“We do the same thing for people, just with different vehicles to make it happen.” – What an opening line. Katie made that statement mid conversation during our pre-shoot planning call. It’s one of those that makes you go wait wait wait, say that again, I gotta write that down.

Lines like that have the potential to become guiding lights during my planning process leading up to a brand photo session – and for Abundant Collab Co. that was just the beginning.

Think of post this as your exclusive look behind the scenes not just of the imagery that now fills the website, social feeds and a vast array of brand collateral for Abundant Collab Co. – but also a peak into my thought process for one of the iconic images we created that embodies the essence of her brand.

We’ll start with a brief overview of Katie’s brand. From there, we’re talking main messages made visual in those iconic images and after that you’ll get a real life glimpse into how these photos are now at work throughout Abundant Collab Co.

Let’s dive in.

Behind the Brand

We do the same thing? Essentially, we both help business owners bring clarity to their brands and empower them with the materials to stand out online.

Her vehicle? Web design.

Katie is a killer Showit website designer, brand strategist, business mentor and [now] podcast host that specializes not just in the pretty, but the functional and impactful side of design to help her clients build sustainable success.

She’s impeccably good at deducing the exact hang ups her clients are experiencing and providing the solution they really need to grow their business and reach their target market.

Behind the Photos – a look into my creative process

Throughout my brand shoot framework leading up to a session, I have two calls plus various email chains with clients. For Katie, most of our conversations centered around refining my understanding of how she’s different from all other web designers. Not simply her brand identity and visually what sets her apart, but in practical terms it was comprehending her processes and the cohesive experience she provides so that we could highlight the distinct things only she can bring to the table.

For Katie, design is a vehicle for strategy. She empowers her clients with a holistic solution born from the framework she walks them through to create the final website design. Think not just design, but tactics and strategies that leave her clients knowing their businesses better than  ever before and makes the final collateral that much more impactful.

She’s also a mom to two kiddos who balances work from home life, but not entirely work with the kids around. We made that distinction of how she sets aside to be the fullest version of herself wherever she is. So, that often means keeping work to the office or a separate space rather than in the common areas where her family lives and plays. I love how picky she was about this distinction when we were talking about concepts within the lifestyle storyline that’s typically included in any session involving a personal brand. It kept me from throwing in concepts into the shot list that looked pretty but didn’t really speak to what Katie values and how she runs her life and business.

“Left brain strategist, right brain creative”

As we’ve settled on, Katie isn’t just a “show up and curate pretty things type of designer”. Everything in her business is born with purpose and built with strategic intention.

We embodied that very idea in this first photo.

What you see in the collage on that wall is the progression of the client framework she’s crafted. From brass tacks & black and white beginnings of analysis and deep brand identity work to the final, fleshed out brand design and website mock-up. It has a “left brain strategist, right brain creative” type of feel to show the genius behind the beautiful designs she builds. And posed like an artist analyzing their work before the final touches, you can almost imagine Katie’s mind at work processing what this final design will look like in Showit when it’s complete.

See that “we do the same thing but with different vehicles” idea a bit more clearly now? My hope with every library of images that I create for a brand is that you see their brand embodied in a cohesive collection so that their business can be who it is wherever it is. Brand photography is such a vast tool having the potential to empower any business owner to tell their story in more impactful ways to connect with clients and provide a killer experience that benefits the lives of anyone that comes in contact with it.

And that’s why my process, like Katie’s, is so much deeper than showing up and shooting.

It’s intentionally deep so that the photos we create are layered with the true tenants and distinctness of each brand I photograph. And the photos become like magnets that “slow the scroll” of their audience, spark relationships through story and sell almost without saying a word.

Find yourself needing a bank of custom imagery like this for your business? Let’s dream up what a shoot could look like for your brand by setting up a time to talk outside of the internet – go ahead and fill out this form get that going!