The Shoot Planning Process: case Study with Maple Valley Acupuncture

The Shoot Plan

Have you been wondering how the shoot planning process of working with me goes? Or how we get from our initial Discovery call to your final photos being delivered? I’m going to walk you through my process and go over a real shoot planning example with Maple Valley Acupuncture. 

Tracey and I connected on a local Facebook group post, she was looking for updated photos for her website. She has a new location since her last photos and additional employees. Since she is really local to me in Maple Valley, we ended up meeting in person at a Starbucks right across from her office location. 

The initial Discovery call/meet is all about connecting with each other and getting to know the business. Getting ideas generated of the possibilities for photos. As I’m getting to know both you and your business I start envisioning photoshoot stories ideas. I’m understanding what you're needing and wanting for your website updates, or specific social media posts or just broad ideas you’ve come up with. 

This is the time for us to get excited about the potential of working together and trusting me to create your vision. If this goes well and you’re ready to hire me we will move on to the next steps of a detailed questionnaire, creating a Pinterest board, and creating a project managing board in Trello that I will then detail out our shoot plan. 

We do get together for another shoot plan, usually on a video call. This is where I pull everything together that I have received from you. We will talk about outfits that you’ve got planned, props that you need to gather, when we need “clients” to arrive (if they are needed) and our time outline of when we are doing each story set. 

The "stories"

A story is a set of photos that describe a piece of the business and you, the business owner. The stories for Maple Valley Acupuncture are all listed before in each set of photos.

For Tracey’s personal branding shoot stories we had a very detailed list of items we needed to get photographed. She wanted the whole process of what her clients experienced to be photographed. We ended up with two different clients for each therapist. This is also part of the detailing out our planning, knowing when to ask each client to arrive for their modeling part. Each client arrived at different times and we took each client through a different set of items.

Headshots

We updated the headshots for each of the employees. Tracey wanted the headshots to all look consistent across her website. This is the part of the story where you get to tell your clients, buyers... all about who you are and why you are the right person for them. This is one story of who you are!

The Space

We got photos of the space for clients. These are perfect images to either tell about the space clients will come into. Or add in posts and use at availability notices, informational use, how to, did you know... lots of different topics that you could pair with these photos.

Acupuncture With Both Therapists

I loved photographing this part the most. I love watching people work and just letting them do their thing and working around their craft. Having client intake photos, acupuncture being done on all parts of the body from face to feet. This is a key part of their story, so of course it was a big part of their story, but not all of it.

Additional Services 

Maple Valley Acupuncture does additional services like Vitamin B shots that are given in the lower legs just below the knee, kinesio tape, facial Gua Sha, microneedling, fire cupping and facial cupping. Each service was also photographed being used on the client. This was another piece of what they do and a part of their process they take their clients through.

Client Intake and Exit Strategy 

As mentioned above I took photos of the client intake with each therapist and then we also wanted the final piece with the client leaving. What does it look like to leave Maple Valley Acupuncture? Some places you might just walk right out, but part of their service is how they can continue to support your health in between visits. Do you need extra supplements and herbs or your next appointment prescheduled? The care doesn’t stop with the end of your appointment. 

As you can see we detailed out their whole entire process of Maple Valley Acupuncture clinic. We took their clients through their process in the form of showing the stories. 

I detail out shot ideas in my own shoot plan that I print out and bring with me to the session. If you have any specific ideas and photos that you need, during our shoot plan is when I will get those written down to get.

After the session, you’re all done with the hard part. Although some people have a hard time with your final piece, selecting the images. I deliver a proofing and selecting gallery, you get to select all the images that you want to use. I don’t do this part because you know which smile and expressions that you like best. After your images are selected I’ll do my pieces of editing and deliver your images for your use.