Whether you are an attorney, a doctor, an owner of your own company, or a CEO of a larger brand, having a quality executive portrait is crucial as you represent not only yourself but also the company brand. This is true today more than ever in the age of social media.
Imagine that you reach out to someone you’d like to do business with. Before meeting you I person the first thing they will do is they will go to online and look up your website and possibly even your LinkedIn profile. There they can find your work history, your company information, but most importantly your portrait. What do you look like? What will your portrait say about you?
Your portrait says a lot about you.
This portrait is of a man who owns his own company or is its leader. He is confident, he dresses well, and because the portrait is painterly, almost like a painting, it tells a viewer that this business owner takes pride in his work and the legacy that he is leaving behind. This man could possibly be an attorney or a doctor and his portrait will hang on the wall of his business for many years to come.
This is a portrait of the same man, with the same outfit on but photographed on a simple black background. He is still confident but not as fancy and less rich looking than the last portrait. One would still very much like to do business with the second businessman. He is smiling and happy and his profession resembles that of a salesman or a smaller company than an expensive brand.
A portrait of this man is rather different. He is smiling and looks as if photographed at his workplace or a factory, but he is not in a professional outfit and the quality of the portrait is rather lacking. It is not professionally photographed, as a matter of fact, I would even say that it might even be a selfie, which tells me that this man does not value his brand or his work enough to hire a professional photographer. One would consider carefully before doing business with this man.
As you can see, the quality of an executive portrait says a lot about the person being photographed. What’s more, you really do get what you pay for when it comes to photography or the photographer. Before you retain one, make sure that he or she can elevate your brand and can give you a portrait that best represents your style or brand.