When my client Natalie Rayner contacted me to create her personal branding photos for her new events business I was quite inspired because she is the first event coordinator I’ve ever worked for. I was keen the think up some ideas that would help describe her business in Canberra. When I think about events I think of heavily decorated tables and event spaces, but Natalie from N21 Events specializes in the coordination of corporate events so the look had to be quite different.
We discussed the process of what it takes to plan an event for a client and decided to showcase behind-the-scenes of the little extras she includes like packing promotional materials before an event which is part of her service.
As far as portraying her as the CEO of her brand it was important to show Natalie is a trusted, warm, and organized professional. Having many ‘face-to-camera’ shots was important as well as many poses with ‘open body language’ to bring a sense of trust to her audience.
We shot at Hyatt Hotel Canberra where this stunning bright gold staircase was located. Albert Hall features the oversized dark green windows and Jaga Co-Working space which features a modern office design with hints of scandi wood accents. We knew we would be traveling to various we planned out her outfits ahead of time she only carried the necessary things. This was part of the pre-shoot planning I do for my clients. They complete a questionnaire about their needs and desired outcomes of the shoot and then I build out a plan with outfits and a detailed shotlist to help the process feel more strategic and easeful when the shoot day comes around.
As far as photography was concerned I used off-camera speed light flash for most of the indoor shots on a lightweight manfrotto stand. On personal branding shoots, I need to be nimble, so I don’t want anything heavy or that requires electricity so the speed light and light stand are the perfect solution.
In my camera bag were 2 lenses Nikon 24-70m f2.8 and 70-200m f2.8 and 2 speedlights SB910. Most of the outdoor shots were taken without flash, whereas indoors I used flash the entire time. Sometimes just directly bouncing the flash off the ceiling and other times having the Speedlight on a light stand to make it more directional and dramatic.
If you want to know more about N21 Events in Canberra head to the website here.
