Personal branding photography for a psychologist in Mill Hill

Planning the photographs around her practice

A headshot introduces someone, but Anna’s website also needed photos that showed her work.

We planned scenes of her talking with someone in the therapy room, images featuring her EMDR equipment and portraits that would work alongside information about her practice. At home, we’d create the headshots and some everyday working photographs.

That gave us a clear starting point. We knew which situations we needed to cover, and each part of the shoot had a purpose.

It’s how I approach personal branding photography: start with where the photographs will be used, then work out what we need to shoot.

Making the therapy room work

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t completely convinced the therapy room would work as a photography location when we started. I wasn’t sure how well it would photograph, but it came together well once we got going.

I brought in a flash to help with the lighting. As it turned out, the flash's continuous modelling light gave me enough extra light for those photographs, without needing the flash itself to fire.

Using the room meant we could show Anna in the space where she actually works. It gave the photographs a direct connection to her practice, which was useful for the website.

A friend stood in as a client for this part of the shoot. These were staged scenes, and I framed the photographs so her friend wasn’t identifiable. The attention stayed on Anna and the interaction between them.

Photographing the EMDR equipment

EMDR is part of Anna’s work, so we included photographs of her friend using the equipment, along with portraits of Anna behind the EMDR light bar.

These were specific photographs for a specific part of her website. They gave her something relevant to use alongside the information about EMDR, showing the equipment within the therapy-room setting.

My job was to photograph that clearly. I’ll leave explaining the therapy to Anna, who has more information about EMDR and her approach on the ACB Psychology website.

Proper headshots, with the studio brought to her

From the therapy room, we moved to Anna’s home. I set up a small studio and backdrop so we could create some proper headshots.

The textured background gave these portraits a cleaner look, with the focus on Anna’s face and expression. They were intended to give her straightforward options for introducing herself on her website and professional profiles.

Bringing the setup to her home also meant we could move between the backdrop and other settings without booking a separate studio.

I use portable setups in all sorts of locations. For my headshot session at Castle Theatre, I created a studio inside a rehearsal room. Anna’s shoot was on a much smaller scale, but the same practical approach worked here.

By the window with a cup of tea

We also photographed Anna by the window with a cup of tea and created some lifestyle photographs of her using her laptop.

This part of the shoot gave us a more casual feel. The setting and the activity became part of the photograph, whether that was sitting with a drink or working at the laptop.

Those images can be useful when building a website. A close headshot may fit neatly beside a short biography, while a photograph of someone working can accompany a longer page about their services.

For Anna, this meant we could cover both in the same collection and give her options when choosing photos for different pages.

Choosing from a gallery of 94 images

Anna had 94 images in her selection gallery, covering the therapy room, EMDR scenes, backdrop headshots and lifestyle photographs at home.

From that gallery, she could choose the photographs she wanted to take forward as her final selection.

The two locations gave the collection a good range. The collection included photographs directly connected to her clinical work, clear professional portraits, and more relaxed images of her at home.