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

Jim James: 0:00

Man, gorgeous women. Okay, we'll talk about Tinder later. Marcus Ahmed, welcome to the speak PR podcast. As you know, this is a show for business owners, entrepreneurs, anyone running an organisation 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?

Marcus Ahmed: 0:30

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. Um, yeah, personal branding, is photography is a relatively new thing. My background in photography was I started off as 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 working in my studio is in London, and I was working in America in New York, LA, 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 the south of England, or Wales, I say, lecturing in fashion and advertising photography. Now, with personal branding, photography, I'm bringing those two elements together, fashion now all about making people look good. And advertising photography, which is all about selling a product, you know, with one image sometimes, and focusing that with on my business clients.

Jim James: 1:49

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?

Marcus Ahmed: 2:02

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,

Jim James: 2:10

right, the show's over. Thanks, everybody.

Marcus Ahmed: 2:13

We'll keep this word going around now. And I think it's got a lot of value to it, it's authentic, it's all about being authentic. And that means being real being showing people who you are, you know, there's an old saying that people buy from people. And when I look at websites of businesses, in particular 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 I focus on in my, when I work with my client, she's been using that personality to attract more customers.

Jim James: 2:53

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, I've 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 the company brand because they're not always the same thing? Or do you believe they are the same

Marcus Ahmed: 3:19

I think they are the same to me know, if 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 match values that company may be that companies know my personal view, but it's about it's getting across who you are and what you do in a photograph, I think.

Jim James: 3:43

So Marcus, 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

Marcus Ahmed: 4:06

you can get a great shot on these on your on your camera phone, you just got to first of all open somewhere with it hasn't got a distracting background you know you don't be in a you know on a beach on a tangent plane wall works brilliantly. You know, and even if you can find it out award that it's got the same brand colours you have, you know, just need to be widely find a blue wall that's gonna be perfect. And then I get your head to fill about three quarters of the same size as it were so you know, it's not too far, not too close up, not too far back. And then make a few different expressions smiling, being serious, just try different things out and really it's a better quantity in this getting the white wine if you're the human face incredible the way the emotions contains. In an instant, and they will be overnight, of course. So shooting a lot of shots, which is really going to help. So let's just go over that again background playing very close in, shoot a lot.

Jim James: 5:17

And then should someone do a handheld? Or should they use a tripod, for example? because lots of pictures are going to add an arm's length. And that's kind of an awkward distance as well.

Marcus Ahmed: 5:28

Tripod, or some kind of mechanism to hold the camera would be ideal, for sure. Yeah, it would be for sure. But another thing we can add to that list, and as he obviously is going to go longer, I'm going to keep down to speed. But as you can add is like light is really important for any photograph. The kind of light that works really well on board, great, 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, here in Bristol today, it's really what we call lap the light outside. So 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 their.

Jim James: 6:21

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?

Marcus Ahmed: 6:40

Great question. And obviously, being a fashion photographer, I deal with light all the time. And it's really, really important. And, you know, it's a long time to do that. So to keep it succinct, you know, I 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 modelling which is like shadows or highlights. So yeah, that would be ideal. But if you go for a confused day, when the light when we got a light cloud, you don't really need to worry too much about here the light is good coming from all directions, in fact, can be old fashioned days of painting when he wants etc. The all the paintings you shot UT will be done what we call North light, which is the not the light from at the back of the house has no direct light,

Jim James: 7:28

nor light is there. What about, about direction? What about sort of leaning forward leaning backwards, head to the side head up? When I see on LinkedIn, some, especially Americans could do this sort of lean in earnest look, and some people lean back with their arms crossed. any guidance on on those kinds of postures?

Marcus Ahmed: 7:54

It depends what you're looking for, is that I understood that and I have my style funny 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, expect you on LinkedIn, you know, they're really really tight little circles really tiny. So you have to really maximise that space and it's all about the eye contact. So what I do with my son 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 maximise 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, I've got a leaning back. And then when you leave it back yourself showing that you're a bit scared of the camera it's getting right in there really?

Jim James: 8:48

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?

Marcus Ahmed: 9:04

Yeah, at the gym, you've 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 scoopneck especially I've talked about going in closed and if you want to corporately show special like the circle, sometimes you got scoopneck on it can be a little bit too revealing. As you just give it doesn't give you a border an edge to the photograph. And guys you know. I do notice when I take a look i do i do do a lot of business portraits is that if somebody doesn't wear a suit normally and they put on for the shot in the photograph, it never looks right. It is something about the clothes we wear is what we feel comfortable in. You know and you mentioned the suit we did earlier with Nick Helms the binding style, branding stylist, and he looks fantastic in a suit and he is used to wearing a suit. And when he put a suit on it, he looked brilliant in it. But you know, somebody like me, for example, he doesn't wear a suit a lot, you know, you can always tell he never looked really comfortable. So don't try and be something you're not what you're wearing. Otherwise, yet, I would always find what I prefer is neutral colours, black, grey, navy blue, guys, and not white. And then for women, you know, not too much pattern. And again, maybe pick out a colour in me or eye colour with very nice and monotone or look

Jim James: 10:41

until 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 read between the lines?

Marcus Ahmed: 10:52

Yeah, I actually tell you what I think I do know, it's cliche that with the eyes are the window to the soul, but it is it's all about your eyes. And in fact, when I I have you can see behind me my suit, oh, you can't see behind. In my studio, I have a backdrop which I actually if somebody comes in, they got blue eyes, I'll put a blue backpack onto it. So it gives you this a monotone 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 of a thing I used to in fashion and hair and beauty.

Jim James: 11:30

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

Marcus Ahmed: 11:50

I think it depends on the person to him. I think you know, if you're a night person, you're not all for the morning idea. If you're a morning person, you know go look at no and 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 that midday is not a good time when the sun is overhead for using natural light port rates. When I'm shooting, I use flash flash all the time. So I can shoot anytime that 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 it's a little bit more to it than that that in my strategy, there's three photographs that are really cool define your brand. The headshot, as we've discussed be a great way to start the other two photographs, I'd really try and encourage my clients to use our or their websites or the first image that comes on the website, there is a real crucial part of real estate as far as photography goes. And in that image you really want to get across and really nice portrait of you doing, maybe I can speak walks and then for half length, but with hands in there as well making some gesture, or maybe a little plot 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 little suggestion there. And the third picture that is crucial to your website, or your motion is the your services photograph. And that should go somebody using your product or service. Now obviously, if you've got a product, it's quite easy, somebody's 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 it's three photographs, and we got the profile shot, the photograph, Your Honour, which is you and your what you do with your company. And the third shot is the services that you offer. And you've shown you do those. Those three photographs, I think are crucial to define your personal brand.

Jim James: 14:21

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 colour way of each of those three photographs? Or does that not matter?

Marcus Ahmed: 14:36

No, it is what you were in the three 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 a different days and you've gone to the trouble of expensive getting your photos, you know, a photographer in or whatever, on different times. So So, but what kind of does come with it what colour is key is your branding colours. So if you know if a colour, I'm going to work with a client to hairdresser, and she's really clean on orange and grey, so we're really getting those colours incorporated doing all the given Photoshop photoshoots we're doing. So that's really key, you know that colour is a really quick metaphor. Getting across your brand.

Jim James: 15:20

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 it's a good picture as they should leave well alone and just put it up as the camera took it?

Marcus Ahmed: 15:37

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 walking always got beaten. But it's a part get. It's about the truthfulness for me. And you know, that's an honesty. And that's about being authentic. Yes.

Jim James: 15:58

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

Marcus Ahmed: 16:09

Yeah, a little bit, maybe a little bit, maybe, but he can do it with lighting, camera angle, he know this, but not that 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, my creative photography. I mean, I wish I had a beauty photographer, I've never, I, 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 look skinnier, or anything like that. I really think that is not a right thing to do

Jim James: 16:47

Speaking of skinnier, you know, I've got a beagle. And you've got a lovely with it. 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,

Marcus Ahmed: 17:08

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 who 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, your website, have you and that you maybe, or more ones doing with a client, like with what 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 made that sales call, or before you made that connection, people feel they know you. And I think that is the great power of photography, you can do that. I mean, as you know, Jim is a university lecturer so I can get a little bit academic, sometimes I know, but I might just leave you give you this idea. But 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 you can, it will tell you information. It's a second, even less than half a second, you can make a judgement and you can get something from that photograph on top of that as well. And photograph is open to bring in your own personalities to it your own reading straight and your own stories. So you can interpret in lots of different ways. So that means upload a photograph is a quite a powerful document. But arguably, I might think of a video, it's been a bit more scripture, which 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 you're immersed in it still but with a photograph, you can add it is more veterans, I would argue

Jim James: 19:01

and marks if you want to argue with you, how would they find you please,

Marcus Ahmed: 19:06

you can go to come to argue me where you can find me at www.marcusahmed.com and you can also find me a lot hanging out on LinkedIn as well, which is the same name. There's no doubt there's no other marks on LinkedIn that I'm aware of

Jim James: 19:26

Marcus, and nor should there be your 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 marks his insights into personal brand photography. And if you like this, then do please subscribe, share it. 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 lis ening