How to Create a Session Wardrobe Capsule for Your Branding Photography Clients
When it comes to Branding Photography, clients look to their photographers for alllllll the expertise, because they probably have no idea where to start, what they’re doing, what they need, what they want, or how to execute their vision authentically. When you don’t plan your branding session accurately, it can lead to off-brand, off-message images that never see the light of day.
Since implementing our Session Prep Board system, our clients have exceeded even their own expectations for their branding session. Want to know how we prep our clients so they come confident, organized and ready to show out? Keep reading!
Step 1: Start with a Discovery Chat
It’s always a best practice for photographers to get an idea of who their client is and what they do before diving into what the creative process will look like. Although your new clients may have some similarities to past clients, it’s still important to ask questions before you begin building your shot list or picking locations. These are some of the questions we like to have a handle on before we start curating our branding sessions:
What do you do and for who?
How will you use your brand images most of the time? (ex: website? social media? marketing materials? speaking engagements?)
Do you see yourself shooting indoors, outdoors or a combination of both?
What can’t you do your ‘job’ without?
How often do you plan to post to Instagram (if at all)?
Have you done a branding session before? What did you like about your last experience? What didn’t you like?
How comfortable are you in front of the camera? (we already know the answer, but this determines how much wine we’ll need…jk. Kind of)
After your discovery chat (and official booking), you can begin to curate your session based on your expertise, your clients vision and the perfect brand vibe.
Step 2: Head over to Pinterest
Pinterest is a great place to pull inspiration images because you can search by keyword. So if your branding client is an interior designer, start by searching “interior designer branding session” to get ideas that are specific to that line of work. You can add them to a private board, but we like to screenshot these images to use them outside of Pinterest. Once you’ve saved brand-specific inspiration images, be sure to look for general images and detail shots that match your own photography vibe. For example, if we were searching for our own brand client, we would also look for editorial studio images because that’s what we shoot in the studio.
Now, the images you pull may not feature the model in a wardrobe capsule that matches your client. So once you’ve pulled inspiration shots, pull inspiration wardrobe next. Now, it all to your session prep board (see below) so that your client can see the full picture.
Step 3: Create a Session Prep Board
We create our session prep boards in Milanote. One thing we love about Milanote is it is easy to use + super interactive. You can add images, notes, links to website pages you’d like to share, and our favorite feature of all, the handy dandy checklist. We love to add information about our studio, things to remember to do before the session, and makeup stylist recommendations.
Once you’e pulled some inspiration shots for your client, fill up a milanote board just for them so that they can not only see it, but add ideas and notes of their own. Be sure to add them as an editor so that they have access to updating the board alongside you.
Savanah is a photographer from the U.S. Virgin Islands. She loves neutrals and has a spiritual, ethereal vibe. She wanted to upgrade her brand to match her new premium pricing structure. We pulled this minimal yet statement inspiration wardrobe together with that in mind.
Savanah’s shoot was a combination of studio + outdoor shots, so we pulled creative images that also reminds her target audience that she’s a cool + vibey photographer. She hadn’t planned to bring her camera until she saw the shot inspiration board.
After studying our inspiration board, Savanah purchased/packed these looks for her session. We even had her packages sent directly to us, just in case they wouldn’t arrive to her island in time. We dropped them off to her hotel the day before for her to try on and we steamed everything when she arrived to the studio. What she didn’t keep, we shipped back for her so that she wouldn’t have to.
Want to see the results of a perfectly organized Session Prep + Inspiration Board? View Savanah’s studio session images here.
Images by Lead Photographer Kelley Raye