A Personal Branding photoshoot is perfect for those of us who are transitioning into entrepreneurship. And that is exactly the reason why Leann reached out to schedule a session. She needed a full portfolio of highly custom images for her transition into the area of personal coaching. With an incredible story (follow her on Instagram to read more) and an impressive fitness background, she is going to be working with women to help them find their strength and confidence through one-on-one coaching. You can see in the images below how we bring fitness, her love of yoga, and her personal style into a compilation of images that truly reflect Leann’s personality!

And one thing you will notice right away is that Leann has the kind of personality that should be celebrated. With bright red hair and a strong voice, she radiates fortitude and confidence.. which is exactly how we need her audience to see her. The goal of the session was to seamlessly transition from 100% fitness and bodybuilding to showing more of Leann’s personality and coaching abilities on her Instagram page.

So I thought it would be fun to share some behind the scenes iPhone shots alongside the resulting images - that way you can see exactly how we use locations (all of which were right outside my Studio in the beautiful Saugatuck area of Westport Connecticut) and wardrobe to create variety in a very short period of time.

Client/Model: Leann Kelly (@lmkfit45)

Hair & Makeup: Kelsey, Haus of Pretty (@hausofpretty)

Location: N. Lalor Photography Studio in Saugatuck area of Westport Connecticut, Kneads Bakery, and outdoor plaza between The Whelk and Saugatuck Sweets.

Since we had a cloudy and potentially rainy day, we started with outdoor shots in the plaza area (the schedule is always adjusted based on the situation and things are moved around as needed to make sure we take advantage of the weather or an unexpected occurrence). We also photographed right outside the Studio windows and matches Leann’s hair color to the colors of the American flag (in the last image).

In the Studio, we paired outfits with background colors to create dynamic and cohesive imagery for Leann. She has plenty of photos featuring her impressive physique, so our goal was to showcase her personality, not just her body.. and also to capture promotional images for her “Trust Your Strength Project”.

We also stopped by Kneads Bakery across the street for casual coffee shop photos of Leann working in her planner. And yes, that’s me making sure the tea bag isn’t floating awkwardly on top of the water (this required proper dunking of the bag) - the details matter.

Back in the Studio, we quickly rotated through a Yoga/spiritual setup, a presentation with a large screen TV, a living room area with a simulated Zoom call (which is how Leann will be working with most of her clients), and some fun photos of inspirational t-shirts.

And as a bonus, we were able to play around with a super fun dress Leann brought (paired with combat boots) and took advantage of a not-quite-rainy weather that allowed us another go at outdoor portraits. This is also why it’s so great to have a hair and makeup artist for these sessions: hair becomes extremely frizzy during this kind of weather and Kelsey (Haus of Pretty) was able to get everything under control for Studio portraits after we got back inside.