Executive Profile Photography for CEOs, Directors and Business Leaders
The Executive Profile Session is designed for senior professionals who need more than one corporate headshot.
It creates a considered library of professional portraits for CEOs, directors, board members and business leaders who may need different images for PR, governance, annual reports, company websites, media and other professional situations.
Why did I create the Executive Profile Session?
Most professional portrait sessions are relatively straightforward.
Someone might need a new LinkedIn image, a photograph for their company website or a small collection of updated professional portraits.
My Profile Builder Session works well for that. It is a 30-minute session with six final images and enough variety to cover the most common professional uses.
The Signature Session goes further, with an hour of photography and ten final images.
But I kept seeing another type of client.
Senior executives often operate across several different professional environments at the same time.
A CEO might need a formal portrait for an annual report, a more approachable image for the company website, another photograph for media use and something completely different for a board position or speaking engagement.
Using the same photograph everywhere does not always make sense.
That is the gap the Executive Profile Session is designed to fill.
It is not simply a longer headshot session.
The aim is to create a professional image library with different levels of formality, personality and context.
What is the difference between an executive portrait and a standard corporate headshot?
A standard corporate headshot needs to do a particular job.
It should be professional, flattering and consistent.
For much of my corporate photography, I use a lighting style that I know works well across a wide range of people. It gives clean skin tones, good shape to the face and a polished result that works for team pages, LinkedIn and company profiles.
Executive portrait photography gives me more freedom.
Executive portraits need more presence
For an executive portrait, I will often build more contrast and direction into the lighting.
That might involve stronger shadows, harder light, textured canvas backgrounds or a more editorial lighting style.
The purpose is not to make someone look overly serious or intimidating.
It is about creating more depth and presence.
A CEO, director or board member may need to look authoritative in one photograph and warm and approachable in another.
The lighting, background, posing and expression should change with the purpose of the image.
That is why I do not approach the Executive Profile Session with one fixed formula.
Why do CEOs and senior executives need more than one professional photo?
People in senior leadership positions often have more than one professional role.
Someone might be the CEO of one organization while also sitting on an industry board, attending conferences, contributing to media stories or appearing in annual reports.
Those situations do not always call for the same photograph.
A formal portrait might be perfect for an annual report but feel too corporate for a media profile.
A relaxed image might work beautifully on LinkedIn but not feel strong enough for a board biography.
Having a library of professional portraits gives you options.
Where can executive portraits be used?
The images might be used across:
- Company leadership pages
- Board profiles
- Annual reports
- PR
- Media articles
- Speaker profiles
- Tender documents
- Industry publications
- Professional biographies
- Company announcements
- Internal communications
- Conference profiles
I have photographed senior professionals in the past who needed exactly this kind of range.
One CEO required images for annual reports, tenders, PR, marketing and other business uses.
That sort of client is one of the reasons I created this session.
At that level, photography is rarely being created for only one platform.
What happens before an Executive Profile Session?
The photography starts before the camera comes out.
Once the session is booked, I arrange a planning conversation so I can understand what the photographs actually need to achieve.
We talk about where the images will be used, how formal they should feel, clothing, backgrounds, lighting style and whether location photography would add something useful.
If we are going outside or photographing within an office, I also want to think about those locations before the day.
I do not want to spend valuable shooting time wandering around saying, “Maybe we could try over there.”
The session should have direction from the start.
Planning wardrobe and visual style
If you're unsure what to bring, I've also put together a guide on what to wear for professional headshots, including colour, fit, patterns and layering.
Someone might bring a formal suit or jacket for their board and governance images, then change into something more relaxed for LinkedIn, media or environmental portraits.
The goal is not to create completely unrelated photographs.
There should still be a consistent visual identity across the session.
The variety comes from changing the context, expression, lighting and level of formality.
What is included in the Executive Profile Session?
The Executive Profile Session includes a 90-minute photography session designed around the person and how their photographs will actually be used.
It includes:
- 90-minute photography session
- Pre-session planning
- Wardrobe and styling direction
- Studio photography where appropriate
- Environmental photography where appropriate
- Multiple lighting styles
- Multiple backgrounds
- Creative direction tailored to the individual
- Online proof gallery
- 15 professionally retouched final images
- Additional images available for $75 each
The final library could include tightly framed headshots, wider portraits, environmental images, more editorial photographs and relaxed professional images.
The mix depends on the person.
Can the Executive Profile Session include studio and location photography?
Yes.
I am based in central Wellington, so one option is to begin in my studio and then use nearby streets, architecture and city environments.
That works well because we can create several very different looks without spending half the session travelling.
For example, we might start with a polished studio portrait, create something stronger and more editorial, then go outside for a more natural environmental photograph.
Do Executive Profile Sessions have to be photographed in Wellington?
No.
I am based in Wellington, but I am available to photograph executives throughout New Zealand.
For senior leaders with demanding schedules, it can often make more sense for me to travel to them.
If a CEO is based in Auckland, for example, I can build the photography around their office, leadership environment and availability rather than requiring them to travel to Wellington.
The same applies to Christchurch, Palmerston North or elsewhere in New Zealand.
How are Executive Profile Sessions outside Wellington priced?
Sessions requiring travel outside Wellington are custom quoted based on the requirements of the assignment.
The standard Executive Profile Session is designed around photography in Wellington.
Once significant travel is involved, the scope changes.
A 90-minute photography session in Auckland may still require me to reserve most or all of a working day once flights, airport transfers, equipment, setup and photography time are taken into account.
Some assignments may require an overnight stay or several days away from the studio.
Because of that, I quote travel assignments as a complete executive photography project rather than simply adding the cost of a flight to the standard session price.
A custom quote may include:
- Photography and production time
- Travel time
- Flights or other transport
- Airport and local transfers
- Rental vehicles where required
- Accommodation
- Per diem expenses
- Location requirements
- Additional equipment or production requirements
- Additional photography time
- Image licensing where applicable
This means an executive photography assignment in another city is priced around the actual time and resources required to deliver it properly.
For Wellington locations beyond the immediate area around my studio, local on-location fees generally start from $350.
For photography elsewhere in New Zealand, contact me for a custom quote.
Why photograph an executive in their own workplace?
There are situations where travelling to the executive creates stronger photographs.
An office, headquarters or other working environment can provide context that simply cannot be recreated in a studio.
Boardrooms, architecture, meeting spaces and work areas can all become part of the portrait.
We might photograph someone at a meeting table, walking through the office, working at their desk or interacting naturally with colleagues.
The objective is not to create staged corporate stock photography.
The environment should tell us something about the person and their role.
How do you photograph executives who do not like being photographed?
Most of the people I photograph are not models.
They are CEOs, directors, lawyers, board members, business owners and other professionals who need strong photographs because of what they do.
Many of them are not particularly comfortable in front of a camera.
This is also one of the most common questions I answer in my headshot and portrait photography FAQ.
My job is not simply to position someone underneath a light and press the shutter.
A large part of portrait photography is communication.
Before an executive session, I will usually do some research into who the person is, where they work and the roles they hold.
During the shoot, I talk to them.
Sometimes we find common ground around business. Sometimes the conversation has absolutely nothing to do with work.
The important thing is getting the person to stop concentrating on the camera.
Once that happens, I can concentrate on expression, posture, body positioning and all the small details that make a significant difference to the finished photograph.
What should a good executive portrait achieve?
The objective is not simply to make someone look successful.
I want them to feel that the photographs represent them properly.
They should feel confident when they see themselves.
One of the best reactions I can get is when someone looks at the photograph and says:
“Wow, that's actually me.”
I saw that repeatedly while photographing executives, directors and business leaders at an Institute of Directors conference.
I photographed well over 100 people during the event, and many were genuinely surprised by what they saw.
One attendee contacted me afterward because she wanted to use her portrait on her company website and was considering recommending that I photograph the rest of the company as well.
Experiences like that played a big part in creating the Executive Profile Session.
There is a group of senior professionals who want something more considered than a quick corporate headshot without necessarily requiring a full commercial brand campaign.
What is the difference between the Signature Session and the Executive Profile Session?
This is probably the most important distinction between the two.
My Signature Session is designed for someone who wants a strong and varied collection of professional portraits.
It provides plenty of time to create different looks and works particularly well for LinkedIn, professional websites and general business use.
The Executive Profile Session is designed around a different outcome.
It is intended to build a broader image library for someone whose role requires different photographs for different audiences.
The additional value is not simply another 30 minutes in front of the camera.
It comes from the greater level of planning, more varied lighting and photography styles, environmental photography, 15 finished photographs and a stronger focus on the different situations in which the images will be used.
Choose the Signature Session if:
You mainly need an updated collection of professional portraits for general business use, LinkedIn and your website.
Choose the Executive Profile Session if:
You need a broader library of photographs for leadership positions, board roles, governance, PR, annual reports, conferences, media or multiple professional appointments.
You are not simply buying more photographs.
You are creating a more useful collection of photographs.
What about image licensing for executive photography?
For normal professional uses such as LinkedIn, executive profile pages, board biographies and standard company communications, usage is generally straightforward.
Where an image becomes part of a significant advertising campaign, billboard campaign, extensive paid media placement or broader commercial campaign, additional image licensing may apply.
How the photographs will be used is something I prefer to establish before the session wherever possible.
That allows everyone to understand the intended usage and whether any additional licensing is required.
Is an Executive Profile Session worth it?
If you only need one good photograph for LinkedIn, probably not.
There are simpler sessions for that.
The Executive Profile Session makes sense when your professional image represents you across several roles, organisations or communication channels.
Instead of searching through old folders every time someone asks for another photograph, you already have a considered library available.
A board appointment might use one portrait.
A media interview might use another.
Your company website could use something more approachable.
An annual report might require something more formal.
A conference biography might need something completely different again.
That is what the Executive Profile Session is designed to provide.
Not simply a better headshot.
A professional image library that can work across the different parts of your career.
Book an Executive Profile Session
If you are a CEO, director, board member or senior professional who needs more than a single corporate headshot, the Executive Profile Session is designed around creating that range.
Sessions can take place in my Wellington studio, around central Wellington, at your workplace or on location elsewhere in New Zealand.
For executive portrait assignments outside Wellington, I provide a custom quote based on the photography requirements, travel time, production requirements and associated expenses.
Based outside Wellington? Contact me to discuss a custom Executive Profile assignment.