Personal branding is for everyone, and according to this professional photographer it's all in the eyes.

Marcus Ahmed, welcome to the Speak PR podcast. As you know, this is a show for business owners, entrepreneurs, anyone running an organization that wants to get noticed but doesn't have a big budget, but does have a big story to tell. Tell us a little bit about your story and what you think people need to do to get their personal branding right.

Well, Jim, first of all, thank you so much for having me on the show. I feel really privileged to share my story with you. Yeah, personal branding is. Photography is a relatively new thing. My background in photography was I started off as well an assistant, first of all as an advertising assistant and then I got into commercial photography in particular fashion photography. I was lucky enough to be able to be working in my studio was in London and I was working in America, in New York, Louisiana Paris, all that kind of thing, flying around, having a great old time. And then that evolved later on into becoming a senior lecturer at University of South Wales here in South England or in Wales, I should say, lecturing in fashion and advertising photography. So that now with personal branding photography, I'm bringing those two elements together. Fashion all about making people look good and advertising photography, which is all about selling a product with one image sometimes and focusing that on my business clients.

And is it possible then to sort of make yourself look good or do you have to be a person who already is kind of beautiful or handsome or can anybody have a good personal brand?

Yeah, that's a great question, Jim. And I obviously met you initially when I photographed you and you are an easy person to photograph because you are very good looking.

Right, the show's over. Thanks everybody.

The real kit buzzword going around now and I think it's got a lot of value to it is authentic. It's all about being authentic and that means being real, showing people who you are. You know, there's an say now that people buy from people. And when I look at websites of businesses in particular, the field that I work in which is tech, the tech industry, I see a lot of very anonymous looking websites with no personality to them. And so what I focus on in my, when I work with my clients is bring using their personality to attract more customers.

And you know, you did a great, a great shoot with, with me and also with Nick Hems and I've really loved the shots, have got a lot of compliments on them as well. You talk about authentic. I think that's absolutely right. Marcus. How does someone, if you like get the link between their authentic self and their company brand? Because they're not always the same thing. Or do you believe they are the same?

I think they are the same, Jim. You know, you really want the values of your company to match your personality. And you could argue that if your values don't match the person, your personality doesn't match the values of that company. Maybe that company is the right person for you, but it's about just getting across who you are and what you do in a photograph. I think so.

Markus, for those of us that are out there listening, is there like a blueprint that they can follow to get a great shot? Let's say without a professional photographer, not least of which because of COVID people can't even get to somebody. There must be some simple tools and tips that you can recommend.

You can get a great shot on your camera phone. You just gotta, first of all go for somewhere that hasn't got a distracting background. You know, you don't. To be in a, you know, on a beach, on a town centre, a plain wall works brilliantly, you know, and even if you can find it, a wall that has got the same brand colors as you have, you know, just need to be white. If you find a blue wall that's gonna be perfect and then try and get. Get your head to fill about three quarters of the frame size, as it were, so, you know, it's not too far, not too close up, not too far back and then a few different expressions. Smiling, being serious, just try different things out. And really it's a matter of quantity and just getting the right one. The human face is incredible. The way the emotions can change in, in an instant and well, we all know that, of course. So shooting a lot of shots, which is really going to help. So let's just go with that again. Background plane fairly close in, shoot lots of shots.

And then should someone do a handheld or should they use a tripod, for example? Because lots of pictures got at an arm's length and that's kind of an awkward distance as well.

A tripod or some kind of mechanism to hold the camera would be ideal for. For sure. Yeah, it would be for sure. But another thing we can add to that list, obviously it's going to go longer. I'll try to keep down to three. But another thing you can add is light. Light is really important for any photograph. The kind of light that works really well on portrait, believe it or not, is not a sunny day. Nice diffused light is the best window light inside, outside, when it's a cloudy day, works best. Here in Bristol today, it's really what we call flat the light outside. So it's not many shadows or highlights, white bits. That is really good for photography as well. So yeah, a tripod would be ideal, but lighting is going to be your friend there.

And should you look into the light or away from the light or kind of have it to one side? Because that, you know, if you look into the light you get less wrinkles, but then you have to squint maybe a little bit. If you look away then the camera seems to struggle with the depth on the face. What about that?

Great question. And obviously being a fashion photographer, I do with light all the time and it's really, really important and there's, you know, it's a long answer to that. So to keep it succinct, you know, a little if it's coming three quarters to you, so you've got a bit of a shadow down one side and it's a bit brighter, that will give what we call good modeling, which is like shadow to highlights. So yeah, that would be ideal. But if you go for a diffused day when the light, when we got a light cloud, you don't really need to worry too much about it. The light is good coming from all directions. In fact, in the old fashioned days of painting, Renaissance, et cetera, all the paintings you see would be done what we call north light, which is the light from at the back of the house. So there's no direct light. The north light is good.

What about direction? What about sort of leaning forward, leaning backwards, head to the side, head up? I mean I see on LinkedIn some especially Americans could have do this sort of lean in earnest look and some people lean back with their arms crossed. Any guidance on those kind of postures?

It depends what you're looking for is the answer to that. And I have my style fun enough is people leaning into the camera because I found what that does, it gives you an immediacy and a presence to your portraits, your headshots or your profiles. You know, when we see them, especially on LinkedIn, you know, they're really, really tiny little circles, really tiny. So you have to really maximize that space. And it's all about the eye contact. So what I do with my sub, with my people that I work with and photograph is getting to lean into the camera. And it really makes exaggerates the eyes. And so you get that eye contact as you maximize the eye contact. So yeah, you know, that's a very subtle thing that I do and I like that style. You know, it's the opposite really of leaning back and Then when you're leaning back, you're sort of showing that you're a little bit scared of the camera. It's getting right in there. Really.

What about what people could wear? Does that make a difference? Because I guess you want. If you're giving a relaxed attitude, wearing a suit kind of doesn't match any. Any insights on that as well, Marcus?

Yeah, you hit the nail exactly on the head there. You know, the clothing is very important, but it depends what you're doing. It's got a match, isn't it, really? You know, lady. For women, I would say avoid a scoop neck especially. I've talked about growing in clothes and if you want to crop it later, especially like the circle, sometimes you've got a scoop neck on. It can be a little bit too revealing or nothing just give. Doesn't give you a border, an edge to the photograph. And with guys, you know, I do notice when I take a lot, I do do a lot of business portraits is that if somebody doesn't wear a suit normally and they put on for the photograph, it never looks right. There's something about the clothes we wear is what we feel comfortable in, you know. And you mentioned a suit I did earlier with Nick Helms, the who's a branding style, a branding stylist. And he looks fantastic in a suit. And he's used to wearing a suit. So when he put his suit on it, he looked brilliant in it. But, you know, somebody like me, for example, who doesn't wear a suit a lot, you know, you can always tell they never look really comfortable. So don't try and be something you're not, what you're wearing. Color wise. Yeah, I would always try. And what I, if I prefer is neutral colors. Black, gray, navy blue for guys and not white. And then for women, you know, not too much pattern. And again, maybe pick out a color in an earring or eye. Color is very nice, a monotonal look.

And so really say you're. You're getting a focus, are you in your case on the eyes? You think that's the central element. Then you. All the other items would be a distraction is what, perhaps reading between the lines.

Yeah, it's exactly what I think. You know, it's a bit of a cliche that the eyes are the window to the soul, but it is. It's all about your eyes. And in fact, when I have. You can see behind me in my studio. Oh, you can't see behind me in my studio. I have a backdrop which I actually, if somebody comes in they got blue eyes. I'll put a blue back onto it. So it gives you this very monotonal look where it really, the background really accents if you've got blue eyes or I've got a green background, if you've got green eyes, etc. And that's a look that I really like. It works really well. It's a bit thing I used to do in fashion and hair and beauty.

And then in terms of that's the shot itself. Any preference for morning or afternoon? I mean some of us have puffy eyes in the morning, some look a bit sleepy in the afternoon. Men need a shave sometimes later in the afternoon. Is there an optimal time of day, Marcus, to shoot?

I think it depends on the person, Jim. I think, you know, if you're a night person, you're an awful in the morning, aren't you? If you're a morning person, you're not going to look at. No, you know, really, if you can be using natural light and you're talking about taking a photograph of yourself, I would base it around there. You know, there's a certain midday is not a good time when the sun is overhead for using natural light. Portraits. When I'm shooting, I use flash, flash all the time. So I can shoot any time of the day and always looks the same. But you know, maybe, you know, it's not. We talked a lot about the profile photograph and the headshot. There's a little bit more to it than that. In my strategy there's three photographs that really will define your brand. The headshot, as we've discussed, being a great way to start. The other two photographs that I really try and encourage my clients to use are for their websites are the first image you come to on the website. The is a real crucial part of real estate as far as photography goes. And in that image you really want to get across a really nice portrait of you doing maybe like a three quarter length or half length but with hands in there as well, making some gesture or maybe a little prop that suggests what kind of business you're in. If you're into like, you know, computers, you might hold a computer or whatever. That's a great analogy. But that picture that is on your first page, your website should really show you doing something, you know, engaging with your audience and a little suggestion there. And the third picture that is crucial to your website or your promotion is the your services photograph. And that should show somebody using your product or service. Now obviously if you've got a product, it's quite easy Somebody enjoying using your product. That's quite easy to photograph. If you've got a service, it's a bit more challenging. So it might be a photograph of you having a one to one with somebody. If you're again like a finance or if you're a chiropractor, you working on somebody. So there's three photographs there. We've got the profile shot, the photograph of your banner which is you and your what you do in your company. And the third shot is the services that you offer and you're showing you do those. Those three photographs I think are crucial to define your personal brand.

Okay, that's wonderful. What about should you be wearing the same clothes, for example, in each of them or should there be a link for example with the color way of each of those three photographs? Or does that not matter?

No, what you wear in the free photographs doesn't need to be the same. In fact, in some ways there might be more value in wearing different outfits because then it shows they've been done on different days and you've gone to the trouble and expense of getting a photo, you know, a photographer in or whatever on different times. So you. So but what color does come with key is where color is. Key is your branding colors. So if, you know, if a color. I'm just doing some work with a client, a hairdresser and Hutch is really clean on orange and gray. So we're really getting those colors incorporated to all the different photo shoots we're doing. So that's really key. You know, that color is a really quick metaphor getting across your brand.

You mentioned sort of Photoshop there, just briefly. What about after the shoot? Can you recommend any tools for people to, you know, modify the pictures or do you think if it's a good pictures they should leave well alone and just put it up as the camera took it?

I do, I really believe in, you know, getting it right in the camera and then putting, putting it out there. You know, it's again going back to what we're saying about being authentic, you know, and I'm not saying watching all it's got to be, you know, but it's about get. It's about a truthfulness for me and you know, that's an honesty and about being authentic. Yes.

Okay, so, so no sort of touch ups, no trying to remove blemishes. Just as you say, be authentic in the picture.

Yeah, a little bit maybe. A little bit maybe. But you can do it with lighting, camera angle, you know this. But people are very, very aware of Photoshop these days and that, you know, it's got a very bad name to it, obvious reasons, you know, and I really would. I mean, in my career as a photographer, I mean, I was a hair and beauty photographer. I've never. I've always used Photoshop, but I've always used it to enhance what's already there or to maybe. I've never used it to make things, People look skinnier or anything like that. I really think that's not a good thing to do.

Speaking of skinnier, you know, I've got a beagle and you've got a lovely whippet who's thinner than my beagle. What about photographs with animals and children, spouses? Is that something people should think about on their websites or on their social media? Or do you think that's a.

No, no, no. Do you know what? I was just been reading a quote by Donald Miller, who's a really famous marketing guru from America and somebody. I really admire his work and he was talking about building up your personality and the way that you can use different photographs for your website of you and that you maybe formal ones doing with a client, like with one we already discussed, but also photographs of you with your family or with your dog, with your beagle. Just because what that does, it builds up trust within people because they feel they get to know you. And before you even made that sales call or before you made that connection, people. People feel they. They know you. And I think that is the great power of photography. You can do that. I mean, as you know, Jim, I was a university lecturer, so I can get a little bit academic sometimes, I know, but I might just leave you or give you this idea. But the, the power of a photograph and why A photograph is so much more powerful, in my opinion, than a video or moving image. And that is because a photograph will tell you information in a second, even less than half a second. You can make a judgment and you can get something from that photograph. But on top of that as well, a photograph is open to bringing your own personalities to it, your own readings to it and your own stories, so you can interpret in lots of different ways. So that means a photograph is quite a powerful document. Where arguably I might think of a video as being a bit more scriptive. It tells. The story is already there. You don't need to bring anything to it. It's got a beginning and an end and you're immersed in it still. But with a photograph, it's just more resonance. I would argue, and Marcus, if it.

Wanted to argue with you, how would they find you?

You can come and argue with me. You can find me at www.marcusarmad. that's M-A R C U S A H M A D.com and you can also find me a lot hanging out on LinkedIn as well, which is the same name. There's no deal. There's no other Marcus Ahmad on LinkedIn that I'm aware of, Marcus.

And nor should there be. You're unique. Thank you for joining me and everybody on Speak pr.

So thank you Jim.

For those of you that have been listening, I'm sure you've enjoyed hearing Mark's insights into personal brand photography. And if you like this then do please subscribe share it and and until we meet again, I wish you the best of health. A profitable business that if you're getting photography done, do look at getting a professional. It can really make a difference. But in the meantime, use some of the tools and tips that Marcus had suggested because those will make even the best start for you. Thank you so much for listening.