Brand Architects in Shoreditch, personal branding photography London
I met Barbara Monahan on Linkedin. We chatted for ages about branding and branding photography.
Barbara is an incredibly clever and intuitive branding expert. We started there. Chatting ‘brand’ online; messaging through our DM’s via Linkedin.
We talked about Marty Neumeier, the American brand expert, based in San Jose, California. Marty has written many books on branding, the main one being ‘T'he Brand Gap’. This book is dedicated to make simple the concept of branding amongst business leaders. Marty is a global trainer and educator of all things ‘brand’, runs academies worldwide and is a Mecca to brand designers and branding experts alike.
I purchased a copy of Marty’s book on Barbara’s recommendation.
Little did I realise that by the end of the year, I would have photographed not ONE but FIVE of Marty’s disciples in London and then ONE in Derby, including Barbara herself!
So Marty was in town, London town, to stage an international conference on branding. There would be branding experts from all over the world. Barbara was flying in from Dublin; Yvonne, from Amersterdam, Aiza & Yvonne, Uk based and Marc, from Colorado, USA.
I was commissioned to shoot Personal branding photography London for global brand architects and there were FIVE of them!
It was one of the toughest briefs I have ever undertaken because with every frame I had to serve five different clients and all at the same time!
Five clients in two hours, all the same brief and ALL wanting outstanding branding photos. When you see a brilliant moment and shot for one, you then have to anticipate quickly how to deliver the same shot to another four clients at the same level. It’s not enough just to shoot their meeting and processes, in free fall, you have to capture client parity. Each leader has to be given the same amount and level of leader shots.
I was continually thinking five ways for five different clients. I needed to visually demonstrate them all as leaders, listeners, collaborators so that at the end of the shoot they have equal richness of content to select from. It is so easy for your eye to wonder to the more charismatic members of the group and shoot more.. but you have to constantly recheck and refocus to ensure its an equal measure to all.
I was exhausted after 3 hours. Especially shooting low level on my knees of crouching to shoot up to make my cli more powerful!
“'I knew, Suzanne, from our first call how much you put into this. You are so worth every penny and the work you do shows so strongly in every photo. I saw it when you photographed us. It is way more than a photograph, it's a complete expression of you and your business, your value. So the question to your clients is, do you value yourself and your business?”
Barbara Monahan- Brand Architect & Designer.
Photographer: Suzanne Fells
Client: Barbara Monahan, Yvonne Lugtenburg, Marc Gutman, Aiza Cheung & Adele Kelly
Date: May 2022
Location: Shoreditch , London
Venue : Fora, Shoreditch, London.