The obvious answer is that the purpose of a photo shoot is to get pictures. Who do you want pictures of? Most of us are lucky enough to have people that we love and we would probably also love pictures of them. Personally, I want pictures of everyone I know and love. People grow and change, so I also want pictures of them in every season. Pictures of my friends and family are like Pokemon and I want to collect them all.
The first one I'd say is that pictures are for anyone who wants pictures of their family. Time goes by so fast and it's easy to forget to capture different times in our family's lives. Pictures are the gift to our future selves, it's the time we take out of a moment we're enjoying to capture it for later. Most people will never regret taking more pictures of their family. Parents tend to have thousands of pictures of their children on their phones. Time moves very fast especially when you have small children. Their faces look different sometimes even only months between. I encourage everyone to get regular family photos. You will cherish these someday.
Another powerful way to use portraits is to give a face to your brand, creative project, or work. In day and time, people will likely see a picture of you or what you're working on before they meet you in person. At least you hope that your information is circling somewhere...Connection is something that we humans want instinctually, we'll often pick a person or business by how connected we feel to them. Good pictures are still the best way to make a larger audience know, like, and trust you.
Whether you are an author like this lovely lady pictured above or have any of the other many reasons you may want to put your best face forward, a fresh portrait of you looking like an authentic person trustworthy enough to do the thing you're skilled to do, is still the best way to show up online and in print. AI is trying a lot, but we know the difference between what is real and fake. At least for now, AI still gives an erie "off" feel. Raw and authentic is more appealing than ever.
Photoshoots are for anyone with an inner artist.
Planning photoshoots and going through the process is a fun tickle on that creative part of your brain that gets joy out of creating something. Photoshoots are an interesting process that I find a lot of people enjoy even though they may not know all of the technical skills to do on their own. Creating personalized artwork with people feels like having magical skills when in reality it's years of experience in technical skills blended with an evergrowing interest in color and light.
Last but not least...
Photoshoots are for anyone who wants to feel more confident.
This is a topic I could go on and on about, but you can always check out some of my other blogs like my last one "3 Benefits of Self Portraits".
Our feelings about ourselves affect how we show up in the world in almost every aspect. Our relationship with ourselves is the longest relationship we'll have, invest the time and intention to yourself and you won't regret it.
Thanks for reading this far! If you have any questions or comments, I'd love to see them.
Let's keep the conversation going, what do you want to get pictures of?