No jacket required? Why you need a jacket in your brand photos.
Have you any idea how powerful a new-styled jacket can be?
How much status and authority it can actually bring to your brand photography?
The most powerful brand shoot tip I would give to any business woman would be to wear a jacket in your brand photos.
Have you any idea how hard I sometimes have to FIGHT? Fight clients to persuade them to commit to a jacket on a brand shoot? Just the one (or maybe two?) The main problem is many of my clients have DONE JACKETS.
Worn jackets in offices years ago, remember and retaliated against them. Hated the rigidity of them and what they represented. Hated that they felt part of a structure and conspiracy; a time when offices were strict without fluidity. A 9- 5 regime (except many of us who wore those jackets, me included, worked 9 -9).
One of the main brand shoot tips for women I suggest when preparing for your shoot? If you want to stress ‘business’ and ‘power’, wear a jacket.
Many of my clients left these structured environments and made their own trails.
Took their skills and went to town.
Changed the world.
And made fluid their lives and ways of working.
And with it the jacket was condemned forever.
To the working closet of the past.
And everything they disliked about it.
So they tell me :-
I don't need a jacket.
They represent my past work-life.
I now represent myself in a smart but casual style.
Nothing structured allowed now.
My rules are the rules.
So trying to encourage clients to wear just ONE on a shoot..?
But ladies, they have changed. Flip through any magazine, any online shopping portal and, jackets ARE abundant. TikTok, IG, influencers wear jackets. And ask any stylist who works with professional business women; Suzanne Suthers works regularly with many of my clients , jackets are more relevant than ever.
Jackets have evolved.
They represent contemporary life.
But, most importantly, they STILL strongly symbolise business.
The jacket has always held one primary function despite its evolution in colour and shape.
It makes you look powerful.
It signals business.
It states authority!
And for many successful businesses women working for home. This is significant.
If you want to state the business aspect of your brand, wear a jacket. It is my biggest shoot tip for women. It literally helps you get a more structured point across.
Because :-
Jackets are symbolic.
Symbolism in photos is everything.
We read it subconsciously and we assign values.
In Western culture ask anyone what a woman / man in a jackets 'means' to them? They will tell you 'business' every time.
It is the connotation it holds for us all.
So use it. Include it. Include it in your photo personal brand representations. Manipulate it and make it your own.
So why and when to wear a jackets in your brand photos :-
In your office process shots. You will just look more professional
When talking to a room, A jacket states you as a business authority.
When chatting within a team and you want your audience to know you are the ONE in charge.
When you want to express something structured and important and commercial about your brand.
When you want to state power.
When you want to state success.
When you want to attract other commercial businesses
When you want to attract other businesses who always wear jackets and suits.
I use jackets as part of my brand. I use jackets to strengthen the core value of my niche. That I am analytical. That I have a business angle. That I am so much MORE than a photographer, . But a consultant - photographer who approaches, analyses and understands your brand in a commercial way in order to best represent it.
You don't expect to see a female photographer in a jacket. If you do, you assume that she is more than just a photographer? And that's what my jacket unconsciously tells you about me.
So:-
And how strong do my clients look in these photos. Tell me what you think about their power levels?
Working for the joy of you and the power and success of your empire!