Props?!

What props do I bring?!

How do I decide what to bring to my personal branding photography session?


This can feel like an overwhelming question! There are so many possibilities or maybe you're coming up completely blank on what to use and bring for your session. If you can brainstorm what you want to post about this will be helpful to guide you to the right things to bring. Choosing supporting items that flow with the stories that you are telling is helpful. To read more on stories check out this blog post here.


Let's dive into figuring out what you should bring. Some questions to answer are: What tools do you use to accomplish your daily work tasks? This can range from the common phone, laptop, calendars or planners, paper forms, tools you use to create a product, pens etcetera. For example, my tools I use are my camera, lenses, laptop, phone, props I use, paper planners and checklists. But what if I don't use paper forms I only use electronic forms? Simple, I would suggest printing out that form in a paper format to use for photos. I’ll help you more with this as we plan and understand what stories we will be photographing for your business. Styled detail shots will be taken as well, which I tend to take in between outfit changes.


The other question to ask yourself, once you’ve figured out the business props is to ask yourself, what am I known for? What do I like? What do I want to talk about in posts that can help me connect with my target market? These are personal items to you and the sky's the limit with all the possibilities that could be used. Just think about who you are and what you want to tell people about. These props can be used as great talking points and connecting posts. You want your target market to be able to like, know and trust you and to be able to form that they have to be able to connect and relate with you on a personal level.

Examples of items to have:

-A drink. Do you want to talk about how you love to have a glass of wine, coffee, tea, healthy smoothie or even water. 

-A treat. Do you love chocolate, fruit, donuts...

-Flowers or plants. This can add a lovely little touch to any photo session desk or table. 

-Crystals. Ok this is one of mine, I'm either wearing different crystal necklaces or have them around my space. 

-Your dog, cat or maybe even a goat. 

-Books, makeup, jewelry, mug, art supplies, anything that is a hobby...

Have fun with this, keep these props simple, about you and on brand with what you want to share with the world. 


Ok, now that you've got an idea of what to bring with you to your session, but how do you use and interact with these for the camera? Depending on your location and what we're taking I'll either have you sit down or stand up. I'll direct you to "work" giving a slight smile while looking at what you're working on. I'll have you look up and smile at the camera and then look away from the camera. The looking away will be a combination of smiling and/or in a contemplative thoughtful expression. From there I'll walk around getting different angles. I usually start farther away getting the whole or half body and work my way closer to get detail shots with hands working and a focus on the working tools. This series will easily give you a variety of photos to choose from, they look similar and visually flow well together. The same thing will happen with the personality props. Sometimes just having them in your hands gives your hands something to do and feel less awkward. This is my job to help get you into the right positions with your body, expressions and environment. 


Our goal in the session with your prop choices is to use them to help tell and enhance your stories. The props are there to create and finish the vision. So have fun picking your props and when we work together I’ll guide you with what props to use. I’ll add your To Bring prop items to your personalized Trello board that I will create for you to access about your session. 


Interested in booking a session with me? Message me and let’s get started discussing and planning your session. Check out my blog post that I talk about stories.

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