Right now, somebody is comparing you to three other people who do what you do
And the photos are doing a lot of the talking
Meeting planners line up speakers side by side. Bureaus flip through media kits. Leadership teams read proposals back to back. Yours is in there with everybody else's, and most of what makes you different is invisible until somebody actually talks to you.
So they go on what they can see. One headshot from six years ago. A stage photo that doesn’t reflect the rooms you’re in today . Nothing that shows you teaching, coaching, or running the room you get paid to run.
If somebody else makes the case more clearly, they have less work to do to stay in consideration. And if you get quietly passed over, nobody calls to tell you why.
“The value of the photos has been immense. I now have an extensive set of images that capture my essence and present me exactly how I want to be presented.”
A library, built for everywhere you show up
Your visual presence stops telling yesterday’s story
A set of photos built around who you are, what you're selling, and where it needs to go. Not a folder of headshots. Enough range that whatever somebody's looking at, there's something there doing the work. You in front of a room. You with a client. You in the middle of the thing you actually get paid for.
So when you need something for a proposal, a podcast host, or a new landing page, it's there and it fits. People land on your site and understand the level you're operating at without you spelling it out. You spend less of the conversation proving you belong there and more of it talking about the work.
And the whole thing holds up next to anybody else they're considering.
how we build it:
1. Strategy call. We get clear on what you're selling, who you're trying to reach, and what people need to believe about you before they'll get on a call. Then we build a custom shot list.
2. The session. We shoot it. Every setup and every location is there for a reason we already talked about.
3. Edit and curate. You don't get a memory card dump of raw files. You get a set that's been gone through, so what's left is what you'll actually use.
4. Organized delivery. Everything comes back sorted and labeled. No digging through folders wondering where anything is.
“John’s process began with a strategy session where we aligned on my business needs and how my work would be brought to life visually.”
Why me?
I've delivered over 300,000 images. Then I watched what happened next.
People would grab three or four favorites, use them everywhere, and leave the rest sitting in a folder. Honestly, it drove me crazy. They paid a premium for work they barely used, and it wasn't because the photos were bad. Nobody had ever shown them what to do with what they had.
So the session changed. Before we shoot, we decide what the library needs to help your business do and what kinds of images need to exist. That's why there's a strategy call, why every setup has a reason behind it, and why your photos come back organized instead of dumped into one giant folder.
Before photography I was a talk show television producer, where how someone lands gets decided long before the audience knows it's happening. Nine years later I still can't turn it off.
What gets built
Three kinds of photos. Each one does a different job.
CORE ASSETS
You, looking right into the camera. What your face and your body actually do when you're being yourself, not when you're posing for a picture. This is the front door to your visual presence, the photo that makes somebody think they've got a read on you and want to know more.
VISUAL EVIDENCE
You in the middle of doing your thing. Teaching a room, working in the background, coaching a client, deep in it with people who need your help. These add credibility to your reputation because you show instead of tell.
MISSING DETAILS
The texture that fills in who you are and how you help. The receipts that prove what you do, and the interests outside of the work that show you're a person after all. Together they make you specifically you, instead of anybody else who does what you do.
“I wanted a catalogue of assets to use across all marketing, digital and print, that accurately presented my professionalism and personality. And that’s exactly what John delivered.”
Three ways to do this
The difference is how much of your business the visual library needs to represent.
A short session gets your core assets right. A longer one gets your core assets right and then documents the several different ways you actually work, which for most people is more than one thing. Each way is its own setup, its own space, its own change of clothes. That's what the clock buys.
THE REFRESH
$3,200 + travel
Bring the primary version of you up to date.
Two hours. Core assets, mostly.
Headshots and portraits, a few different expressions, a few different outfits. With the time left, we'll prioritize a couple of the ways you work.
This is you if:
Your headshot is a few years old and doing every job
You repositioned and your main touchpoints are still selling the old you
Something's coming and you need the essentials up-to-date
THE LIBRARY
$4,600 + travel
Show the range of how you actually create value.
Four hours. Core assets, then the different ways you actually work.
Portraits first. Then the ways in which you work: you coaching on video, training with slides, working a whiteboard, sitting across from one person. Plus the work before the work, at the computer, filling a legal pad with an idea that isn't finished. Each one is its own setup.
This is you if:
You work in more than one format and want all of it captured
Everything you have photographically is of you staring into the camera
You're using the same handful of images on repeat
THE FULL BUILD
$10,500 + travel
Show the business operating around you, not just the person at the center of it.
Six Hours. You and your team.
Everything in the Library, then the people who work with you. Headshots for each of them, plus the work running the way it actually runs, a session in progress, someone on your team with a client, the room full. Usually that means a second space, your brand in one and the business in the other. This session can also split across two days.
This is you if:
Your business is bigger than you, and everything people see only shows one person
Your team does the work, and none of them appear anywhere
You work out of two places that both matter, and only one of them has ever been photographed
You want your personal brand and your business covered in one engagement instead of two separate ones
Every session includes:
You get the full edited set, not a capped gallery where you have to choose your favorites. If the shot is sharp, you keep it. Usually 100 to 150 photos for two hours, 200 to 300 for four, and 400 to 500 for six.
Professionally edited, not heavily retouched. Color and cropping so the photos look their best. You still look like you.
Unlimited outfit changes. Bring more than you think you need.
The strategy call and the organized delivery happen on every session, whatever length you book. Travel is additional. Deposits are non-refundable.
“John captured everything I wanted captured - teaching, speaking, thinking, podcasting - and having some fun. By the evening, I had the edited photos organized with exactly what I needed to build out my new website, promotional materials, and social posts.”
Already have the photos?
Then a session may not be what you need.
Sometimes the photo you're looking for already exists and you can't put your hands on it. Sometimes a good one is sitting in the wrong place, doing a job it was never built for. Sometimes the library is fine and nobody has decided what any of it is actually for.
That's a different problem, and it has a different fix.
Not sure which one?
I can help with that. Book a call, tell me what you're working toward, and we'll figure out what you actually need.
BRANDING PHOTOGRAPHY FAQ’S
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A headshot session gives you only photos of your face. A branding session builds a library, portraits, photos of you working, and the details around you that make the whole thing recognizably yours.
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Branding photography sessions with John DeMato start at $3,200 for a two-hour session with 100 edited photos. The four-hour session is $4,600 with 250 edited photos, and the full-day session is $10,500. Travel is additional for locations outside New York City.
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Sessions run two, four, or six hours depending on how much you need. Two hours covers a clean set for your main touchpoints. Four hours gets you more variety and more locations. Six hours builds the whole thing in one day. Another option for the 6-hour session is to split it up into two separate sessions based on client needs.
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Depends on the client’s needs. Some sessions happen in and around New York City, in whatever environment fits your work. That might be your office, a rented space, a client site, or outdoors. Additionally, John travels to the client for sessions outside the tri-state area, with travel billed separately.
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Between 100–150 for two hours, 200–300 for four hours, and 400–500 for six hours, delivered in both high and low resolution and organized so you can find what you need.
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Bring more than you think you'll need. Every session includes unlimited outfit changes. No outfits are off limits, as long as they fall into one of two categories: what you wear in front of people who pay you, and what you wear in your day-to-day life.
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Two to three days after the session. Everything comes back sorted and delivered in high and low resolution.
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Most people book four to six weeks out. If you have a launch, a rebrand, or a speaking season driving the timing, earlier is better.
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Yes. Every package includes full usage rights for your marketing, your website, your speaker materials, and anywhere else you need them.