12 months of branding photography and a welcome to 2020

So there we have it, not only a new year, but a new decade!  How did you celebrate your Christmas and New Year Eve?  We had a family filled relaxing one, and then spent New Year Eve trialing cocktails for Hutch’s Happy Hour and cooking Mexican food from one of our many unused cookery books (anyone else have several un-opened cookery books?!)

In the run up to Christmas, in fact for a lot of December I took time off from shoots to work on the business as well as reflect…

 

 

What an incredible year it’s been in the AKP world of branding photography:

• I worked with so many amazing entrepreneurs, creating images that not only have helped to increase their visibility and illustrate their brand message, but from the feedback I’ve had, has helped with confidence too.
• I left my corporate job, after 11 years of working in the field of crisis management!
• Clients’ images have been featured in Forbes, Red Magazine, The Evening Standard and so many more (I really need to update the features in page!)
• I the opened the doors to the Seasonal Edit again and love those who have signed up, it’s going to be a fun 2020 with them (watch this space as I’ll do highlight pieces on each of them).
• Thinking that photography and travel would be limited to the wedding side, I got to Malta, Spain and Paris with my branding photography clients this year, and there are more travels planned for 2020.
• 80 individual branding photography shoots, all the faces featured in this post, some of those shoots were products or flowers only so haven’t shared those ones, but one day I will.

 

 

But there are always two sides to every story and there were certainly lessons learnt too, as there are in any year. 

• I’ve had to put measures in to protect me and my business, I am thinking more like a CEO and making grown up decisions as I owe it to my business but also to my clients to ensure they have a sustainable partner
• I’ve learnt to surround myself with the right people, both in business and personally, as your environment has such an impact
• The biggest obstacle in any sort of growth is often yourself, and in my case it was, so time for more self-belief and ignoring the inner gremlins!
• Self-care is not just important, it’s vital. I’ve burnt myself out on so many occasions, not just over the last 12 months, but over the lifetime of a corporate career.  Running my own business does mean a lot of work, but with it comes the freedom to take the time out needed
• I can’t do this alone, not just by surrounding myself with the right people, but also learning to outsource things that I’m not an expert in or do not have the time to do properly. In fact, this has been such a big shift for me, I’ll do a separate blog post one day sharing my dream team with you.

 

 

So what does 2020 hold…

• My word for the year is THRIVE (last year was growth).
• I am excited to be working with more incredible business owners and entrepreneurs.
• The Seasonal Edit will open its doors twice this year.
• There will be some new projects and services being announced in due course (all hush hush at the moment!)
• More self-care, and this isn’t lighting candles and having baths – I will be making my own health and well-being a priority, from exercise, healthy eating and taking time to read and pursue creative aspects just for me.
• Travel plans so far are Paris (again, can you get too much of Paris!?), Florence, Malta and potentially Thailand!

 

 

I can’t wait to see where this year takes us, are you joining me on this adventure?

Happy New Year

Amanda x

 

PS – all these images are from 2019 shoots, you’ll spot that some people appear more than once, that’s either because they are a Seasonal Edit client or they’ve just booked several shoots and understand that their imagery needs change throughout the year.  If this sounds like you, or you need help understanding what images you need for your business and how branding photography can help, you can book a virtual coffee chat here