Artist Sessions: Capture your Craft, Elevate Your Brand
SALT & STAG PHOTOGRAPHY - PA | NY | NJ | MA
If you are an artist or a creative entrepreneur, you need to have a gallery of images that reflect your creative style. I work across the East Coast to provide creative people achieve artistic, brand-drive portraiture. Let me help you throw out those stuffy headshots!
Here’s my one simple rule: Your portraits need to reflect your work.
Your bio images are the book cover of your creative brand, and they are a huge opportunity to elevate your brand and communicate authentically to potential buyers and clients. Take a look at how I’ve achieved this with a few of my clients.
BRITTANY SYNOTT - ARTIST, CREATIVE ARTS THERAPIST
The gallery I built with artist, Brittany Synott is a perfect example of my golden rule. Take a look at how we carried her style as an artist into her portraits.
Work by Brittany Synott @brittanysynott
Portrait of Brittany by Salt & Stag
I shot Brittany in and around her Boston studio a couple years back. Brittany’s work is super graphic. She works with pens, screens, stencils, and spray paint to produce sharp, chic lines with pops of red and black. I wanted her portraits to mirror her aesthetic Not only can you see her energy showing through, but these bio images are resonate so beautifully when shared alongside her work.
Throughout her gallery, I wanted to pair strong, graphic structures with soft, diffused lighting to achieve a graphic, feminine effect. Brittany’s studio provided both - the sharp lines of an industrial warehouse and the gauzy light pouring through the windows.
KENDALL BAJEK - RESTAURANTEUR, CHEF
I built out an entirely different aesthetic in this next shoot by following the same rule. I had the pleasure of working with Pennsylvania restauranteur, Kendall Bajek. Rather than focusing on color and structure, I tuned to Kendall’s dishes for inspiration.
Kendall’s dishes are minimalist, refined, and a little indulgent. And that’s exactly how I wanted to capture her. I hoped to create a gallery that elicited warmth, finesse, and a little bit of Kendall’s cheeky energy. Staging her in front of the fireplace in her home, rather than in her kitchen, we were able to give her images a warm, rich texture.
I also shot a combination of film and digital on this shoot. Kendall is an avid world traveler, and she has this really chic, on-the-go style. I wanted to give her some images that looked like travel photography, and I think the filmy texture helped us achieve that.
CHRIS BLACKWELL - OWNER OF SKATE SHOP & MUSIC VENUE
One more for you to look at - Chris Blackwell. Using Chris’s work as a guidepost was so much fun - His shop, Nomad Supply Co. has this really fabulous boyhood magic, and I wanted his gallery to feel like Saturday mornings in the 90s, waking up early to watch VH1. We kept his images highly saturated, and broke a lot of the “rules” of portraiture - using flash and overexposing images to boost contrast and color.
I was psyched at the rare opportunity to bust out my Instant Polaroid for this shoot - just for the nostalgia of it all. But this really set the tone for the rest our then gallery. It gave me a mark for the aesthetic I was reaching for in every shot, and the classic polaroid was my mark in post.
Special shoutout to Chris for breaking his wrist the week before the shoot, give it that “extra authentic” 12 year old boy at the skatepark spirit! ;)
GETTNG STARTED
So how do you achieve this yourself? Whether you’re branding your own social media content, or looking for bio images that represent your brand or your creative work - where do you start!?
The first thing I have my clients do is complete a survey to help them zone in on the essence of their brand. Whether you’re a dancer, a chef, a painter, or an entrepreneur, this activity is a opportunity to zone in, refine, and enhance your brand’s “mood board.”
Are you ready to take that first step? Try out my mood board builder: