The phrase is terrible
"Personal branding" sounds like something a LinkedIn influencer shouts over a rented sports car. I know. But underneath the buzzword is something disarmingly honest: deciding how you want the world to see you, and following through. You already do this every time you pick an outfit for a first date or a big meeting. A portrait session just makes it intentional.
What a session actually looks like
Instead of "smile at the camera," we talk about what you do, who you serve, and what energy you bring into a room. Then we build photos around that.
Sometimes that means creative portraits that stretch into who you really are. Sometimes it means three clean headshots in different outfits and you're out the door in forty-five minutes. Branding doesn't have to be dramatic. One of the most powerful visual statements you can make is just you, fully present. No peacocking. No manifesto. Just a person who clearly knows what they're about.
Who books these
Coaches. Therapists. Founders. Musicians. Realtors. Anyone whose work is inseparable from who they are. If clients hire you—not a brand, not a firm, not a logo—you need photos that feel like you. The alternative is a Canva headshot and an "About" page that reads like a résumé nobody asked for.
I shoot these in my Oakland studio and on location across the East Bay. Every session starts the same way: what do you want someone to feel when they see you? Most people have never been asked that question out loud. It's worth sitting with.
One session, dozens of uses
Most people have one decent photo of themselves. Maybe two. That covers a profile pic, and then you're stretching the same shot into progressively worse crops for every other platform you're on.
One session gives you a library. Different crops, different moods, different contexts—your website header, your Instagram grid, your speaker bio, your email signature. All unmistakably you, all from the same afternoon. It's the kind of errand that quietly pays for itself everywhere you show up online.
The part that actually matters
The best branding photos happen when you stop performing. When you let the mask slip a little and just be there. That's what people connect with—not polish, not confidence theater. You, being comfortable enough to be seen. It takes nerve… and that's exactly why it works. If it were easy, everyone's photos would have it. They don't. Yours can.