I have never done a branding photo session and I honestly didn’t even know that was a thing until I did one! What an amazing, fun experience.
Shortly after I started working on my branding with the wonderful team at Thoughtwell Creative Co. I had the idea to contact my photographer friend - Ashley. I wanted to get some photos that could fill my website and future social media pages and it was important that they were in line with the mood of my brand.
My project manager, Kayla, and good friend Celeste helped me come up with several ideas for different types of images that we could get from this shoot! I needed a diverse amount of pictures that could be used to fill the website, social media and for my full page ad in the Dote magazine Weddings Volume 3. We came up with a list of ideas for types of shots, props, attire and the overall concept for the whole photoshoot.
I shared with Ashley what had been created for the branding so far and she created a vision for the shoot based on the information I gave her. She is seriously brilliant and captured it in words AND images far better than I ever could have imagined!
Next it was researching the location. This was probably one of the hardest parts of planning this shoot. I wanted to find a space that wasn’t too expensive, but that also worked with the vision of my company. I found a condo through Airbnb that was similar to what I had imagined. I contacted the host to make sure they were fine with what I planned to use the space for, and they were, so I booked it. However, I ended up canceling it because I had no way of guaranteeing that the lighting would be what we needed.
My other option was booking the Commodore room at The Commons, a local co-working space in Inglewood. If you haven’t checked out this company yet, go see them! It’s seriously one of the coolest spaces in Calgary and you can book their venue for just about anything. This was my final choice.
Then it was time to start getting all the props, designing the concepts for each different style and putting together the entire vision. This was also a lot of work, but so fun to get creative and envision my company even more. I had to ask myself what sort of things I wanted to showcase through our photos.
If you’re working on a small budget some of your best resources are Michaels, Bed, bath & beyond, Staples, Amazon and your mother’s house! My mom provided most of the items I used for the table setting and she provided two beautiful flower arrangements (she is our amazing florist).
Let me tell you something about the little things! I’m all about the details (hence the company’s tagline). I found the most beautiful gold pen that I absolutely had to have! I ordered it on Amazon and it was scheduled to arrive two days before the shoot. However, due to the joys of moving (twice in 3 weeks, might I add!) the mail at my newest address was being held. I was absolutely desperate to get this pen and it was worth every minute on the phone with Canada Post to get it in my hands! That pen is a focal point in several photos and I am beyond thrilled that it made it in to the shoot.
Gaby Wehbe Coiffure did my hair - the day before! He put lots of hairspray and I slept like a porcelain doll to make sure that my hairstyle was perfectly in place the next day.
Together with the help of my sisters and friend Celeste, I picked my wardrobe.
Finally, it was the day of the shoot! I had been running around like a crazy person the day before and leading up to it, since as I mentioned earlier I had just moved twice in three weeks. AND my older brother was marrying my good friend the NEXT day. I was very involved with planning the wedding, had family visiting from out of town and was also a bridesmaid. Crazy, I know!
Needless to say, the day arrived and I was much calmer than I could have imagined. I chose to be present and enjoy every minute of the experience. Knowing my photographer on a personal level helped tremendously and also having my sister and Celeste there for support was amazing!
Lots of going back and forth to choose my favourite images, getting feedback from my design team, family and friends, along with Ashley doing an amazing job with editing, the final product are the beautiful images you see throughout this entire website and scattered all on our social media pages.
When they say it takes a village to raise a child, it isn’t just true with natural babies. A business is also a type of baby and it has already taken a village to get us where we’re at. And this is just the beginning!
Thank you for being a part of this journey! Until next time.
Much Love,
Ashley-Dawn
*Below are a couple behind the scenes photos that I took with my iPhone. But all the images throughout the website were taken during our branding photo session with Ashley Daphne Photography
