Lifestyle Personal Branding Session in Federal Way, WA
For this session I worked with Blaine at PNW Apothecary, she makes natural soaps, scrubs, elderberry syrup, facial, body products and so much more. She does grow some of her own flowers and herbs to harvest at home to make her products from. When we started chatting about photos she just wanted to start off with mostly a session to get updated photos of herself outside in nature. I picked a little trail area just off of Weyerhaeuser Way that I knew had some trees, trails and grass areas that I thought would be just right for her photoshoot.
The day of the photo session her childcare cancelled and since we both still wanted to continue her kids were brought along with a blanket and plenty of snacks to occupy them while we took photos. While we were walking in the location looking for the perfect spot to start, I noticed this little alcove of green grass that hadn't been cut and birch trees in the background, it just felt like the perfect place to stop and start taking some photos at. After the kids were all settled and I was setting up my camera settings, Blaine noticed some horsetail which is known for its anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antimicrobial, antioxidant, coagulant, diuretic and astringent properties. She told me about how she had purchased an oil for her daughter's hair and it was the only thing that helped her. She then said that should would like to make her own and proceeded to harvest some of the horsetail and I found that to be the perfect unplanned golden opportunity to take some in action photos of her. Those photos turned out to be my favorite from the session.
After we took a few more photos in that location adding books and a few products we packed up the kids and moved on to another spot. In the next spot I wanted to get a few photos in the path and in front of this really cool tree. I focused more on the books she brought in that spot as well as a few of her homemade natural products that she makes. The books have meaning to her because she learned so much information from them and whenever anyone asks her for references she refers them to those two books. Initially the books were covered in little post it page markers but she took those out since she knew all the information in them anyways.
I enjoyed this lifestyle personal branding session I did for Blaine and her small business. She told me that she hasn't taken photos of herself for her business in years, a few kids ago. She had admitted that she didn't have any photos of herself up on her social media pages because it is hard to take a good self portrait photo of yourself, especially when you've got little kids around as well. This is when it's a perfect time to hire a personal branding photographer, have me take photos for you then you've got a whole file full of photos to use as you see fit.
