Business Photography and Executive Headshots
I got the chance to work for my great friend Chris, a colleague from my past days as a programmer, who was starting his own strategic consultant company, and he needed branding photos as well as executive headshots. Being the face of his company, he would need to convey both his personality and the personality of his business.
As Chris loves Indianapolis, he chose the iconic location of Fountain Square at night as our main backdrop for portraits. The evening scenes and nightlife vibe relate to his personality; he looks like the cool tech dude he is with the colorful lights and dark buildings behind him. Though it was a freezing night in February, we wanted the more dramatic environment the evening provided, as well as the vivid backdrops of night lights, so we braved the cold for as long as we could.
Working at night both outside and in makes it easier for me to play with my lighting: I don’t have the sun to deal with. Though I still blended my own lights with the city lights, I have learned how to recreate studio-like lighting with portable equipment, so our choice of background was incredibly flexible. This crafted lighting allows me to find an interesting backdrop first and worry about lighting second. If I had to look for a place with great lighting first, the choice of background would be limited to a very few perfectly lit spots.
We did our inside shots at the Murphy Building while we were warming up from our freezing outdoor photoshoot. I wanted to make sure we included backdrops that were not tied to Fountain Square. These pictures portrayed his personality and love of the city, but he would also need ones that portrayed the more business side of his company, and that would require a more timeless backdrop that conveyed an idea rather than be about a place.
This shot includes a very cool bank vault door as the backdrop. To brighten that door, I placed a light directly behind Chris, and later removed the light stand from the pictures in Photoshop. That extra shine on the door adds just the right amount of light and detail the picture needed.
In this photoshoot, Chris crosses his arms quite a few times. I have heard many photographers discourage crossed arms in professional headshots and portraits, but I have come to disagree as subjects like Chris naturally make the pose look relaxed and confident. Chris has good posture and carries himself well; he is aware of how he stands, but not unnaturally aware. Sometimes when I’m directing poses, people who cross their arms do look stuffy, so we try other poses. Chris with his arms crossed doesn’t look “closed off” or unapproachable—so we went with it. This confidently relaxed posture also reflected the feeling we wanted in all the pictures, conveying that Chris knows what he’s doing, and is also enjoyable to work with.
Whether you are looking for an individual portrait session or executive headshot, or need business photography for your company, you can contact me here.
