In a world that seems dark and scary (particularly for women and girls) I saw the light, the sisterhood, the friendship and the kindness of strangers. I saw people united by love it was beautiful.

When Rosemary got in touch to tell me all about her business I was so excited. Her colourful wardrobe, gorgeous illustrations and her energy were the perfect ingredients for an exciting shoot.

Summer is the season where a load of people switch off, step back and take their holidays. They pour wine whilst sitting on patios, have picnics in the park or feel the grass between their toes. I’m a huge advocate for that. You can often find me tending to my tomatoes in the greenhouse or drinking copious amounts of wine in the sun too (hey, i’m just being honest).

Why do women never get their photo taken just for fun? Why are we programmed to hate ourselves literally the second we pick up the first fashion magazine or see an advert on a billboard. Why do the media constantly compare and create fictional fights between successful women?

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say you probably have some sort of interesting personality and generally people don’t sit across from you at the pub and fall asleep the second you say something. Was I right?

Same applies to your website. If it’s drab, dull and snooze-inducing then you’re just never going to get those customers chomping at the bit to chat to you.

This is the first month I have actively put this new finance system into practice and although there are definitely going to be some teething issues and some processes to streamline, I already feel like I have taken back control over my money. So I’m going to tell you how I’m putting it into place and maybe you’ll have a eureka money moment just like me.

Now I’m not diving into Chinese medicine here and I am no registered GP but, I have proven with clients, time and again, that a good cure for the small business owner headache is a gallery of personalised photos. I’m not talking about holiday snaps or random pictures of flowers (unless you’re a gardener or a florist!), but good quality photos of you and your business.

When Bella came to me and told me she’d assembled an epic group of female founded, product-based business owners for a pop up shop in Shoreditch I was so excited. The plan was for the team to exhibit their products for three weeks and host various workshops, launches, try on services and basically have all the good times AND they wanted some photos to mark the occasion.

Picture this, you’re scrolling through the internet looking for a new jacket and you come across this website. It’s clunky, whiffs a bit of the 90s but has exactly what you are looking for right there. It’s perfect, sequinned, sparkly, the ultimate hen-do party piece, but the photo is dull, flat, the jacket is shoved in the corner of a room and quickly snapped on a phone.

Office headshots are way better when there are puppies involved. Fact.

So when Gifta UK got in touch and asked me to capture the team’s headshots for their new website, LinkedIn profiles and personal brands I was excited. Then they told me two members of the team had four legs and were furry. Winning.

I am so excited to share this branding shoot that I shot on an overcast February day at the British Library in Kings Cross. When Emma, a mega talented copywriter, got in touch for a power portraits session I immediately suggested the Library as a location that felt relevant to her field of work and it did not disappoint.

Investments in your business are so personal. They are also pretty scary and not all of them are great to be honest. I should know, I made a few bad investments in the first two years of being in my business and although I don’t completely regret them because they led me to find the right path for me, my bank balance could have done without them.

And I’m not talking about OnlyFans…

Let’s level here. Your customers want to buy from you because they like you, they admire you, they want to be you or they can relate to you. You and your service or product make their lives easier, make them feel seen or heard and make them feel special.

A Micro branding photoshoot is a 20 minute, fast paced, action packed version of a full personal branding photoshoot that focuses on headshots of you! They are perfect for a quick top up of images for your business image bank. For example, if you’ve had a haircut or just need to refresh a profile image or an ‘about me’ page on your website, or if you just need a new injection of images into your social media content.

I want to start this blog with a disclaimer - I am not cured from self esteem issues, imposter syndrome and all that good stuff that queues up to kick you when you’re down. I still have that little voice in the back of my mind that tells me I’m not good enough and I don’t know what I’m doing.

You’ve probably had this whole thought process instead of clicking on this big contact me button haven’t you:

CONTACT BECKY BECAUSE I REALLY NEED SOME PHOTOS

Amy is the ultimate wild women. She runs two businesses, one a photography brand focusing on maternity, newborn babies and family shoots and the other a space for photographs to play, learn, grow and be wild. Everything she does is to provide joy and capture precious memories for everyone she works with and she’s not afraid to show her personality and get a little bit weird (legit she lay down in the middle of a bandstand in Arnold Circus next to a bike because the stripey light was nice. Definitely put on a show for the Londoners just casually eating their lunch in the sun!)

I’m done with chucking spaghetti at a wall and I’m rewriting my own damn rulebook and in this blog post I’m going to tell you how to do it too.

2023 was a big year for learning, pivoting, practicing and, frankly, f*cking up. I had goals and aspirations like every small business owner. I wanted to make money to fund my lifestyle and pay my new scary mortgage and I wanted to feel like my business was going forwards not backwards.

The first thing a shiny new business owner immediately thinks when the start a business is ‘I need a logo’.

I can totally understand why.

A reflection on 2023. Inside the messy mind of a burnt out, self employed photographer.

Basically this is just my journal. But have a nosey through at my stream of consciousness and get all the raw, real emotions from the highs, the lows and all the in-betweens of 2023.