Brand Photography for a Designer and Life Coach
Client Overview
The client is a multi-passionate creative professional - a fabric and wallpaper designer who also works as a life coach/mentor for designers and entrepreneurs. Her work blends artistry and mentorship, empowering others to build meaningful creative businesses. She wanted her photos to reflect both sides of her brand: creative and professional, artistic yet approachable.
Project Goals
The goal of this photoshoot was to capture imagery that represented her dual identity as both an artist and a coach. The photos needed to show her creative side while leaving intentional blank space for adding text overlays on social media posts and promotional materials. The desired look was clean, polished, and aligned wiht her brand message of clarity and inspiration.
Challenges
The shoot took place in dimly lit interior spaces with deep shadows and uneven light.
Windows with vertical blinds produced stong lines and alternating bands of bright light and shadow.
The outdoor locations - brick walls, trees, and a sitting area - appeared flat and bland, requiring creative composition to add depth and visual interest.
The client’s previous brand photos had been dark, inconsistently blurred, and unflattering, leading to concerns about lighting and editing consistency.
During post-processing, she requested that her skin appear lighter and more luminous (blown out) but also asked that the photos retain some of the darker tones from her older imagery - two opposing visual goals that required a delicate balance.
Creative Approach
I approached this session by using natural light selectively and balancing shadow depth to preserve clarity and contrast. Indoors, I diffused harsh light from the blinds and positioned the client to minimize background distractions. Outdoors, I used compositional framing and color enhancement to bring life to the neutral settings - enriching the tones of brick, greenery, and clothing to create a sense of warmth and depth.
During editing, I focused on producing rich, true color and flattering, natural skin tones. After four days of careful post-production, I delivered an initial gallery that met the brand aesthetic goals.
When the client requested lighter skin tones while still referencing the darker tones of her previous imagery, I created a custom edit version balancing both preferences. This required nuanced exposure control and selective adjustments to maintain natural detail while achieving her requested luminosity.
Results
The final images reflected both her professional clarity and creative warmth, capturing her confidence as a designer and mentor. The final edits provided a harmonious blend of tone and color that translated beautifully across social platforms and marketing materials.
Reflection
This project emphasized the importance of interpreting client feedback artistically, even when the direction appears contradictory. Through thoughtful lighting control and nuanced color editing, I achieved images that met her vision while maintaining professional polish and technical integrity.
The result was a cohesive gallery that visually communicates her creative duality - the balance between artistic expression and professional guidance.
