Arranging proper photo shoots is just for companies and influencers, right? I used to think that way, too, before I gave it another thought. As an entrepreneur, my own personal brand is very important. In any given context, I am the face of my business. This also applies when the context happens to be social media. Given that a single post can reach more people in an hour, than the number of people I can talk to in a week, it feels very important that my social media image is the absolute best. After that realization hit me, I decided to hire a photographer. Here are three reasons why:

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1. Increase the quality of my pictures

In addition to helping companies with web analytics and conversion, my company also works with content and social media. This means we regularly work to combine text with great images, and also arrange photo shoots for our customers. That is why it’s important that my own social channels show this knowledge.

Admittedly, my phone takes good pictures, but it will never be the same as if taken by a photographer. Partly because a phone does not capture the same feeling as a compact camera, and partly because a good photographer knows how to bring out the best in others. It’s no rocket science that on the contrary, it's hard for me to look relaxed in a picture when my partner unwillingly takes pictures of me even though he doesn't really want to. Instead, I wanted high quality, beautiful pictures! It was time to hire a photographer.

The choice fell on Marilia Bognandi, just because everyone she photographed looked so relaxed. I felt just as calm during the shoot. I was really pleased with the overall experience and can highly recommend her.

2. Build a story

Since I want my brand to really be my personal brand, it felt important to have images that represent who I am, what I stand for and what my life looks like. That is quite difficult to capture in at home with my partner, since he would prefer to return to doing his own stuff after 10 minutes. However, it works great during a full day of carefully planned photography.

There were a few points in my life that I wanted to include in the pictures. We started the day at my home at Kvarnholmen, because I spend both working hours and free time there, and love my apartment. There you get an insight into how I work from my home office, cozy up with the computer on the sofa and hang around the kitchen. After that, we went outside, so I could hop on my bike. Exercise is a big part of my life, which felt important to include.

Then it was time to leave Kvarnholmen. When I go to the office, located at Östermalm, I prefer to do this by taking the boat. Therefore, it was compulsory to snap some pictures on the dock and on the boat on my way there. I love sitting there working on my computer, while the staff hands out free coffee in the morning. Love those moments!

Arriving at Nybrokajen, we started walking towards the office. On the way, we also took the opportunity to capture some outdoor pictures, as I am often on the run between different meetings. Then we reached our final destination - the office, which is a small shared office space. In addition to me obviously working there, I also associate it with the others who work there, since we have a lot of fun together. This playfulness is also noticeable in the interior decor, since it used to be a showroom for mosaics. In the office, I wanted pictures that reflected both the seriousness of the job and the wonderful atmosphere we have.

By starting from these scenes, I think a pretty clear picture of an ordinary day in my life was created. It gives others an idea of ​​what my days look like, while giving me a lot of content to build my story around. More about that is coming up!

3. Plan content in a more structured way

Because I live a life where a lot happens, structure becomes very important to me. In order to be able to regularly produce high-quality content in my own channels, planning is required. It's something I really learned from working with our clients' channels. In order to work that way, pictures become very important.

Since I control what kind of images I want - those that are based on real moments from my everyday life - it becomes quite easy for me to create content around them. I don't have to think about it, because I do know what my morning routine on the boat looks like, why exercise is important to me, and how much I enjoy crawling up on the couch on Sundays to plan for the coming week. By capturing these moments in pictures, I can plan content around them

That way, I can make sure to set a communication plan for my own channels based on the content I actually have, rather than just having ideas about what I want to communicate.

Want to see the final result?