Headshot and Personal Branding FAQ

The Headshot Session is $200: a 30-minute sitting, two outfit changes, and one professionally retouched image. The Branding Collection starts at $500: a one-hour session, multiple looks, and ten retouched images. Both are delivered within one week. Team and corporate projects are quoted on the size and needs of the project. Full detail is on the pricing page.

Session length, the number of final images, the location, the editing, the delivery, the usage and the final price — all in writing, before anything is committed. Those seven are the things that cause disputes when they are left vague, so none of them are left vague.

Through the booking panel on this site, which shows real availability, or by getting in touch if you would rather talk it through first. For team and corporate work, start with a message including a headcount, a location and a rough date.

Booking terms, including anything payable up front, are set out in the written confirmation you receive before the session is committed. Nothing about the arrangement is left to be discovered afterwards.

In Naperville, Illinois. Sessions also run on location — at an office, clinic, practice, firm or business — routinely across the western suburbs and Chicago, and up to about a hundred miles for corporate and team work. See areas served.

Yes, and it is a substantial part of the work. Kay photographs in offices, hospitals, clinics, corporate spaces and other workplaces, schedules around meetings and clinic hours rather than across them, and arranges building access, visitor passes, facility guidelines and parking before the day.

Yes. Teams are photographed on a scheduled rota through a single visit, using one recorded set-up so everybody matches — and so later hires can be matched to the same page. See team and corporate headshots.

Yes. Images go up on screen as the session runs, so you can see what is working while there is still time to change it. It is the thing clients mention most often, because it turns the session from something happening to you into something you are steering.

It is the single most common thing people say at the start of a session, including people who present publicly for a living. Almost nobody photographs badly; most people have simply never been directed. You will be given continuous, specific instruction rather than left to hold a face and hope.

Solid colours in mid to deep tones, with sleeves, in clothes that fit you now. Avoid busy patterns, fine stripes, logos and anything the same tone as the background. Bring two or three complete options. Wardrobe guidance specific to you is part of every session, and the full guide is here.

Haircut about two weeks ahead rather than two days. Clothes chosen and pressed a week ahead. Sleep and water the day before. No unfamiliar skincare or treatments in the days beforehand. There is a full preparation guide.

The Headshot Session includes one professionally retouched image, and additional retouched images from the same sitting are $50 each. The Branding Collection includes ten professionally retouched images. With both, you also receive every image from the session unedited, so nothing is held back.

Temporary things are removed as a matter of course — blemishes, stray hairs, a mark that will not be there next week. Permanent features are not altered unless you ask for it. The aim is a photograph that still looks like you when you walk into the room.

Finished images are delivered within one week of the session, for both session types. Files are prepared for web, LinkedIn and print, so you are not resizing anything yourself or wondering which version to upload where.

Your images are yours to use for your business — website, LinkedIn, press, print, and marketing. Kay keeps the copyright and may show the work in her portfolio.

There is no per-use licence, no extra fee for a press page, and no expiry. The arrangement does not extend to reselling the photographs themselves.