I see many photographers jumping into the business guns blazing, full of passion and enthusiasm, but without a proper brand, and as the business grows (or doesn’t) they go through a series of realisations such as ‘why am I attracting these clients when I really want to attract those clients?’ and ‘that logo I designed myself just doesn’t look right anymore’. A brand is more than a logo. More than a fancy website. It’s how you differentiate yourself and it’s how you attract the clients you want. It’s actually you in many different forms.

El had seen my other work and recognised the power of a beautiful, cohesive brand. She was ready to say goodbye to her old business name and embrace a new approach, one that’s entirely led by who she is as a person. After all, that’s what we’re selling as photographers, isn’t it? We each have our own approach, our own style, our own unique personalities. We want clients to come to us because they want us.

When we were putting the finishing touches on El’s brand, I convinced her to feature a biiiiig photo of herself as her facebook profile, rather than one of her favourite client images. In fact, we had our first argument over it! Luckily, I won. I told El, ‘You need to get over the fear and face the fact that YOU ARE YOUR BRAND!’ Put yourself out there!

The truth is, you are all I care about when I design your brand. But in order to sell you, I need to create a visual representation of you in those ‘many different forms’: a logo, all the printed and/or electronic material that you need in order to communicate your services, and a strong online presence.

El went the full hog. She got the basic branding package, blog customisation, a custom built website, pricelists, thank you cards, gift certificates and social media profiles. It was one of the fun-est projects I’ve worked on to date, mainly because El is such a joy of a human being; warm, funny, clever and vibrant. She’s exactly the sort of person I’d pick to take my family photos. And I’m very grateful for the beautiful new friendship that has grown out of us working together these past few months.

Here are some snippets of her brand image, but you’ll see a lot more (including her beautiful, heartwarming photography) if you pop by her facebook page, visit her blog, and go and see her beautiful new website in all it’s glory. You can also follow her on twitter, and let me just say, she is pretty damned funny, and I look forward to her tweets.

El is so excited and proud of her new business, and so am I!

The brand we created is earthy, nostalgic, feminine and sophisticated, all at once. The components Ann required were my basic branding package (which includes business cards, letterhead, blog header, watermark brushes and a style guide), blog customisation (via prophotoblog) and a custom website design. The project took close to four months from start to finish, and the end result is something that both of us are very proud of. Having gotten to know her over the time we’ve worked together I think it complements her personality, the way she speaks and writes, her business vision and her desire to create a meaningful experience for her clients. I’m sure Over the Moon Photography is going to be a wonderful success. If you’re in the Blue Mountains and you’re looking for a wedding or portrait photography (or if you’re in the area for a holiday), please keep her in mind.

These are Ann’s gorgeous business cards, which will be printed on beautiful, matt eco-stock.

And finally, here are some pages from Ann’s gorgeous custom-designed HTML website. All of Ann’s slideshows are viewable on iPhone/iPad, which is becoming more and more important these days. Every part of her website is so easily updated through the Content Management System we set up for her. She can change, rearrange and add to her galleries, edit text and work on her SEO. Custom designed websites really are the bomb, and a thousand times better than a Flash template.

Angie is fun, funky and unconventional. She takes her shoes off when she shoots. She laughs easily and often. She’ll probably give you a hug the first time she meets you. Her brand needed to reflect those unique qualities.

Angie’s collection of inspiration spoke to me immediately. There was no doubting the colour pallette; blue, yellow and grey it had to be. But I also got an immediate and very strong sense of how to translate her personality into a ‘look’. I somehow managed to hit the mark on the first attempt, and I knew it. I sent it to her very nervously (worried that perhaps I was being over-confident!), and she rang me almost immediately in squeals of excitement. I told her I owed it to her to keep working so she at least had a second concept to choose from. She argued with me. I won. But we both knew she was always going to pick the first concept.

Using her logo/s as the foundation, I went on to design some funky business cards, and a brand new website and blog. The business cards can be customised by her latest favourite images on one side and details on the back. The website is designed to integrate her portrait business with her workshops (Love Your Camera and The Scoop), and her blog, in a seamless, cohesive way. The websites are built in HTML with embedded Flash slideshows.

Angie’s new brand was launched in July last year. It’s warm, bold, passionate, genuine and fun, with a dash of the unexpected. It reflects her direction, her attitude and who she is as a photographer and a person. She’s stoked, and I’m stoked for her! Read about the project from Angie’s perspective here.

Ainslie Bernoth of Wild Spirit Photography in Brisbane emailed me in December of 2009 to ask about rebranding her growing photography business. She wanted a more professional look, which reflected her style and personality. Ainslie’s work is striking and emotive. She does a lot of stunning studio work; boudoir, maternity and newborn, and amazing, dramatic outdoors work too; families, maternity and more.

Wild Spirit was my first branding project of 2010. We started in late January and finished in late February 2010. Our project consisted of a new logo, a set of business cards and a blog header.

Ainslie loves Asian-inspired design, and the image in her logo was based on a stone carving. We went with warm, rich, colours because they are so prevalent in her work, and convey a feeling of luxury which suits her style and the care she takes with her clients. The colours also convey an earthiness which complements the Wild Spirit name, and Ainslie’s warm, caring personality.

During the project, Ainslie came up with a beautiful tagline for her business, which really reflects the approach she takes with her clients. This was carried through on her blog header (below) and her business cards.

The business cards were printed with gold embossing on the flower symbol.