For this branding shoot with Mane & Co in Te Awamutu, I photographed salon owner Liane alongside the space she had created for her clients.

I had photographed the salon a few years earlier, so it was lovely to be invited back after the space had been refreshed. This time we created an updated collection covering Liane herself, the salon interiors, products, details and some of the everyday work happening within the business.

The result was much more than a new headshot. It gave Mane & Co a varied library of professional imagery showing both the person behind the business and the salon itself.

Personal branding for a salon owner

Liane is very much part of the Mane & Co brand, so portraits of her were an important part of the shoot.

Rather than taking her away from the business and photographing everything against a studio backdrop, I photographed her within the salon itself.

We created a mixture of seated and standing portraits using different areas of the space. This kept the photographs professional while still making them feel connected to Mane & Co.

Photographing the salon itself

Alongside Liane’s portraits, I photographed the wider salon and plenty of the smaller details throughout it.

That included wide interior photographs showing the layout of the space, styling stations, mirrors, products, tools and details that help give the salon its character.

For a physical business like a salon, these photographs are just as useful as the portraits. They allow potential clients to see the space before they ever walk through the door.

Details, products and working imagery

We also created supporting photographs throughout the shoot, including products, hands at work and some of the everyday details within the salon.

I always like including these smaller images in a commercial branding gallery.

Not every space on a website or social media post needs someone’s face filling the frame. Details and working photographs give a business much more flexibility and help the overall gallery feel less repetitive.

Creating a complete image library

By photographing Liane, the salon, products and working details together, we created a gallery that covered several different parts of the Mane & Co brand within one shoot.

There are strong portraits where Liane is clearly the focus, wider photographs that show the salon and plenty of supporting images in between.

For businesses with a physical location, that’s often exactly what I want a branding gallery to do. Show the people, show the space, show the work and give you plenty of photographs to actually use.