Business Brand Photography, What Is It?

We've all heard of wedding photography, family photography, senior photography. Even if you aren't a photographer, you know those genres. But what is brand photography, and what does business branding photography actually look like in practice?

To answer that, we first need to talk about what a brand actually is. That's a huge concept, and I could write a whole book on it, and honestly it took me a long time to figure out myself. For the longest time I wondered, "What's the difference between branding and marketing?"

Here's how I've come to think of it: branding is what your business is and what it stands for. Marketing is how you portray that to the world. When you dig into it, what your business "is" turns out to be a surprisingly deep concept. Most people picture logos and color palettes when they hear the word branding, and yes, those are part of it, but they're really just the visual representation of what your business believes and stands for. Brand photography works the same way.

There are two sides to branding: what you see, and what you don't. What you don't see is the mission, the vision, the values underneath everything. What you do see, the colors, the images, the way a business presents itself, is meant to represent that foundation.

Take my own branding as an example. Teal and turquoise happen to be my favorite colors, and I think of them as "coastal blue." That's not a coincidence: as a Savannah business branding photographer, I serve the coastal regions of Georgia and South Carolina, so the color ties directly to who I serve. Blue also represents trust, and trust is exactly what I want my clients to feel through every step of working with me, from planning a session to the final edited gallery to using their photos strategically afterward. So that blue shows up everywhere in my branding: my logo, my website, even the clothes and decor I chose for my session.

Authenticity is another piece of my branding, and I want my clients to feel free to be authentic too, so I make sure my photos reflect that. Take the photo below: I was not expecting the champagne to spray the way it did, and this face was 100% unplanned. But I use it anyway, because it shows who I really am: not always put together, sometimes caught off guard, and okay with that. In the same spirit, I've included some photos taken on my phone, because they signify something true about how I work: I'm responsive, and I'm there for my clients whenever they need me.

Brand photography also tells a story, your story, and your business's story. That's why we capture "in action" shots. We want to show the everyday reality of how you run things, who your ideal client is, and what it actually looks like when you do the work you do.

Treatment Room Spa, Airmed Wellness

At the end of the day, branding and brand photography are what make you and your business stand out. You could be doing the exact same thing as a hundred other people in town, but when you define who you are and show that clearly to the world, you build a name, you build trust, and you build a brand.