WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS BEFORE A BRAND PHOTOGRAPHY SHOOT?

WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS BEFORE A BRAND PHOTOGRAPHY SHOOT?

The planning meeting before a brand photography shoot can be every bit as important as the shoot itself.

Most people come to me with an idea of what they want, and that's exactly as it should be. They've seen things they like, they know their business and they'll often already have thoughts about locations, outfits or the sort of photographs they need.

But it's a little bit like wedding dress shopping. You can walk in absolutely convinced you know what's going to suit you, and then discover that the thing you hadn't considered at all is the thing that makes complete sense.

Brand photography can be a bit like that too.

THE CAMERA COMES AFTER THE THINKING

I spent 20 years working in marketing communications, and that background is a huge part of how I approach photography now. I also work closely with designers, copywriters, coaches and brand strategists, both on shared client projects and through the wider marketing world I'm part of, so I'm constantly looking at how businesses are communicating and how that world is changing.

I still invest in that side of my work too - I've just come back from an absolutely brilliant two-day marketing course - photography doesn't sit in a little box on its own, and I don't think planning it should either.

So when somebody tells me what they think they need from their next shoot, I'm listening to that alongside everything else they've told me about the business. Where are they now? What's changed since their last shoot? Where do they want the business to be? What are they selling, launching or talking about over the next three to six months? Who are they trying to reach, and what do they need those people to understand about them?

Quite often, the original idea is spot on. Sometimes, though, when we put it alongside the bigger picture, it doesn't quite square with where the business is heading.

That's not about me being right and the client being wrong. It's the value of having another experienced person sitting on your side of the table, asking questions, spotting things you may not have considered and helping turn what you're trying to achieve into something visual.

Sometimes the best value I can add is to question the plan.

IT STARTS WITH YOUR BRAND, NOT A SHOT LIST

For a first shoot with me, the planning begins well before we sit down together. Clients complete my Brand Vision Questionnaire, which asks them to think properly about the business: what they do, who they're talking to, where they're going, what they want to be known for, what they already have and where they feel the gaps are.

We then have a proper deep dive together. I want to understand not just what the business looks like now, but what's coming next. There's very little point creating a beautiful collection of photographs that perfectly represents the business today if, six months from now, the business is trying to communicate something quite different.

This is also where the image audit I've talked about previously becomes incredibly useful. Looking at what you already have, what's still working, what's dated, what's inconsistent and what's completely missing gives us a much better starting point than simply deciding it's time for some new photographs.

STRATEGY FIRST, LOGISTICS SECOND

Once we know what the photography actually needs to achieve, then we start talking about the shoot itself.

That's when we get into locations, people, clothing, props, styling, backgrounds and the practicalities of the day. We look at the mix of images needed, from people and environments to details, products and working shots, as well as where those photographs are going to be used. We think about portrait and landscape formats, space for text, website banners, social content and all the other things that make an image library genuinely useful rather than simply lovely to look at.

Mood boards and shot lists absolutely have their place, but they're much more useful once we've done the thinking that sits behind them. Otherwise, it's very easy to create a shoot based on photographs you like rather than photography that actually says something useful about your business.

AND THE PLANNING DOESN'T STOP THERE

For my Creative Partnership clients in particular, this isn't one big planning conversation followed by radio silence until shoot day. We're working together throughout the year, so the conversation keeps going as the business evolves.

Clients can have as many Creative Planning Meetings as they need, but it doesn't always warrant a meeting. They also have access to me on WhatsApp and can drop me a message when an idea comes up, or book a quick call if they want ten minutes to talk something through. If they're considering a location, planning a launch, changing direction or simply thinking, would this be worth photographing?, we can have that conversation while it's useful rather than waiting until the next shoot is already planned.

I think that ongoing dialogue matters because businesses don't conveniently make all their marketing decisions during a scheduled photography meeting. Things change, opportunities appear and ideas develop, and having somebody who already understands the business means we can respond to those things together.

PLANNING THE RIGHT PHOTOGRAPHS

Ultimately, I don't see my job as simply taking the photographs somebody asks me to take. It's to understand what they're trying to achieve, bring my photography and marketing experience to the conversation, and then working with them to create imagery that supports it.

Sometimes that means refining an idea. Sometimes it means expanding it. Sometimes it means asking a question that sends us down a completely different route. And sometimes the original plan survives completely intact because, once we've interrogated it, we know it's exactly the right one.

That's why the work before a shoot matters so much. We're not simply planning the photographs.

We're making sure we're planning the right photographs.

Venetia x