Capturing the heart of business: What it's like to be a brand photographer

So when she suffered the third redundancy of her graphics design career while working at Carillion, she decided it was time to take her destiny in her own hands.

The mother-of-two founded Capture 24 Photography and now uses her skills and talent as a brand photographer to showcase businesses and help them stand out from the crowd.

"I’d always loved photography, having studied it at both college and uni as part of my graphics course, but my true love for it came when I got married," explains Tina, who lives in Cannock.

"Our wedding photographer, Samantha Carpenter, inspired me with her documentary style photography and, after our wedding, I spent time shadowing her before going it alone and doing my own wedding photography for a little while.

"But after having my daughter in 2010, I couldn’t keep up with the wedding photography as I was still working full-time at Carillion.

"So, I put the camera away until I had my son in 2014. Once I’d gone back to work part time in the comms team, I was asked to take photos for the business, so I’d go on site capturing progress shots, taking headshots and taking any campaign photos the design team needed.

"After being in a process-driven role, running the design team’s workload, I relished getting back into a more creative role."

Tina works with businesses and organisations of all sizes across Staffordshire as well as in other parts of the UK.

They include Tonic Day Spa and Chocolate Treasures, both based in Cannock, Staffordshire Police and The Ballance Collective in Birmingham.

"The photography I provide is varied depending on what the business needs from personal brand photography, food photography, commercial photography including events, headshots, Christmas family sessions to brand design.

"Some businesses will be sole traders and need more help and support with what to photograph, where to have the shoot, what to shoot and what to wear, than other clients who know exactly what they need, and they need it fast.

"Large businesses like Staffordshire Police and Busy Bees Nurseries have an internal marketing team in-house, so these businesses know what they want and just need me to turn up and capture exactly what they need for the next campaign," she explains.

In her job as a brand photographer, there is no such thing as a typical day or week.

"If you want routine this is not a career for you! As I’m not studio-based everything is out on location, so my week consists of calls with clients helping them prep for their photoshoot, scouting out the best location, and then shoot itself.

"One day I might be looking for props for food shoots, another helping my clients with what to wear. And then photoshoot days themselves can be anywhere in the country and they can feature lots of people or just a building. These can be a quick 20 minute shoot to 12 hours at a conference.

"The rest is me working solo doing all the behind the scenes elements - like saving the files to back-up, importing and editing, exporting and creating galleries for clients to download the images, social media planning and posting, creation of any graphics for my business or my clients.

"And like many SME clients I’ve got admin responsibilities too - invoicing, accounting, working, charging batteries for the camera or lights etc.

"As a working mum-of-two, I work around the school day as much as possible, often working at night because I just love my work so much and there isn’t enough time in the day," Tina tells Weekend.

Delivering her images to people gives Tina a rewarding sense of achievement and this is one of the many reasons why she enjoys her job.

"I am capturing a moment in time that will be their legacy in this world forever and it feels such a privilege," she says.

“I love getting to know people and listening to their journey so far and their dreams going forward.

"Nothing makes me happier than creating a bank of unique images for a business to get them one step closer to those goals and then seeing them in use all over their marketing and website - it’s such a huge buzz.

“One of my favourite parts of my job is that many clients (not everyone) hate having their photos taken in general and have put it off for years and years, but with a little bit of nurturing and lots of planning, seeing them shine and come to life on their photoshoot is just amazing, and they enjoy it and come away buzzing."

When asked what advice she would to anyone else wanting to take a similar career leap, Tina says: "Photography is a tough market to be in, there are lots of photographers around who charge totally different prices.

"Get to know your camera and figure out what you enjoy and practice, practice, practice until you’re confident and charge your worth.

"The biggest support to me has been the businesses around me I have met through networking so network and collaborate as much as possible. Find your people at these places, try them all and see which ones fit well with you."

To see more of Tina's images and find out about her Christmas family sessions, which take place on November 5, visit capture24.co.uk