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John DeMato Blog

Hi! I'm John. In my blog, I share insights that help Speakers and Expert-based Business Owners create an emotional connection with their audiences through persuasive visual storytelling.

A minimalist approach

 

For some experts, their portrait session has a lot of moving parts.

 
 

for others, a minimalist approach hits the spot.

 

The goal for Expert’s branded lifestyle portrait sessions is to capture them in spaces and places that accentuate their personality, brand and lifestyle. 

Now, for some folks, that means capturing their visual assets in spaces that have depth, decor and splashes of color. 

For others, it means the total opposite. 

Recently, I worked with Rishabh, a philosopher who coaches clients to live more abundantly in all areas of their lives. 

He personally has adopted a minimalist approach in all areas of his life, including how he lives and what he wears. 

When he shared that with me during his pre-session strategy call, I sensed this session would be a slight departure. 

Instead of aiming to shoot in spaces that had a lot of visual elements going on in the background, we needed to capture him in a space that is devoid of as much distraction as possible. 

We wanted to accentuate his philosophy of minimalism from shot-to-shot. As a result, we decided to use his apartment as the backdrop. 

But not his entire apartment…

Just 2 walls in his living room that didn’t have any visual clutter other than drawn horizontal blinds. 

Needless to say, this was an interesting challenge.

Regardless, once I arrived with shot sheet in hand, we got down to knocking out each lifestyle scenario, one by one:

It was a very different experience conducting an entire session in one corner of a room, but based on Rishabh’s lifestyle and personality, and the brand that he wants to cement in the minds of those he serves, it suited him well.

Regardless of the space or place, the need to create as much visual variety as possible is still the goal of every single branded lifestyle portrait session. 

You need your image content portfolio to be stacked to the brim with photos where you’re placed on the left and right of the frame, wide and close-up, exhibiting aspects of your personality through your body language and facial expression. 

And that’s what we were able to achieve during his time in front of the camera.

When thinking about the types of locations that will suit your personality, business, and lifestyle, don’t force anything because that’s what you THINK you need to create compelling visuals.

Just be simply who you are in a space that suits you best.

Be sure to talk with your photographer about this during your strategy call to determine where they need to capture you. 

This will go a long way to helping you attract the right types of clients who are in need of what you specifically bring to the table. 

Be who you are - simple, yet magical at the same time :) 

For more visual storytelling strategies and insights for experts, I’ll talk your eyes off through my blog. Sign up to receive them directly in your inbox, and if you have any questions, set up a time to chat with me and then I’ll talk your ears off, too :)