{"id":3894,"date":"2014-01-29T15:30:23","date_gmt":"2014-01-29T15:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/?p=3894"},"modified":"2024-01-12T12:10:23","modified_gmt":"2024-01-12T12:10:23","slug":"its-all-about-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/its-all-about-you\/%20","title":{"rendered":"It&#8217;s All About YOU"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/MG_8568.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3539\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/MG_8568.jpg\" alt=\"_MG_8568\" width=\"600\" height=\"391\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/MG_8568.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/MG_8568-300x196.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/MG_8568-77x50.jpg 77w, https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/MG_8568-650x424.jpg 650w, https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/MG_8568-50x33.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h1>Your business is all about you<\/h1>\n<p>Not in an egotistical way, but any SME business owner knows that they are the &#8220;face&#8221; of their company. It&#8217;s unavoidable really &#8211; we create:-<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>the business idea,<\/li>\n<li>the hard graft to get it going,<\/li>\n<li>the risks you take,<\/li>\n<li>the people you meet<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These things are all down to you<\/p>\n<p>So on their websites and print and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/top-social-media-trends-to-watch-for-in-2024-embracing-the-future-of-digital-engagement\/\" title=\"Top Social Media Trends to Watch for in 2024: Embracing the Future of Digital Engagement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">social media<\/a>, why do so many hide their &#8220;true&#8221; face away &#8211; when they could say so much with a great photo that shows them as they really are?<\/p>\n<h1>Hiding&#8230; ?<\/h1>\n<p>When I say &#8220;hiding&#8221;, it could be that they do have a photo, maybe even a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/why-industry-needs-regular-professional-photos\/\">professionally taken photo<\/a>, but it&#8217;s not really doing them any favours.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"line-height: 1.5em\">Many are stuffy, awkward, uncomfortable, slightly scary and have the same appeal as a pass-port photo, whereas the &#8220;real person&#8221; may be warm, welcoming and great fun to be around.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h1>Damage&#8230;.?<\/h1>\n<p>This <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/tips-for-capturing-authentic-headshots\/\">portrait<\/a> of me is an award winning selfie I took in 2007 &#8211; I won a canvas print of it, have it on my wall to scare off burglars!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/mcfade_portarits_177.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-132\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/mcfade_portarits_177.jpg\" alt=\"mcfade_portarits_177\" width=\"694\" height=\"736\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/mcfade_portarits_177.jpg 694w, https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/mcfade_portarits_177-283x300.jpg 283w, https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/mcfade_portarits_177-47x50.jpg 47w, https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/mcfade_portarits_177-650x689.jpg 650w, https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/mcfade_portarits_177-50x53.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 694px) 100vw, 694px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>So when we&#8217;re looking at their &#8220;About us&#8221; or &#8220;Our Team&#8221; page, we see these scary photos and think seriously about whether we want to talk to them&#8230; maybe check the next company on your Google Search and see if they are any friendlier!<\/p>\n<p>Would you call me if you thought this is how I really was?<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s what happens &#8211; that&#8217;s the damage a bad photo can have on potential new clients.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1>The Real You&#8230;<\/h1>\n<p>Well I use this shot instead &#8211; I obviously prefer the dark, moody shot above, but this one&#8217;s more like the guy who turns up with camera and lights. I love the lighting on it, the brick texture in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/creating-depth-understanding-the-importance-of-foreground-middleground-and-background\/\">background<\/a> (on Dock St. in Leeds) is pretty cool but I hope it tells potential clients that there&#8217;s an element of fun working with me &#8211; which is very important, as that&#8217;s exactly how I work.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/MG_1471.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3899\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/MG_1471.jpg\" alt=\"_MG_1471\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/MG_1471.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/MG_1471-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/MG_1471-75x50.jpg 75w, https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/MG_1471-650x434.jpg 650w, https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/MG_1471-50x33.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>You may actually be that stern, slightly scary person in your photo &#8211; and it may well work for you, it depends on your business and personality.<\/p>\n<p>The chances are, in my experience of photographing many business owners, that you are nothing like this &#8220;old-fashioned-business-man&#8221; personality, but for whatever reason your photo just doesn&#8217;t do it justice.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"line-height: 1.5em\">It could be any of these reasons&#8230;\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>not enough time on the shoot &#8211; you just weren&#8217;t comfortable<\/li>\n<li>constantly distracted &#8211; happens if you shoot at your desk, people call, barge in&#8230; you never get settled<\/li>\n<li>didn&#8217;t really like the photographer &#8211; perish the thought, but they may not have been the best &#8220;people person&#8221; and wound you up<\/li>\n<li>no story or context &#8211; shooting on location can add a lot to your shots, tells the viewer more about what you do<\/li>\n<li>poor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/why-do-photography-7-boosting-observation-skills\/\" title=\"Why do Photography? 7 Boosting Observation Skills\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">photography skills<\/a> &#8211; could be one of a thousand things, but it just doesn&#8217;t work as an image&#8230;<\/li>\n<li><strong>the most popular &#8211; you hate having your photo taken, and it shows!!!\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1>BiY Members We&#8217;ve Helped&#8230;<\/h1>\n<p>So how to get around these obstacles&#8230; ?<\/p>\n<p>Well here are a few of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/biy-inspired-awards-2014\/\" title=\"BiY Inspired Awards 2014\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"77\">BiY<\/a> Associates we&#8217;ve helped in 2013 &#8211; have a look at the video, it&#8217;s 3 minutes long and has music played by the Chicago Blues Brothers, so check your volume first!<\/p>\n[tube]http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vV1ied_hju4&amp;list=UUNt-MdklYRJZerUfAtuX10A&amp;feature=share[\/tube]\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1>Prep for the shoot&#8230;<\/h1>\n<p>Each of these shoots were different &#8211; but have the same roots where we&#8217;d chat about:-<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>what business they were in &#8211; what made them different to everyone else, their <strong>niche<\/strong> if you like.<\/li>\n<li>what their <strong>strap line<\/strong> or USP was &#8211; Paul&#8217;s the &#8220;ideas man&#8221;, Claire &#8220;keeps you out of jail&#8221; etc.<\/li>\n<li><strong>where<\/strong> to do the shoot &#8211; Gayle does &#8220;secret shopping&#8221;, so why not use a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/trinity-leeds-the-new-shopping-centre-goes-live\/\" title=\"Trinity Leeds &#8211; The New Shopping Centre Goes LIVE!\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">shopping area like Leeds<\/a>&#8216; Victoria Quarter<\/li>\n<li>anything <strong>business-specific<\/strong> photos they are after &#8211; e.g. shots of them presenting, or meeting clients<\/li>\n<li>the &#8220;look&#8221; they are after &#8211; usually suggesting something formal to wear, something less formal&#8230; maybe just a few different scarves or ties to add variety.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1>How effective shoots work&#8230;<\/h1>\n<p>So after we&#8217;ve come up with the location, look and general theme &#8211; it&#8217;s shoot time&#8230; and no one is a natural at this straight way&#8230; well except Claire Turner&#8230; and Louise Turner&#8230; must be the surname!<\/p>\n<p>So here&#8217;s how to prepare&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Book <strong>enough time<\/strong> &#8211; we&#8217;re only talking a couple of hours, or maybe 1 if you&#8217;re really busy.<\/li>\n<li>Don&#8217;t have a hugely busy day ahead occupying your mind &#8211; if your mind is elsewhere, it shows in the photos<\/li>\n<li>Turn the <strong>phone off<\/strong>&#8230; if you can&#8230; great photography is all about &#8220;raport&#8221; and a call can break that in an instant.<\/li>\n<li>Get a photographer who&#8217;s work you like &#8211; ask for <strong>recommendations<\/strong>, then check out their portfolios. Recommendations will filter out any &#8220;duds&#8221;, and portfolios will show you their skills<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ideas<\/strong> &#8211; if you&#8217;ve seen a shot you like, send a link to the photograph! We&#8217;re a creative breed, and love to share and develop your ideas!<\/li>\n<li>Use a variety of <strong>locations<\/strong> &#8211; be prepared to move and change, it totally transforms the dynamics of the shoot and you get lots to choose from. A walk of 10 feet may be all that&#8217;s needed&#8230;<\/li>\n<li><strong>Chat a lot<\/strong> &#8211; about anything&#8230; preferably things what evoke nice thoughts, as that will reflect in your expression.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>All that said, the &#8220;look&#8221; is down to how the photographer lights, shoots and processes the photo &#8211; and the &#8220;feel&#8221; is down to what he\/she says to you!<\/p>\n<h1><\/h1>\n<h1>End Result&#8230;<\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"line-height: 1.5em\">Firstly, hopefully you&#8217;ll enjoy the experience,\u00a0<\/span>despite<span style=\"line-height: 1.5em\">\u00a0your initial misgivings.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Then you&#8217;ll go away with :-<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>your own <strong>personal library<\/strong> of great photos<\/li>\n<li>new shots to update <strong>Linked In<\/strong>, Facebook and Twitter with<\/li>\n<li>pride of place on your website &#8211; remember, it&#8217;s all about you after all so show your face and make people <strong>WANT TO PHONE<\/strong> you<\/li>\n<li><strong>more people clicking<\/strong> on your linked in profile &#8211; great shots get more clicks<\/li>\n<li>great shots to send to the <strong>press<\/strong> when they write articles on you<\/li>\n<li><strong>increased &#8220;perception&#8221;<\/strong> online &#8211; poor shots damage, great shots enhance.<\/li>\n<li><strong>your personality captured<\/strong> and seen by everyone<\/li>\n<li><strong>a visual story<\/strong> &#8211; if you&#8217;ve use locations and props cleverly, you can say so much in a photo<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>To finish &#8211; here&#8217;s a collection of photos of people just like you, business owners and directors, who all said &#8220;I hate having my photo taken&#8221; and felt unconfortable at first, but by the end of the shoot actually said they enjoyed it &#8211; and now use the photos to promote their business.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/19485245@N00\/sets\/72157634859637128\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CLICK TO LINK TO GALLERY<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Your business is all about you Not in an egotistical way, but any SME business owner knows that they are the &#8220;face&#8221; of their company. It&#8217;s unavoidable really &#8211; we create:- the business idea, the hard graft to get it going, the risks you take, the people you meet These things are all down to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3618,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_22977785_22977785":"","facebook_10157410341118549_123005067715685":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,29,39,7,9,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-business","category-discussion","category-people","category-photography","category-strobist"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/MG_7852-2.jpg",1000,667,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/MG_7852-2-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/MG_7852-2-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/MG_7852-2.jpg",1000,667,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/MG_7852-2.jpg",1000,667,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/MG_7852-2.jpg",1000,667,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/MG_7852-2.jpg",1000,667,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"McFade","author_link":"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/author\/admin"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Your business is all about you Not in an egotistical way, but any SME business owner knows that they are the &#8220;face&#8221; of their company. It&#8217;s unavoidable really &#8211; we create:- the business idea, the hard graft to get it going, the risks you take, the people you meet These things are all down to&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3894"}],"version-history":[{"count":52,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3894\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":128368,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3894\/revisions\/128368"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcfade.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}