Just carry on with your normal rhythm — I’ll work around you.
If you’d like some ideas, you can see what other entrepreneurs chose to wear on my Portraits page
Tidy your space just enough
Your workspace doesn’t need to look staged. A quick tidy helps — clearing piles, wiping surfaces, opening blinds — but leave the things that show how you actually work. That’s what people connect with. The tools you use every day will bring us the best photos.
Gather a few items that say something about your work
Tools, raw materials, products, notebooks, plants, mugs — small things you use every day. We will use these for some close-ups - they will help tell the story of your business.
Use your Suffolk surroundings
Whether you’re in Woodbridge, Ipswich, Bury St Edmunds, or tucked away in a small village, your surroundings will add a lot to your images, grounding your brand in Suffolk and telling part of your story. A nice wall, the side of a barn, a doorstep, workshop, garden, a patch of trees — they will form a great backdrop for a portrait, can add context if you work indoors and may feel more 'you' than any set location.
Leave the rest to me
It’s my job to follow our plan for the shoot, leave space for improvisation and notice the light, the angles, and the small moments in between.
Your job is simply to settle into whatever you’re doing. I’ll guide you gently if something needs adjusting, but it will be a calm collaboration from which the photos unfold naturally.
If you’d like to see how other small businesses across Suffolk have approached their shoots, take a look at my Small Brands & Businesses portfolio.
If you have any questions about a brand photoshoot for your business, get in touch here — I'd love to hear about your project.
