Marketing images for Switalskis Solicitors, Honley, West Yorkshire

Personal brand shoot for Switalskis Solicitors

Marketing and a little personal brand shoot for Switalskis Solicitors were the next on my agenda for my work with Honley for their website. I know I’ve mentioned it lots of times but for this project, I try to concentrate on capturing the people in the business and this shoot was no exception.

People buy from people

In my time as a photographer I have photographed lots of solicitors practices and often they want something very traditional and not particularly John Steel. I often have to take my white background which really isn’t my style.

This shoot was a little different, for the Honley shoots I usually try to keep them to a maximum of forty minutes so I have to think quickly.

Good at reading people

After meeting the three people that I had to photograph I had a good feeling, they were all warm characters so I knew the shoot was going to be OK. I had to first have a little scout around the offices and as the practice is in the village of Honley the offices were a little restrictive, however with a little bit of creative thinking I knew I could make them work.

Steady away wins the race

With a shoot like this, a little bit limited with space and time it’s important to quickly build up a rapport and make people feel settled straight away. For the first lot of pictures I just had a bit of fun. Each solicitor took it in turns to sit at an office chair and just have some pictures. I asked the other two “victims” to stand to the left of me and just have some general banter.

I had already realised that one person was a lot more nervous than the other two so I made sure he went last, just to let him see how the others worked. Fortunately it was all working well.

Know when to stop

Having had over a decade of experience of headshots, personal brand portraits or whatever they are called, I know when to stop. There is a fine line between making sure you have enough and coming away with nothing. Fortunately, I know my stuff and knew I had enough office stuff in the bag.

Do I end the shoot there, as the solicitors were performing I suggested that we took a little walk to Church Street, which is a very picturesque cobbled street, so off we went. The light wasn’t my favourite, very hard, midday sun which can be difficult to tame without lighting (I come light for these shoots) but a little bit of careful positioning and everything was done.

Half an hour and it’s a wrap

So, the shoot was very quick and out of it we got some good pictures which really sure the personalities of each person. I like it when a traditional industry actually trusts me to do something a little different. Make sure you check out Switalski’s listing on the Honley website, also check out the blog post on Switalskis website.
If you want some pictures which capture personality then please get in touch john@johnsteelphotography.com