How to plan your best year, a Top Toronto Corporate Headshot and Event Photographer
It’s time to talk trends. My industry evolves rapidly and it’s exciting to see the evolution of technology, broadcast mediums and other trends. The next few hundred words will be dedicated to the trends I’m ready to embrace in 2019.
Tech Trends
Technology is a dominant theme for photographers. Between gear, software and gadgets, there’s always something new and shiny that comes with a promise to make your photos better, brighter or easier to capture. It’s incumbent on the photographer to evaluate which of these trends are worth chasing and which are a passing fad.
Body Break
No, I’m not talking about Hal Johnson and Joanne McLeod (my Canadian friends will appreciate this reference!), I’m talking about camera bodies. With the rise in popularity of mirrorless cameras, things are getting smaller which allows us to give our bigger bodies a break. Mirrorless cameras serve a distinct purpose and come with some advantages over their larger, mirrored camera cousins. They are completely silent which, for a classically trained photographer, can take some getting used to. That beautiful ‘click’ sound doesn’t exist because it’s created by the mirror slap in bigger bodied cameras. Lenses for mirrorless cameras have some catching up to do as they’re currently hovering around an f.4 speed which is a bit slow for low light settings. This makes them an ideal compliment to your current toolkit as they can be great for shooting in bright environments, like outdoor events and sports.
Social Trends
Like it or not, social media is here to stay, with platforms like Instagram and Pinterest securing their foothold in the visual space. This is great news for photographers and content creators and adds an element of creativity to the marketing mix. But what does it mean for your business? Read on to learn more about how you can navigate this trend gracefully.
Smart Social
Take one look at your Instagram feed or Pinterest account and you’ll see that photography geared to social media is all the rage. Brands, businesses and influencers are keen to showcase themselves and their products or services via visual social media platforms. A strong image, shot for the purpose of social media can be a powerful storytelling tool.
You may have heard the phrase “content is king”. This statement implies that content needs to be relevant, timely and effective. Strong visuals are a major part of a great content strategy and have resulted in some brands and businesses hiring photographers in-house so that their social media channels can be consistently updated with professional imagery. For those that don’t have the budget to bring someone on board full time, enlisting a personal brand photographer can be extremely effective in establishing or building upon a cohesive look and feel.
If this is all foreign territory to you and your brand or business, consider the story you want to tell. Focus on five things that represent your brand and the image opportunities that can support those pillars. I have worked with many clients to create months of content in just one session. Good planning will go a long way in executing your story and content strategy. Have a look at my website to browse samples of my work and have fun getting inspired!
Photo Trends
This one isn’t so much of a trend as it is an ongoing best practise but it’s worth restating. Professional portrait photography will always be an important asset of your brand or business and there are some things that can help to ensure your portraits are on trend.
Picture perfect
Making room in your budget for updated headshots is always in vogue. Look at your roster and evaluate what has changed since the last time you had headshots taken. When I meet with a new client I like to look at what they’ve shot previously so that I can improve upon their existing library of images. More times than not, changes in the trends mentioned previously are the first step towards making improvements. Additionally, personnel changes and the evolution of clothing and hairstyles make a world of difference to an updated headshot.
The Gist
Some trends come and go and seem like a great idea at the time (crimped hair anyone?) while others evolve over time and never go out of style (safe to say a great pair of jeans are here to stay). Technology is changing rapidly, most of it for the better. Social media has reached heights unthinkable during its dawn in the mid 00’s. Photography styles are more subtle in their advancements but by leveraging technology and social media trends appropriately, can make a big difference in the images you use to represent your brand or business.
If you’d like to update your images, shoot for social media or explore other trends not mentioned in this blog, let’s connect! Contact me today to start road-mapping your content plans for 2019.
If you enjoyed this post, please continue to follow my blog, where I share tips, tricks and insights as one of Toronto’s Top Corporate Headshot and Event Photographers.You can also connect with me on my google page andLinkedIn.
Toronto Corporate Headshot Event and Branding Photographer and Videographer