In these very lean photography times it was a joy to get a call from old friends at the charity, Water Aid. Invited down to the Kia Oval cricket ground, home of Surrey County Cricket, it was an opportunity to be out and about again, doing what I do and meeting a few sporting giants.

Along with the charity’s videographer we had a very tight time-frame, less than half an hour, to capture interviews, footage and, in my case, plenty of action shots as well as portraits of key team members. Big cricketing names like Morne Morkel, Rory Burns, Liam Plunkett and Hashim Amla were among those who gave their time to support the #BringWater campaign. The challenge for me focussed on getting perfectly lit portraits of the players on a ground with harsh sunlight sweeping in and out of cloud. That was accomplished at pace with a quickly erected stand, a Godox AD200 light and modifier to overpower the sun right there on the pitch. With only a few minutes before training had to resume, I also needed enough ‘in action’ images of the players attempting to bat with the quarter-sized cricket bat provided. Two in five healthcare centres globally have nowhere for people to wash their hands - not good at any time and certainly not in a pandemic. Struggling with less than full essential facilities was at least partially symbolised by the batsmen’s struggle with a ‘less than full bat’.

Job done, we cleared off the pitch and training resumed. It felt good to be holding a camera again in such circumstances. The images came out well (see if you agree, below) and before I knew it, I was home editing like old times. Here’s hoping for more days like it soon.

Everyone’s home. At least, most people who weren’t at home are now at home. If we want to see each other, meet with each other, show the world we are here and still doing what we do, we are doing it almost exclusively online.

That’s not entirely unusual. For years people have had their online profile out there, telling people “this is me, this is how I look, this is how I want you to look at me and assess me”. Yet now, and almost certainly beyond these challenging times, your digital profile - including that incredibly important professional portrait - is paramount, critical even. Make it the best it can be. Make it sharp, professional and look like you care about your business. Invest in yourself. If you don’t look like you invest in yourself why would anyone invest in you?

There are ways to do this right and ways to do this wrong to achieve the result you want. Your profile picture is a hugely defining factor in how potential clients and business partners perceive you and many of us underestimate this to our detriment. In a digital world we lose our non-verbal communication, the little unspoken elements of interaction like body language, tone of voice and expression, small gestures that encourage or instil confidence or trust. This is why the first impression, your picture, is so important to encourage people to interact with you. People don’t like to admit it because they think it makes them appear shallow but a person’s picture makes a very large impression on them. If you need that first impression to be right, be it for a highly professional and corporate-style LinkedIn portrait or maybe the more relaxed, natural and authentic look, then I can help you and at a much smaller investment level than you would have thought.

Take a look at your picture today. What does it say about your business, your work, your project? What does it say about you? Is that picture telling people something about you that you wouldn’t want? Is it even up-to-date? Be totally honest with yourself. Could it be better … much better? If you were to make a small investment for a whole range of new pictures that present a more real ‘you’ or a vastly superior business, then shouldn’t that be the first thing you do? Contact me now for a friendly conversation or simply to find out more about how you can change and improve your appearance and your appeal to the world at large.

#BringWater with the Surrey County Cricket Team

Your Digital Profile (in a post COVID world)