Scott Peek Photography has mastered the art of high-end headshots. Clients booking with the business can put their best foot forward through a portfolio of authentic, high-quality portraits.

Owner Scott Peek said anyone looking to elevate their personal and professional brand should see headshots as an opportunity to make an impact.

“Especially now with social media, everybody who has a face, with some presence in the world, and wants to be known for something should have to have a portfolio of headshot portraits,” Peek said.

Peek said high-end headshots go far beyond a stereotypical school picture experience, and his team’s role in delivering a variety of portraits customers love is to provide facial expression coaching. By capturing a variety of subtle differences in facial micro-expressions, professionals can choose slightly different looks to promote different initiatives.

As executives are ready to book a session, Peek encourages a call to have a conversation about the purpose of updating their headshots.

“Headshot opportunities are really about your personal and professional brand,” Peek said. “Executives and professionals should enter this opportunity thinking more broadly about how their portraits would be perceived by others.”

Peek’s goal is to get at the core of an individual and find out about each professionals’ personality and what they want to be known for. By taking the time to understand clients at a deeper level, Peek and his team can better coach them throughout the headshot process.

“Photographers are capturing the essence of somebody’s personality and soul, and most people are initially intimidated to be seen beyond ‘looking professional,’” Peek said. “Everyone is seeking to be seen as authentic, approachable, and confident as a baseline. They want to make sure that they're represented well, and it's our job to ensure those unique characteristics are displayed through their headshot portraits.”

Peek said the importance of having a good headshot is simple: people will look at a picture before they read a caption and make an assessment of what they see. Throughout the interactive headshot session, Scott and his team coach each professional a sense of camera presence. This ensures to capture clients’ best moments. Scott said at the end of a session, the best thing clients can say is that they’ve been given specific direction.

“We've told them how to pose, and we’ve gotten them comfortable and relaxed,” Peek said. “We capture those moments in-between the forced smiles and sometimes we get them to giggle. In the end, they are amazed at the results commenting, ‘We’ve never had headshots look this good!’”

When booking a high-end headshot session with Scott Peek Photography, clients should bring a couple different outfits. Peek said he and his team can help clients pick out the best outfit and color scheme for their overall look. In addition, having different outfits allows the photographer to capture both formal and casual headshots.

Peek said something beyond a white shirt often looks better, but clients should stick with a simple colored shirt or blouse that doesn’t feature big and bold patterns. He also recommends wearing few accessories and simple jewelry.

After deciding on an outfit, clients will stand in front of the lights and be coached through different poses and expressions. The photographer’s pictures are linked to a computer, so after a few are taken, clients see some of the headshots to have an idea of what they look like.

“Often, we will capture a second or third round of portraits, where each professional starts to become more relaxed,” Peek said. “They’ll know a few cues and clues for things they might improve upon.”

As the session ends, clients will choose the portraits that best represent them... the pictures they absolutely love. Peek said it might be one, three or even 10 headshots that are all slightly different from one another with great lighting, depth and dimension.

“Most professionals are shocked when they love multiple portraits,” Peek said. “...And that's the point: capture their best moment [and] allow them the opportunity over that next year to use those headshot portraits in a variety of ways to promote themselves to market themselves to make sure their personal and professional brand is enhanced. That's our job.”

When clients book a high-end headshot session, they’re paying for the photographer’s expertise and ability to coach them into poses that make them look their best. In addition, Peek said each client will be provided licenses to use the portraits to enhance their overall personal brand.

In addition to individual headshots, Scott Peek Photography also offers group headshots, entire team portraits as well as photography for corporate and nonprofit events. Peek said his job is to tell clients’ stories and produce high-quality portraits that make a lasting impression.

To learn more about Scott Peek Photography’s services, visit the website.

The above story was produced by Senior Multi Platform Journalist Summer El-Shahawy with Community Impact's Storytelling team with information solely provided by the local business as part of its "sponsored content" purchase through our advertising team.