Professional Portraits and Head shots

 Part One

What is the point of a business portrait or professional head shot?
It's a good question, and there's more than one answer.
Frequently clients  schedule a business or corporate head shot or portrait having not yet thought about why or what they are looking for. They just know they need one. Now for the stunning news!!
Not all businesses are the same. What works for an international patent firm may be very different from a firm specializing in entertainment law. Likewise a medical professional will need a different approach. I work with a lot of PR professionals and their needs are completely different, not only from other areas of expertise but within their own profession.

The world is such a visual place now, it's more important than ever to have images that truly represent not only your business but also a reflection of who you are. This is even more so with the explosion of social media and the marketing and professional opportunities that social media now provide.  Here's a grouping of very different professional business portraits.

When I first speak with a prospective client about their professional photography needs I usually ask a lot of questions in an effort to learn about not only what the client may know they need, but also sometimes what they don't know they need. Of course there are occasions when we simply need to match a corporate 'look' for an existing group of head shots. In those cases, I study the existing images prior in order to match the 'look', lighting and background as closely as possible. More frequently clients are trying to convey 'something' My questions are designed to understand what those values are. I also encourage the client to try and take a step back and consider the questions from the standpoint of their potential viewers.
If I were to list some of the qualities you might want to convey,   I think these would rank well

Professional
Approachable
Personable
Trustworthy
Intelligent


Regardless of what type of 'look' your business portrait has, there's one element that remains true across the board - the need to connect with the viewer. There is something universal in how we connect with images of each other, and how we react to those images.
You want that viewer to feel that they would want to talk to you. And, you only have a few seconds to make that connection. It's not about being beautiful or a ringer for Daniel Craig (although that wouldn't hurt)- it's about being authentic.

If you would like to know more about Eikon Photography, Karen Sayre or our Capitol Hill Studio

If you would like directions to Eikon Photography Capitol Hill  http://blog.eikonphoto.com/?page_id=376

Review Eikon Photography DC

Reviews on the internet: Worthless time suck or valuable?  

Review Part 1
I've heard the web described as the new 'wild west' frontier. Maybe so. With the vast quantity of internet review information available it has become increasingly difficult to get  quality meaningful information in front of the viewer. Reputation management is meaningless these days given that people can and do review you, even if they have never worked with you - and as a small business there's nothing you can do about it.

You've probably read about small businesses being bullied by clients wanting 'freebies or they'll 'dis' you online' 

Sadly, those people actually exist. Not only does it negatively impact the business in question, but it's not fair to the people really seeking information about a business. Of course it's important to know if there's serious issues with a prospective doctor or other professional, but what happened to trying out a restaurant for yourself? Speaking personally, I've never been to a newly opened restaurant that hit it's stride in that first few weeks after opening. Yet now everyones a food critic. Not so much Sergei (you'll have to dig deep for that little meerkat joke).  

If you went into a restaurant, and some total stranger approached you and said ' Hey this is not your type of restaurant' would you do what they told you? My guess is probably not (I hope). So why would otherwise perfectly sensible people  read something online and take it as gospel? 

Eikon, Eikon Everywhere …

Where's Eikon? Apparently everywhere! When I first started Eikon Photography back in 1992, I was careful to research the use of the name Eikon before choosing it for my business name.
I've been asked a thousand times (ok slight exaggeration, but only slight) what the word Eikon actually means. So, for all of you staying awake at night pondering the questions,  Eikon is the Greek root of the word 'icon' It was adopted into latin in the mid 16th century and means : likeness, image. I chose to use the Greek spelling. I am not Greek, I'm English.

if you want to read the full monty on the meaning, try here.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icon

Well back in 1992, other than a wonderful visual magazine published in Germany, there was no one using the name Eikon. Fast forward to today ….. Yikes, there's a million.  I thought the business name would be obscure enough to remain unique. Er, not so much. So to dispel any confusion, here are a few of the 'Eikon' s that I am NOT.

www.eikondevice.com   Nope - not me.
Well, actually I don't sell tattoo equipment. No surprises there.

Ewww.eikonphotography.net Christian Based, Family Owned photography.
Definitely not me. I'm all about diversity and inclusion. I'm happy regardless of anyones religion, sexual preference, race, or shoe size.

Here's another Eikon in Nigeria ! This is cool, but I have not gone multinational as of yet. Actually keeping up with DC is quite enough.
Welcome To Eikonworld Productions (Nigerian Based Wedding ...
www.eikonworld.com/Sharephotography.

Nope, I've not established any churches recently either.
www.myeikon.com/Copyright 2013 Eikon – Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale

eikonphotography.com  California here we come? Not so fast! Now this is where most confusion has arisen. Eikon Photography out in sunny CA do lovely work, and occasionally we get clients who somehow mix us up. This is even more the case since one of the owners shares the same first name with me (although spelled very differently)

And the list goes on.
5 production companies, a couple of wedding video companies and a couple of things techie that I don't understand.

It's amazing what you can find when you're not looking!
Here are the sites that do belong to me.

www.eikonphoto.com
www.eikonphotographer.com
www.dcphotographerwashington.com

Basically, if it's not here in DC, it's probably not me!

Well, that was easy. So fast for an additional blog

Well this is just an introductory post, so don't get too excited. My other websites/blogs should be feeding this site at some point, and I'll add pictures and fun stuff that I fee like talking about.
Here are other sites where you can look at my work.
Eikon Photography - Portrait and wedding
Or
Eikon Photography - corporate, editorial and business portraits

Until then, I just need to deal with a few technical issues ... stay tuned.