It was the Art Director of Golfdom Magazine who e-mailed about their 2019 "Underdogs of Turf" pet photography calendar. They had just selected their dog (Darby) for the calendar cover and needed a pet photographer to travel to the Westpark Golf Club in Leesburg, Virginia to photograph her.

Darby is the superintendent's dog, and he and his family were just so very excited that Darby had been chosen to grace this year's calendar. Enjoy some of the outtakes from our Leesburg pet photography session with Darby, as well as the finished calendar cover artwork!

Carlos is a realtor out of the North Potomac/Gaithersburg office of RE/MAX. He had been searching for headshot photographers online and had come across some of our blog posts with professional headshots of other realtors, and wanted something similar.

When I asked about his past experiences with professional headshot photographers, he told me that, sadly, his past experiences were mediocre. Five or so years ago, his office had brought in a headshot photographer. The results didn't wow him. They were fine, but this time, he was looking for something more. And so sometime later, we met up at Rockville Town Center in Montgomery County, Maryland and created a personal branding portfolio for him sure to WOW any prospective client!

Build your personal brand, build your business.

Don't miss another opportunity to make a great first impression.

I first met Stuart at a headshot photography event this past November that we had held in partnership with the Bar Foundation of Montgomery County, MD. In addition to a studio professional headshot on a grey backdrop, Stuart also wanted a series of environmental business headshots for her new website.  In addition, she was going to be featured on the cover of the January/February 2018 edition of Attorney at Law Magazine, and the magazine needed a selection of business portraits for the editor to choose from.

Stuart wanted to do her second business portrait session in a library and sent me a link to the website of the Howard University Law Library in Washington DC.  Of course, as a business portrait photographer, I immediately fell in love with the gorgeous, expansive architecture of the library, which I immediately knew would make for a stunning backdrop.  Plus, the director of the law library was wonderfully gracious and accommodating of our business portrait session.  What more could a headshot photographer ask for?!

Check out the fantastic magazine cover and profile story here!

And here are some more of Stuart's business portrait picks for her new website.

And many thanks to Stuart for writing an awesome 5-star review of our business portrait photography services on Yelp!

Hooooraaaaaay! The 2017 "People Love Us On Yelp" award is out, and our photography studio is an award-winner for the second year running! Nothing warms our heart more than having the honor of creating gorgeous portrait photography of babies, families, couples, and individuals, and having amazing, wonderful clients who are nothing short of ravingly joyous about their experience with our photography studio. Thanks to each and every one of you who took a few moments from your busy schedule to share your thoughts online with others this past year!

A month or two ago, we gave you 9 big reasons to add professional headshots & other commercial photography to your website. So now that you’re convinced of the importance of adding quality photography to your website, you might be wondering what types of images you could possibly add. So here are 6 types of commercial photography to consider.

Every prospective client wants to be able to put a face to the name... to see who they might be working with and who they're going to be depending on to achieve results. Does the person/people look trustworthy? Professional? Skilled? Friendly? The portrait photography you place on your website will speak volumes. Here are three types of portrait photography to place on your website:

• Individual headshots of key personnel

• Group portraits of all or key personnel

• Semi-posed or candid photos of employees in action

What your office looks like – the architectural design, décor & furniture, meeting rooms, and reception area – all convey to the viewer an idea of your company’s professionalism and prosperity. If your office is well-maintained, prospective clients will feel like they’re in the hands of a competent, reputable, skilled company. After all, if your office looks prosperous, you must be good at your job. What your office looks like can also set expectations on fees. A rundown office will attract budget clients; a well-maintained, prosperous-looking office with well-done professional photography on the website will attract high-end clients. With this in mind, place architectural photography of your office on your website to draw in the type of clientele you want.

Whether your office is a standard office vs. a storefront or restaurant, the concept is the same.  For a restaurant in particular, you'll also want the photographs to demonstrate ambience, as pictured below.

I don't know about you, but I am a big Pinterest user. I've pinned and repinned thousands of pins since Pinterest came into being not that many years ago. Pinterest happens to be my favorite site to search for (food) recipes, and I've tried cooking many recipes that I discovered on Pinterest. And you know what I found? Through trial & error, I discovered that recipes with professional-looking food photography are, in general, better recipes than the ones with non-professional photography. Yes, it's true! A recipe with professional-looking food photos are more likely to be delicious than recipes accompanied by amateur-looking photography.

Well, translate that to your business and the tangible products that YOU sell. Lack of product photography or amateur-looking product photography will flatline your sales; professional product photography not only entices the viewer, but also gives the impression that it's a quality product,  making your sales boom!

Are you a landscape designer? A bathroom & kitchen remodeler? A home stager? An interior designer? You absolutely must have “after” photos if not both “before” and “after” photos. Great professional photography isn’t cheap. It may not make sense to hire a professional architectural photographer for the before photos. Splurge instead on professional photography for the after photos, and then use them to showcase your work with pride on your website portfolio.

Go a step further and have your commercial photographer capture people enjoying your completed service… relaxing in the gorgeous garden you designed… enjoying dinner in the new morning room you built, etc. And if you can get real clients to agree to be photographed, then even better!

What if your work isn’t as tangible as all that? Say you’re a wedding DJ. You’d want photographs of people dancing the night away. If you’re an event designer, beyond room photos of the ceremony or reception area, how about atmospheric photos of wedding guests enjoying dinner? If you run a summer camp for kids, how about photographs of kids having fun at the camp carnival?

Brand-building expert Denise Lee Yohn writes:

“We humans are emotional creatures. We make our purchase decisions based on how products promise to make us feel. That’s why great brands succeed by seeking intimate emotional connections with customers. Either the product satisfies an emotional need I have (“I want to feel healthy and successful”) or it offers me access to a self-identity that I want to experience and express (“I’m an athlete.”).”

So place lifestyle photography (with your product in use if applicable) on your website with the models portraying the emotions that your buyers will feel when they use your amazing product or service. In addition to or instead of selling a product or service, sell an emotional connection.

I hope your head is now spinning with new ideas of how to use commercial photography on your website to your advantage. Might it be time now to chat with the commercial photographer? We’re always happy to brainstorm with you.