Personal brand photoshoot, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire

I met up with the fabulous Kyle from Breaking Free Design in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire for a personal brand photoshoot. I’m officially allowed out now to meet up with another person for outdoor photoshoots so what better way to celebrate than meeting up with Kyle from Breaking Free Design. Kyle is a fab graphic designer and in fact, he’s the chap that has put my website together (which I absolutely love) Thank you, Kyle. Anyone looking for a brilliant graphic designer give him a shout.

Creatives/introverts

Creatives are a funny breed, I love them. In fact, I’m one. You find that a lot of creatives are very introverted people so being in front of my camera is a big deal for them, I have said it many times but I don’t like having my photograph taken so I can certainly empathise. I get excited when I’m working with a creative, they trust me, they understand the creative process and it feels really special once you know that you’ve built trust and rapport with them. Kyle is very similar to me so I knew exactly how to work with him.

Location

Before any shoot I do, I ask questions about how the pictures are going to be used? What they are going to be used for? This helps to determine the location. Kyle knew that a couple of the pictures were to be going to be used for P.R and it would be mainly focused on the Huddersfield, West Yorkshire audience so he had requested a picture of Huddersfield in the background. The obvious place for this was Castlehill but I knew I didn’t want to do the photoshoot there as it wasn’t what Kyle needed. A quick compromise was to head up there straight away for literally two minutes to get the shots that I needed (basically a tick box exercise)

Derelict and grafitti

Kyle had suggested a derelict building for the location of the photoshoot. To say I was happy was an understatement! I love this sort of stuff, as a skateboarder for over twenty years I’ve been to plenty of these places. It was perfect, out of the way so no one could see us. We were blessed with wonderful sunshine and lots of graffiti, absolutely perfect for a creative. I could have actually spent a week there creating so many amazing pictures but I don’t think Kyle would have appreciated that.

Hard light versus soft light

I’m not going to start writing an essay about lighting but it’s important to mention. On the day we had what is called hard light. The Sun is out, fairly high in the sky, there is no cloud cover and it’s the light that takes a bit of getting used to. Photographing a male creative, I’m certainly happy to work with the light and be creative.

However, if I was shooting a female solicitor, I would have photographed more in the shaded areas as hard light isn’t the most flattering light, so using the shadows you can utilise soft light (maybe even use the sun as a backlight)

Kyles office

Lighting essay over! After the graffiti we decided to head down into Huddersfield to Kyle’s office. Where he works there are a few old buildings and a canal so it was fabulous to be able to get him a variety of other pictures. Kyle even had a few costume changes which is a fab way to get the most out of a shoot.

Variety

When I’m doing a personal brand photoshoot I’m trying to create as much variety as possible. Yes, I’m creating pictures that make interesting headshots but I’m also thinking about pictures that can make a double-page spread in an article, I am creating typical P.R pictures, I’m trying to get lots of little stuff for social media, I make sure lots of the pictures have space on the left or right-hand side so people can add copy. I want to give people the maximum amount of usage in every situation.

In fact, check out this link, https://www.businessupnorth.co.uk/yorkshire-design-agencys-new-role-to-help-startup-businesses/ I always find it fascinating to see how my images are used and which ones people choose. It’s usually the ones which I wouldn’t use (but what do I know)?

Summary

I absolutely LOVED this shoot, it was such a great laugh, I got to know lots more about Kyle and he’s a good egg. I got to create loads of FUN pictures and work in the way that I love to shoot. The pictures have already started getting good results for Kyle and I’m looking forward to seeing more usage from them.

If you are interested and would like some pictures that help you stand out from the crowd then get in touch john@johnsteelphotography.com for more information on my personal brand shoots click here

Also be sure to check out Kyle at Breaking Free Design:

website – https://www.b3d.co.uk/

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/breakingfreedesign

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/breaking_free_design/

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/breakingfreedesign/about/

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