Personal Journey and Adventures of Nina

Luring people in with free portrait sessions has been around forever, the language has just changed. Now you will see "Families Wanted" or "Photographer Wants To Expand Portfolio" or "Looking for Mothers and Daughters" or "Kids and Pets shoot for charity". It's all just the same thing. Your Free Session Just Cost You $3,000 You have your free photo session. A week later you go in to the studio to view your photos and cannot resist your gorgeous children on the screen so you spend $3,000 to get 2 framed pics and a 5x7" for your mum. You walk away with an ache in the pit of your stomach. You finally get the framed photos hung onto your wall but every time you look at them you are reminded of the thousands you you racked up on your credit card to pay for them.   Buyers Remorse and Anxiety What you are feeling is feel buyers remorse . Not just because of the guilt you are feeling about the money spent but because you were tricked

Simon needed a variety of images for business purposes including his LinkedIn profile, some articles he is writing, public relations, press releases and use on a website. So in order to provide him with a range of images, we shot both casual and more formal images. We used a couple of different backgrounds, lighting setups and changes of outfit. I think we did ok!  See for yourself on Simon's LinkedIn profile. 

You know yourself when looking over someone's profile on LinkedIn, the first thing you do is check out their photo.  I personally get messages and requests daily. If there isn't a photo, I delete it immediately. If it is a bad photo, I think about it a second, then delete it. If it is a nice professional photo showing a confident business person, I definitely check out their profile and most likely add them as a contact. Don't just take my word for it.  The Ladders research into recruiter behaviour proves it. As shown in the heat map below, whilst looking over profiles, the first place the recruiter looked was the photo and they spent 19% of their total time looking at it. That's a lot of heat! Business Insider has some great tips on the do's and don'ts for you profile photo. And as it isn't that expensive, I would say it is an easy investment. My basic headshot sessions are only $175 and this image should last you a good couple of year

On LinkedIn and other business networking venues, your profile photo is  your first point of contact with the world .  Whether you are promoting your business, looking for work, selling products or networking with colleagues, a photo of you knocking back a beer at a party is not going to cut it. For this profile photo session, we were in the heart of the busy north shore business district, Chatswood. We found buildings, walls, plants and trees enough to do several different looking shots which will suffice for all of the different types of social networking sites that the lovely Amanda required. At one stage we were approached by security and questioned thoroughly about why we were shooting and to be certain that no signage was included. At first we were a little put out but after a bit, we decided that the guy was playing around with us...ha ha! It was a really windy day so had I used the pop-up reflectors I had brought, I may have ended up in Fiji. Instead, I used my spe

Russell Investments , money management professionals were totally amazing to shoot. Each executive was completely natural in front of the camera so we got some wonderful shots and because we were able to setup the studio on location in the King Street offices, the shoot went seamlessly with minimal interruption to their busy day.

This week, saw a number of executives stop by for business photographs.  Some were for professional profile images such as  LinkedIn , others were for printed sales material and others, websites.  No matter which, your profile image is your link to the outside professional world and should look amazing.  Without a profile image, you look as though you are hiding something. Without a recent, professional looking image, you are failing to make that vital good first impression. With proper lighting and some editing, it is possible to produce such an image... These images can be created in our Chatswood studio or at your own office. and don't worry about the odd scar or blemish....we take care of that too... Before and After editing...

We setup the backdrop and lighting right there in the BPM Northwest office. Suit jackets were donned, hair was coiffed, ties were straightened and best expressions practiced.  Typically, the last thing corporate executives want to do it have their photograph taken.  It was all business here until one of the guys started making muppet faces. Then it was on.  After this it is was difficult for them to keep a straight face but the mood was light and soon enough, we got some quality corporate images. The space was limited so instead of a backlight, I had the guys sit close to the backdrop. The main and fill lights on either side of the camera provided a natural vignette on the backdrop. All in all, it was a fun morning and we got some great images. You can check them out on my website .