Personal Branding Session in Auburn, WA


I’m so excited to share with you about my first in person branding photoshoot with the very talented allergen friendly bakery in Auburn, WA owner Crystal of Sole Dolce. A little back story about this excitement. 


Storytime

Like many virtual connections, Crystal and I connected on a mutual friend’s post. I really don’t remember what the post was, just that it was 2020 and things had just closed up and I was needing a way to practice my product photography since I couldn’t work my massage job or do in person photoshoots. We had gotten to chatting about her recipe development for her allergen friendly baked goods business and that she was still looking for some testers. I of course readily agreed for many reasons. One, since I’ve been gluten free before, I’ve got the taste pallet for it and was excited to taste test and give feedback. Since I would have food items, it was the perfect chance for me to then photograph. Two, I would photograph the food item, I could then use the knowledge I was learning about food photography and put it to use. Three, I didn’t have to bake and clean anything!! It was perfect, I got to photograph, taste and not clean nor bake anything, so many wins on my end and then Crystal got to have professional images of her baked good items even before her business became official. 


For the last almost 2 years, I’ve been taste testing and photographing her food items and we've handed off food items via porch pick up and drop offs. We would just message each other "Thanks just picked up/dropped off", but it worked for us. She also turned a room in her house into her baking prep room, she strives to keep things free of cross contamination and safe for all allergies. Then in later 2021 she launched her business and started taking orders. Before the end of 2021 she wanted to get an in person session done, she had all the professional images of her products, but she was missing the personalization, herself. 


Every product maker starts with focusing on the product, some do share themselves, but mostly focus on the end product and listings for that. But what customers also want is to meet you, the product maker! They do want to connect with you and learn about your stories. 


You learned about the story about how Crystal and I connected and formed this amazing partnership that we both benefited from. Now let me share with you Crystal’s branding stories that we wanted to focus on for her photoshoot. 


The stories have the purpose to answer who she is, what does she do and how do the viewers connect with her? This is the core purpose of breaking down our photoshoot into stories. 

Story 1: Showing the baker and behind the scenes. We did a few headshot type images and then focused on documenting the steps she does to bake her items. 

Story 2: Her family, the big motivation behind starting an allergen friendly bakery to begin with. Then the smaller stories with the kids eating cookies and her husband eating a sandwich to showcase the integrity the bread stays in when actually being eaten. 

Personal branding photoshoot in Maple Valley, WA for female owned allergy friendly bakery work space table
Personal branding photoshoot in Maple Valley, WA for female owned allergy friendly bakery holding plate of cookies
Personal branding photoshoot in Maple Valley, WA for female owned allergy friendly bakery sanitizing table
Personal branding photoshoot in Maple Valley, WA for female owned allergy friendly bakery mixing ingredients
Personal branding photoshoot in Maple Valley, WA for female owned allergy friendly bakery mixing ingredients
Personal branding photoshoot in Maple Valley, WA for female owned allergy friendly bakery scooping onto baking sheet
Personal branding photoshoot in Maple Valley, WA for female owned allergy friendly bakery cutting bread
Personal branding photoshoot in Maple Valley, WA for female owned allergy friendly bakery cookies in boxes
Personal branding photoshoot in Maple Valley, WA for female owned allergy friendly bakery kids with plate of cookies
Personal branding photoshoot in Maple Valley, WA for female owned allergy friendly bakery sliced bread
Personal branding photoshoot in Maple Valley, WA for female owned allergy friendly bakery husband holding sandwich
Personal branding photoshoot in Maple Valley, WA for female owned allergy friendly bakery mom with kids eating cookies
Personal branding photoshoot in Maple Valley, WA for female owned allergy friendly bakery cookies in container
Personal branding photoshoot in Maple Valley, WA for female owned allergy friendly bakery daughter eating cookie smiling

Sole Dolce Food Photography


I have shared some of these images on my product/food photography sample images, but here is an image from every type of product that I've photographed and then taste tested. My favorites are her muffins and the sweet breads, but everything is so good! If you're located in the Maple Valley, Covington and Auburn area she bakes and delivers for this area currently. Everything she bakes is gluten free and then some items are egg free, and dairy free. You should check out her food items, website and keep an eye on her social media page as she starts to share her new images.


If you have been needing to level up your images for your business, head over to my contact page and send me a message and we can hop onto a Discovery call and just chat to see if we are the right fit to work with each other.

Sole Dolce Food photos