Three photographers walk into a bar and there at the counter is this guy in a suit looking all melancholy. “What’s wrong they asked?”

“Well, I’m out of work”, he replied.

“That sucks” says one of the photographers. “What you need is a new headshot”.

“I’ve got this” he says to his other photographer mate, pushing them out of his way. So he starts to create this really striking portrait of the business guy looking really edgy and masculine.

The second photographer looked at the image and thought to himself that he could do a better job. Seeing that the businessman was wearing a very high quality suit he created a fashion styled portrait of the guy using Vogue-like fashion poses.

The third photographer then took the guy aside and started to ask him a few questions to find out what the real story behind losing his job was.

It turned out that he wasn’t fired from his job after all like they all had assumed. He had just quit his job because he was tired of the daily grind. He wanted the freedom to do what he was passionate about and that was to be a chef.

Armed with this information the third photographer proceeded to create his own images of the guy.

Can you guess which of the three sets of photos the future chef chose for his headshots?

So what’s the moral of this story?

Well, I frequently write about how we tailor our family portrait sessions to suit every family we photograph. We do this through our Discovery sessions consults that we have with each family before their session.

So the moral of the above story is that we all have a unique story or background and no matter if you need family photography or a business headshot, it is critical that your photographer understands this story. This is the only way your photographs will have some meaning to you and be relevant to your needs.

Every photographer has their own preconceptions about the subject they are photographing. This is made really clear in this excellent video from Canon Australia (below).

Six photographers were asked to photograph this one guy. Each photographer was told he had a different occupation or past history ranging from an ex-convict to a self-made millionaire.

It is so interesting to see how each photographer went about posing, lighting and capturing this guys story in one photograph. Each photograph was totally different.

Why is this important to you? Because your profile image or headshot is how your potential customers perceives you. Whether you like it or not they make judgements based on their first impressions of you. It’s human nature.

You need your headshot to reflect your personality and your brand.

If you are having a family portrait done I guess you wouldn’t care how others view your photographs. It’s your family after all and the only thing that matters is that you love your images.

However, going back to my original point you still want your family’s story to be told. You don’t want the photographer to pose you in ways you feel uncomfortable or just doesn’t represent you and your family.

What I am saying is, you don’t want a cookie cutter approach to your family photograph session.

When deciding on a photographer please keep this in mind.

I love the fact that I get to know the families that come to me really well even before a single photograph is taken.

For more information on any of our family photography sessions or if you need an updated headshot, please contact me on 9570 6191 or email via our contact page here.

Until next time.

Take care

Warren