What to expect on a headshot photography session

 
 

Your headshots need updating and you want to get them done but you feel nervous about having your picture taken. I know exactly how that feels! As somebody that isn’t a big fan of having my photo taken, I completely understand the levels of anxiety and awkwardness it can create. That means I’m very conscious of making a photo session not feel like a photo session. Before we get together we’ll have a brief chat, or share messages about where we’ll meet - I can come to your home/office, we can meet outdoors at a park or a cafe, anywhere that you’d feel most comfortable. I can also give suggestions about anything to avoid wearing - no black for your top half to avoid looking like a floating head, or anything too heavily patterned so you don’t become like a magic eye picture where you have to focus in a certain way to see the image you want.

When we meet, I won’t start contorting you into all sorts of positions, with my camera about an inch from your face. We’ll spend a bit of time chatting, no doubt talking about the weather at some point (I’m British after all), grab a quick drink if we’ve met at a cafe, or have a little walk round the place we’ve met to see where would be good to sit, make sure the sunshine (hopefully it’ll be out) won’t be right in your eyes. This will give you some time to relax and hopefully feel a bit more comfortable. We’ll have a quick chat about the types of photos we’ll do and anything you particularly want to avoid and then I’ll start to take some pictures, whilst we’re chatting. You might not even notice! We’ll move around a little bit, try a few different locations in the space we’re in so there’s a selection of pictures for you to choose from. I might make a few suggestions about where to look, or what to do with your hands - I always feel a bit awkward when I don’t have something to do with my own hands or have pockets to put them in! We might have a few photos where you’re sitting down or stood up - there’s something about leaning against things that makes you feel less ‘exposed when standing’. You might even start to enjoy having your photo taken!

Get in touch for a chat or to find out more, or maybe you’re even ready to book your headshot session now!

Meet the creative - Tanica Powell, Arts, Culture & Charity Marketer

 
 

Bubbly, creative, passionate, friendly - just a few of the words that describe Tanica, who I met a few weeks ago for my latest ‘meet the creatives’ blog.

In the early stages of her career, but already very clear that the vision and mission of the company she works for is what drives her most, I admired this ‘compass’ she has for guiding her career path.


Beginning work at the Contact Theatre in a sales role, during the peak of Covid, Tanica stayed 3 years progressing into a digital content and then digital marketing role. It’s clear her time at the theatre was an influential one and she was full of praise for what she described as an “inspirational organisation”. She explained how young people have a voice in Contact Theatre, are encouraged to influence the processes and make up half the board of trustees. I could see how important an organisation’s ethos is to Tanica and this example of an organisation actively ‘living’ its values made a lasting impression on her.   

It’s now nearly 3 years since she made the move to Walk the Plank starting as a Marketing and Communications Officer and progressing to Senior Marketing and Communications Officer.

Sounding like a brilliant place to work - a bit like a home for imagination, Walk the Plank produces spectacular outdoor community art events, often in partnership with others like Rochdale Council and Manchester City Council. They’re the charity behind such well known events as Manchester Day Parade and the ‘giant baby’ in Rochdale that drew international attention. Even their offices are designed to have the feel of a boat as a nod to their nautical past. As she spoke about working at Walk the Plank I could see, as with her previous role, that she is passionate about the work she’s doing and the organisation’s mission. She spoke about the importance of championing work she believes in and having a positive impact on both the local community and environment. It was encouraging to hear how much Walk the Plank collaborates with communities to ensure their productions are representative and can later be integrated into the community where it’s feasible to do so (I’m not too sure the giant baby was able to stay as a permanent fixture in Rochdale).

With a degree in fine art, I was initially, wrongly, assuming Tanica would have taken on a role in something directly related to her course. I’ve always thought of fine art as being quite niche and chatting about this challenged my assumptions about what a fine art degree actually covers - marketing and communications were a big part of her course, with students encouraged to set up websites and social media as part of their learning. This made a role in marketing and communications a very natural step. I think it’s often easy to forget just how interlinked different areas of the arts actually are in reality and it makes sense that they are. Whilst creativity is very important to her, a more important driver is mission and purpose. Tanica explained that, for her, creativity can be found in many different ways and as long as she believes the ethos of where she’s working her opportunities for creativity can then always be found.

A really interesting and engaging person to chat with we covered a lot of different topics including visiting Japan, life in Chorlton, a shared inability to properly gauge size and heights and making use of the word ‘fettling’. Whilst very happy with where she is now I don’t doubt that when the time comes to move to the next organisation it will be somewhere that makes a difference.

Meet the Creative - Louise Thompson, Arts & Museum Consultant, Health & Wellbeing

 
 


An originally planned 20(ish) minute talk turned into an easy hour long chat that could have kept going if it wasn’t for noticing the time. Louise is passionate, warm, inspiring and fun! We chatted about everything from the mental load, to accents, imposter syndrome and the sometimes rollercoaster nature of freelancing (and more).



In what would be my dream role if I wasn’t a photographer, Louise is an Arts & Museum Consultant for Health and Wellbeing. Working primarily with Museums and Galleries, but not exclusively, her work champions the positive impact of the arts on mental health and wellbeing. Having worked for the Manchester Art Gallery for 18 years, Louise made the decision to go freelance in October. 



Clearly determined, her first role at the Art Gallery wasn’t her perfect job but she knew she wanted to work for the organisation and was prepared to work her way up. It struck me how creative Louise has been in seeking out opportunities and taking time to recognise what interests her. She knew she wanted to work in the arts and whilst she wasn’t entirely clear what role she wanted, she was guided by the experiences she enjoyed. She spent 2 years in her first role in visitor services and realised she wanted to work more with people. This prompted her to volunteer a day a week with the Gallery’s Learning & Engagement dept to build experience. During that time an opportunity arose to temporarily cover a Learning Officer role, which Louise was seconded into for a year. The position later became permanent and Louise spent 4 years in the position building her understanding about education and art engagement and also the different needs of each audience. Each role became a stepping stone to the next. 



Having always been interested in mental health and wellbeing and how art positively impacts mental health, Louise saw there was an opportunity to shadow the Art Gallery’s newly created post of Health and Wellbeing Manager and so spent a day a week shadowing them. Realising she wanted to find out more about the impact of the arts on people with severe mental health issues she took a volunteer position at Stepping Hill hospital, on her day off from work. The hospital commissioned a health and arts organisation called ‘Arc to run weekly workshops for patients on mental health secure wards. This was an invaluable experience in learning how to facilitate groups of people with severe mental health conditions, how to de-escalate situations and ensure everyone was included. Taking the time to further her knowledge and skills beyond that of her current role meant that when the Health and Wellbeing role was next advertised, she was ready for the position and got the role she had been working towards. Then followed 12 fulfilling years and in October she decided it was time to explore possible opportunities as a freelance Arts & Museum Consultant for Health & Wellbeing. 



Perhaps unsurprisingly given her commitment to build experience and insight, Louise has been preparing herself for this change in role and started freelancing a few years back, alongside working at the Art Gallery. Freelancing has seen her work with galleries and museums across the UK and also health organisations, providing training for professionals in understanding why the arts, creativity and culture are so good for health. A lot of places are already putting programmes in place but don’t fully understand why they’re so important for mental health, so her training gives this insight and education. We spoke about underfunding in the arts and how the tide is slowly starting to turn. In a mini history lesson, Louise shared that there is a long arts and health history in Manchester. Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) had the first arts and health department in the UK and more recently the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has formed a Creative Health department, which is the first time that’s ever happened. They also have an ambition to be the first creative health city region in the world, which should mean more funding available to invest in creative health work, which is really encouraging. I think something we both recognise is that there are alternative ways to help people and there’s a role for the arts and health sectors to partner in prevention. 



Now back to the world of freelancing and we had very honest discussions about the liberating highs and thankfully fleeting panics about working for yourself which, when they appear, seem to oscillate between finances and being exposed as in imposter/self doubt. There’s also something necessarily motivating about freelancing - you have to push yourself outside your comfort zone in ways you never would have done when safely cocooned within an organisation - nothing will happen if you don’t go out and get it. You have to be proactive and for Louise this is currently around making sure she meets up with others for social interaction. 


I found there were a lot of parallels between us, which is no doubt why we nattered for so long. Both of us have an arts background - Louise did a degree in History of Art & Design, mine is in English & Philosophy. We both initially ‘fell’ into roles after university with Louise briefly working for a private company in telecommunications, and me in local healthcare. We’ve both spent a number of years working at the same organisation in roles focused on healthcare and now we’re freelancing at a similar point, having spent time ‘nurturing’ the roles we wanted to freelance in. We’re both passionate about mental health and how the arts can help support/improve good mental health. I left our conversation on a high, enjoying the opportunity to find out more about working in a role that combines 2 of my interests - mental health and the arts. Our conversation reminded me of the importance in recognising and acknowledging what interests you and building a path from there, rather than focusing on a specific job role and moulding yourself around that. I’m excited to see what Louise does next and know that it will be a success. Follow her work on instagram and linked in.

Meet the Creative - Holly Gleave, Graphic Designer

 
 

Current role: Design Director, Studio North

Career path: Post graphics degree - 12 years in graphic design, working across a range of companies including 5plus architects, Rare Breed, HTA Design LLP, Black & Ginger. Progressing from Graphic Designer, to Senior Designer, to Lead Designer and now Design Director.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the whole concept of a career for life, particularly since moving to full time freelance photography in July. There are so many creative career paths and I wanted to find out more about the different routes people have taken to get to where they are now. Are they traditionally linear routes or a bit more chequered like my own and does that matter? I caught up with Holly to find out more about her career in graphic design, her advice for anyone looking to get into the same field and whether there’s anything she’d do differently if she could go back.

Warm and open to talk to, Holly and I met for a much needed hot drink at Ducie Street (if you’re a coffee shunner like me, the hot chocolate is well worth the trip!) With a fleeting thought about pursuing a career in prosthetics, Holly’s always known she wanted to do graphic design. Starting with a GCSE (which I didn’t know was even an option), then A Level graphics, an Art Foundation at Leeds College which gave valuable exposure to other areas of design and onto Liverpool John Moores. It seems like a number of earlier influences have given Holly clarity about what she wanted to do and I loved hearing about the day return ticket from her dad for a solo trip to London, aged 16. It was during that trip she decided she wanted to live in London and after university she did, for 9 years! Whilst there she built experience working across different agencies and progressed from a Junior to Senior Designer.

It’s just over 3 years now since Holly made the move back up North to be closer to family. Heading back to Liverpool for a brief stop at a smaller creative agency, Holly has been at Studio North for 3 years, becoming Design Director in September. With 12 years industry experience (including an early stint working on HS2!) to look back on, I asked Holly for her top 3 tips for anyone just starting off:

  1. Get as much experience as you can through different placements before taking a job. After uni it can be difficult to get straight into an agency but using the time to gain varied experience through placements will give you a better insight into the industry.

  2. Build your own community through networking. The mutual support and collaboration is invaluable.

  3. Work in a few different companies to get a feel for which is the best fit for you. You might prefer a smaller company, or something larger scale. Each has its pros and cons.

It was particularly encouraging to hear about the shift Holly has seen in approaches to work/life balance from more junior staff which have in turn influenced her. People give their all during the working day but appreciate that there is life and other commitments outside of the 9-5. The team strikes just the right balance between a playful work environment and getting the job done. Whilst COVID has opened up greater opportunities for working remotely, which is great when you have something that needs complete focus, in Holly’s view you can’t underestimate the value of face to face working. Many of the impromptu and casual office conversations are where a lot of ideas are shared or tested out. You can’t underestimate the importance of these discussions and experiences, even more so when you’re just starting out.

It’s clear how much Holly enjoys the team she works with and the enthusiasm she has for her industry. She comes across as a pragmatic person, generous with her time and happy to share her knowledge with those just starting out, as evident from her mentoring junior graphic designs and arranging their industry placements. Her career path to date follows a more direct route and I was almost expecting Holly to say she had a clear route all the way into the future so it was interesting and, in a way, reassuring to hear she doesn’t have her future completely mapped out and seems open to other possibilities, whatever they may be.

Follow Holly on LinkedIn to find out more about the work she’s doing including her ladies wine and dine events.

More ‘Meet the creatives’ coming soon…

Didsbury family photo session

 
 

When Amy phoned me to say that she wanted to do a family photo session before their round the world adventure, but there was only one date that she could do, I wasn’t sure it was going to happen. I’m glad it did though and we managed to squeeze in a morning photo session at Amy’s home before they had to pack up their belongings to head off travelling. 

Not just a photo session to capture the family together before travels began, it was also the littlest lady’s first birthday. Amy’s sister and nephew had already travelled up from London, with Grandparents arriving not long after me armed with a bagful of pastries from the very tasty la Choquette. I just about managed to resist the urge to snaffle the entire contents of the bag.

I love how uninhibited children are and after some initial curiosity over what I was doing, they all carried on playing and seemed to forget I was there. The bubble machine came out, there was whizzing down the slide and a lot of fun running about. The girls ‘big brother’ the bulldog even seemed happy to get in on a few family snaps and struck up quite a charming and regal pose, as you can see from the photos.

It was a great way to capture memories of time together before a big life change. 

If you’d like me to capture your family memories, get in touch for a copy of my family brochure.

Hello baby! Newborn family photo session

Watch out! Womb warming images ahead…

You forget how quickly the newborn days pass. They’re literally here and gone in moments (not so, unfortunately, for those weary nights)…

But of course, you wouldn’t change it. All those tiny fingers, toes, little jerky movements, warm snuggles, teeny tiny clothes, that baby smell!

Unsurprisingly, I loved spending time with Elora and her family, capturing life with their newest addition, just over 2 weeks since he arrived. A morning of happiness, joy and exuberance. Here are just a few images from the morning…

P.S. Tap on the images to view!

What's on in school holidays

Nearly a week in and a mere 5 to go! I’ve been keeping a watchful eye on anything summer holiday related that’s passed my way. Asides from the eye watering prices of holidays abroad, here’s a good mix of ideas for events in Manchester that are either free or won’t leave you stunned by the price.

Enjoy!

Children playing on a tractor at a farm
Nature crafts, making flower crowns
Girl with a flower crown crafting at an our kids social event

Outdoor fun & adventure

  • Conker crew

    Summer socials! Outdoor fun with stories, crafts and adventure

    £9.50

    5th, 8th & 22nd August

  • Midweek magic at Dunham Massey

    A mixture of outdoor fun, story telling, fairy trails and an invitation to fancy dress Friday (you don’t need to ask me twice).

    Free if you’re a member

    Runs until 2nd September.

Keeping active

Wonderful world of stories

  • Fairy tales, z arts

    Interactive, fairy tale town with caves, shops, a market place, the 3 bears and dressing up a plenty!

    £8 per child

    Runs until Feb 2023

Curious minds

Keep your eyes peeled…

  • Tipi cafe, Chorlton

    Keep a watchful eye on their instagram page for news of upcoming summer holiday events

And last but not least… these 2 dedicated websites, bursting with ideas of things to do across Manchester: