What Happens During a Personal Branding Session

What a branding session is

A personal branding session blends professional portraits with lifestyle images. The point is to produce photos and video that reflect who you are, what you do, and how you want to be seen.

Whether you're refreshing LinkedIn, launching a service or rebranding entirely, the goal is visuals that feel like you — approachable, real, and a level above what you had.

This is not a stiff corporate headshot sitting. It's a mix of professional, candid and natural: walking through the city with your bag, working at a café, laughing in a clean studio, talking straight to camera for your About page.

You don't need to be photogenic

The biggest myth about these sessions is that you need to know how to pose. You don't.

What you need is to show up and be willing to move. I direct throughout — angles, movement, expression — so nothing is left to you to guess at. If you've never done a shoot before, that's often an advantage. Most of the people I photograph are first-timers.

Movement creates authenticity. The best frames come from the moment after the pose, not the pose itself.

Location does most of the work

Where we shoot should match the impression you want to leave.

• Creative and relaxed — a neighbourhood café or your own studio space
• Elegant and editorial — clean architecture, minimalist streets
• Natural and approachable — a park, a plaza, the beach early in the morning

If you don't know which is right, that's fine. We work it out from the mood you're after.

Outfits

Clothing carries a lot of the message. Bring two or three outfits that:

• Match your brand colours or tones
• Reflect how you'd turn up to a client meeting
• Give variety — one casual, one elevated, one in between

Send me photos beforehand if you want, and I'll tell you what will photograph best given the location, time of day and light.

What you walk away with

New content, obviously. But also a clearer sense of your own visual identity, more confidence putting yourself in front of people, and a set of images that actually look like you rather than a version of you frozen mid-pose.

Who books these

• Founders, freelancers and consultants
• Creatives and artists
• Coaches, educators and speakers
• Anyone whose digital presence is out of date

Personal branding isn't optional any more. It's how people form an opinion of you before they ever get in touch. This session makes sure that first impression is the real one.

Photo Video Barcelona is a corporate photography and video studio in Barcelona, founded by Riccardo Riccio — trained at the Magnum Agency in Paris, with work published in Vogue, Le Monde and El País.