If you asked my husband to describe my organizational skills, he’d chuckle lovingly and tell you I don’t organize like most people. I’d have to agree. Most of the time, in fact, if you see me behind the scenes I’ll be covered with dog hair, stray hairs spraying out of my braid, my bangs every which way, muttering to myself while standing in front of an overloaded table or sitting at a cluttered desk. (Tidiness is truly not one of my virtues.) It may surprise you to know, however, that in my cluttered mind I’m intensely detail oriented.

I’ll get a concept in my mind and hunt down the pillar elements that give foundation to the idea. Then, I’ll allow the space for the other elements to happen organically - as art should be. In my own mind, this process works well. On the outside, however, this process more than likely looks like disheveled clutter. I’m partial, sure, but I think it’s a beautiful mess.

Just like in my own mess, I love to get a raw look behind the brands I work with. I like to see their turning wheels and the structures (or lack there of) that work best for them. I like to see how the business owner’s brain works.

It’s in this observation behind the scenes that I get to jump into the inner workings of a small business. I get to examine the cogs, study the blue prints of why there were places where they were and how they connect to everything else. Every detail has its reason, after all, and every element has its story. A story I love to tell through beautiful brand photographs - organized chaos and all.

A peek behind the scenes of me as I prepare for a branding session. | Winston Salem Brand Photographer | Jasper & Fern

“Life is not pretty all the time.”

— Natalie, Owner of Updog Wellness

We each sat, gathering our words, mulling over the difference we knew was there. It was equally important to us both that what we shared was authentic. There’s a difference, you see, between realizing a concept and fabricating a reality. It’s a line that I walk often as a branding photographer; a line that’s important to walk carefully and intentionally for my clients because perception can be delicate.

Many of the small business owners I work with provide a service or product that doesn’t require them to have a brick and mortar storefront or physical office. Instead, they create space for themselves anywhere that lets them get their work done - in their spare bedroom, at their dining room table, around their pool, at coffee shops or co-working collectives. They pour themselves into the details of their business, working hard to have a brand with a personality, voice, aesthetic - all of it - that they build their client relationships through. This branding, however, isn’t always something that is communicated in the space they’ve created for themselves to do work. So, when it comes to bring their clients into their story through brand photography, sometimes we need to get a little creative.

Cultivating an authentic, branded space for a small business owner to step into and immediately feel at home is one of our favorite (and most rewarding) challenges. As many of our past branding clients can attest from the time we share together digging into every aspect of their business, we care about the littlest details. Curating a branded space is about more than pooling items that have your brand colors and putting them together in photographs. It’s about sharing parts of your lifestyle, helping your people get to know you through subtle personal touches; it’s incorporating your brand voice & personality while simultaneously creating a space you’d love to call your own.

Many times in this cultivating process we’re starting with a blank slate in the form of an empty room with a floor that matches the undertones of your brand personality and walls painted a color that will compliment your brand aesthetics while making sure it will look cohesive on your website and social media. Other times we are starting on location in a place you frequent or at an establishment that lends itself well to your brand messaging. From there, we build up the essentials of your story - what you’ll be sharing with your target audience, how you’ll be sharing, and what parts of your business you’ll be welcoming your clients into. As we create this space, it’s important to make it authentic to you and not cross the line into “contrived” territory. When you step into the space, we want it to feel like someplace you’ve always been. If you feel at home, your clients will feel that way too.

“I really appreciate all the personal touches you threw in and the hard work you put into my session.”

— Jessica C, Owner of Cooper Counseling PLLC and Jasper & Fern branding client

I sat with Natalie, a while back, thinking through the best way for her to show up authentically and realistically in her brand photography. (You may remember Natalie - the no-nonsense small business owner who was juggling newly wed life with two kids, teaching yoga classes and running her business Updog Wellness. - click here to see her session) She worked out of her home serving her clients virtually while also floating from studio to studio to host in person training sessions and classes. I remember this conversation with her specifically because we discussed her RBF (Resting B* Face) in addition to how we could show her at work without entering her windowless home office that she shared with her boys as a playroom. While brainstorming, Natalie made a comment that I thought perfectly captured the intentional balance of depicting her reality with integrity and realizing her brand through her photographs.

“I want my people to see that I’ve been there too; that life is not pretty all the time; that it takes hard work to get where we want to be,” she said with seriousness in her eyes.

It was important for her to show up in a way that was honest and authentic without coming off abrasive, unfocused or contrived. She embraced and appreciated the space in which she could work, the comftoribility of being at home and that she shared the same situation with many of her clients. Taking inspiration from her open-armed acceptance of her process, we even discussed leaving some unopened mail and a few stacks of projects in the workspace we were creating for her, showing a little personal insight into how she operates and maintaining the integrity of her life and brand. These simple elements helped make her curated space more personal, more authentic and provided her the platform to speak authentically in her brand voice.

Head photographer, Alyson, taking a moment to “live” in the space she created before filling it with her branding client’s personal items. | Winston-Salem Business and Brand Photography | Jasper & Fern

That, right there as Natalie said it, is the intentional balance of showing up authentically in your brand. It’s keeping your integrity, being vulnerable and bringing people into your world. It’s sharing your brand story transparently and honestly, even if you don’t have a storefront or office. It’s a challenge, perhaps, but it’s also the opportunity to bring the heart of your business into reality in the form of a branded space, down to the littlest details.

I found myself writing a blog the other day, sharing a story that was personal but went hand-in-hand with my brand. In the post, I was explaining a moment I was experiencing. As I was writing, I excitedly realized that I had the perfect image to go with my story! This hasn’t always been the case though.

Many times at the beginning of my business I found myself wishing I had the perfect image to go with my story - especially one that showcased my branding and gave my content that extra impact and cohesiveness (aka - Brand Personality & Awareness). When I found myself in situations like these, I’d often want to create an image to go with the story. I’d try and try to capture the spirit of the moment I’d already written about - but it always felt flat. I quickly developed a strong distaste for this method, because it made my content feel contrived and inauthentic - something neither I nor my brand are. I knew that if I was feeling that way, it was going to come across that way when I shared it with my audience. (We small business owners all know how well that’s perceived!)

It became my mission to create branded photographs I was thrilled with sharing. I wanted images I loved so much that I could be excited when I had the opportunity to share them. Essentially, I wanted to have warm fuzzies over my images and that extra thrill of knowing my ideal client would get drawn in by those warm fuzzies too.

That’s when it all started to click for me. Brand photographs are more than just pretty pictures you post. They need to tell a story. They need to share the heart of the business. They need to communicate the atmosphere and attitude of the brand. They need to reflect the WHY and draw the audience into the world of the brand that the small business owner has poured their heart, soul and time into. Brand photographs need to move their audience.

Audiences buy into people. They invest in purposes and into movements. Sure, we all love a good product but if that product fulfills a piece of our ideal lifestyle? Woah - that’s a whole other level of loyalty and trust that can be built.

Take, for instance, two silk ribbon companies. They both use photographs of their products. They both have great customer service. They both are active on social media and have easy to use websites. They’ve checked off all the right boxes to be present in front of their audiences. But there’s one big difference.

Company A shares high quality, clear, color correct photographs of their ribbons. Every viewer gets to see a square that shows the texture, color, width, etc. It’s clear and concise and gets the job done well enough.

Company B shares photographs of a cascading bridal bouquet. Its luscious petals and greenery cradled softly in the arms of a bride as she sits on a deep velvet chaise looking out a window pensively, the ends of her veil mingling with the draping blossoms. Around the handle of the bouquet, the creamy silks of ribbon wrap the stems into place overflowing onto the lace of her gown. In her fingers, framed by the delicate texture of the ribbon, sits a necklace engraved with her initials given to her by her dad on her 18th birthday. A special sentiment she can hold with her on her wedding day in memory of him.

Those are two starkly different ways to showcase the exact same ribbon, right? There are two different narratives being told, two different values being presented. One company values the sentiment, thoughtfulness, creativity and mood their customers want while the other appeals to the customer who simply wants a particular color and style. It’s important to note which of these presentations you’re drawn to - and what your audience will be drawn to.

For me, as well as many of the small businesses and brands we work with, I like to be drawn into a story. I fall in love with brands that read like a good book. That’s why we dig in to what our clients’ stories are, what the heart behind their brand is. Every little nuance and detail creates an all encompassing understanding of what makes them tick.

It likely would have taken me a while to discover this key to successful brand photography, if not for having to take myself through my own brand journey. Now, instead of finding myself lacking for images that relate to my content and tell my brand story, I can dig into the bank that I’ve created and find exactly what I need. That’s what I want for all of my clients - to relieve the stress and frustration of not having an impactful image to pair with their intentional content, to help them post with confidence and give them beautiful photographs they are excited to share!

QUESTION : Who do you want your customer to become?

Hold up. Come again? What does my customer’s personal growth have to do with my brand and branding photography?

If I took the questions right out of your head just now, you’re not alone. The first time I was asked this question, my head snapped back a little. It seemed a little out of the ordinary to be asked this but, when I started verbalizing it, I realized I’d known the answer all along. Here’s the thing though, “kind-of” knowing something in the back of your mind and truly knowing an important piece of information and knowing how to utilize it are two VERY different things.

While knowing important information in the back of your head - like who you want your customer to become - will still trickle into your brand, fully knowing the transformational potential of your client and fully knowing the journey you want them to take will propel your brand and marketing efforts forward.

Branding Photograph for Financial Blogger, Robyn | Robyn focuses on helping women who want to be in control of their finances to afford the lifestyle they want to live, specializing in budgeting, freedom from debt, and unique savings strategies | © Jasper & Fern | Photographer Alyson Rorem

If you know the growth that your client will experience using your product or service, write that process down. (Seriously, go grab a pen and write it down.) Shifting your focus from yourself, onto your client with this key information will simultaneously help you step into your clients’s shoes and that will help them better understand the value of what you offer.

Knowing what your clients experience allows you to be able to talk to them from their perspective. It shows that you understand them, that you will be able to listen and relate to the problem their having - a problem that they will then see you as a solution to.

Think about some of the brands you love and invest in. Why did you make the investment? What experience did you have that keeps you coming back to them? How did they improve your life?

I’m currently sitting here at my computer with a slew of BeautyCounter products I just bought - and will now live and die by. They were an investment, something I saved up to purchase. Why did I buy them - a more expensive brand - when I’m a person who’s not really ever been huge into cosmetics or skin care and there are plenty of other skin care lines that are cheaper and will help my skin feel good? I bought into them because I was able to sample the products and experience a true transformation. My skin didn’t just “feel good,” my skin felt good as an organ. This transformation *cough, cough, keyword here* convinced me on the necessity and difference clean beauty can make. AND, if you go to Beauty Counter’s website, they’ll pretty much tell you that’s exactly what they’re going for. They desire for their clients to become healthier, more ingredient aware women who aspire to have clean beauty.

Knowing this transformation they want their clients to experience, Beauty Counter can more specifically talk to their target audience - both through their verbiage and their brand photography. They keep things direct, minimal, natural-looking and clean cut. Their written content is strengthened by their brand specific imagery that showcases their values. It’s a hand-in-hand, consistent relationship. Just think, if a brand talked about being natural and clean, but paired their written content with a photograph of a woman who has a caked-on face of makeup, perfectly done hair with loud costume jewelry, clothing that doesn’t have a single wrinkle or seam and is studio-lit looking very commercial and over-done, that visual doesn’t really hit the target of their message does it? No, it doesn’t. In fact, it works against their messaging (and therefore brand), causing people to subconsciously notice the inconsistencies and not trust the brand as much.

So while it might seem a little out of the blue to focus on this part of your brand and business in order to make sure your brand photography properly markets to your client, we assure you, it’s important. Not only will you become more knowledgeable about what and how you’re sharing content with your client, you’ll also start noticing a stronger, deeper bond and clarity with the clients you attract.

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Winston-Salem Brand and Business Photographer | Jasper & Fern