Professional headshots
Professional Headshots in Naperville & Chicago
Kay Choi is a professional headshot photographer based in Naperville, Illinois, working across Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. She photographs physicians, executives, founders, therapists and whole teams — in her Naperville studio, or on location at your office, clinic or business. Headshot sessions start at $200.
What is a professional headshot?
A professional headshot is a photograph of your face and shoulders, made for the places people meet you before they meet you: a LinkedIn profile, a company website, a hospital directory, a conference programme, a book jacket. It is a working photograph with a job to do, not a portrait for the wall.
That job is why the technical part — light, lens, background — is only half of it. The other half is what the photograph says about you before you have said anything. A physician's photograph has to read as competent and approachable in the two seconds a prospective patient spends deciding. An executive's has to read as someone whose judgement you would trust with a decision. The same face, photographed the same way, does not do both.
So every session here starts with the question of what the photograph is for and who is going to see it. Kay plans the wardrobe, the background, the framing and the expression around that answer, and shows you the images on screen as she works so you can see what is happening rather than hope.
What a headshot session includes
- Where
- Kay's Naperville studio, or on location at your office, clinic or business
- Session length
- 30 minutes, with 2 outfit changes
- Before
- Brief pre-session planning and wardrobe guidance
- During
- Guided posing and expression, with the images reviewed on screen as you shoot
- You receive
- Every image from the session unedited, plus 1 professionally retouched image
- Turnaround
- Delivered within one week
- Files
- Prepared for web, LinkedIn and print
- Rate
- $200; additional retouched images $50 each
Need a set rather than a single portrait? The Branding Collection is a one-hour session with ten retouched images, from $500.
Who these sessions are for
Most of the people Kay photographs share one thing: their face is part of how their work reaches other people. Patients choose a physician partly on a photograph. A client decides whether to call an attorney partly on a photograph. A founder's photograph goes on the site, the deck and the press page.
There is a page for each of the fields she photographs most often, with the specifics that matter to that field — what to wear under a white coat, how a whole floor stays consistent when people join, what a profile photograph has to survive being cropped into a circle.
- LinkedIn headshots — the profile photograph, sized and framed for the platform
- Physician and healthcare headshots — white coats, scrubs, hospital corridors and clinic light
- Therapist headshots — warm, steady photographs for a directory profile
- Team and corporate headshots — a whole floor photographed in one visit
If you need more than one photograph — several looks, several backgrounds, images for a website and a press kit as well as a profile — that is a personal branding session rather than a headshot session.
Recent work
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How a session runs
- 01
Planning, before the day
What the photographs are for, who will see them, and what you should bring. Wardrobe guidance comes out of that conversation rather than a generic checklist.
- 02
The session
In the Naperville studio or at your workplace. Kay directs posing and expression throughout — nobody is left to work out what to do with their hands.
- 03
Review as you shoot
The images go up on screen during the session, so you see what is working while there is still time to change it. Clients consistently say this is the part that makes it feel calm.
- 04
Retouching and delivery
Your selected frames are professionally retouched and delivered as files prepared for web, LinkedIn and print.
Studio, or on location at your workplace?
Both, and the choice usually makes itself. A studio session gives you a clean, controlled background and the fastest route to a consistent set of images. An on-location session puts you in the room you actually work in — a clinic, a firm's library, a showroom floor — which says something a white background cannot.
On-site work is a real service rather than a favour. Kay photographs in offices, hospitals, clinics and corporate spaces, schedules around meetings and clinic hours rather than across them, and handles the unglamorous part in advance: building access, visitor passes, facility guidelines, parking and where exactly to load in. Lighting and equipment are planned around the space and around the team's normal routine, so a floor keeps working while it is being photographed.
She travels across Chicagoland and up to 100 miles from Naperville. See the areas served for driving distances and the cities she works in most often.
How much do professional headshots cost?
The Headshot Session is $200 for 30 minutes and one retouched image. The Branding Collection starts at $500 for an hour and ten retouched images. Both are delivered within a week. Corporate, team and larger branding projects are quoted on the size and needs of the project, because a fourteen-person leadership team and a single profile photograph are not the same job.
Most photographers in this market do not publish a number at all. Kay does, for the same reason she shows you the screen during the session: you should be able to tell what you are buying before you commit to it. The full breakdown of what each session includes is on the sessions and pricing page, and the guide to what headshots cost explains what actually drives the price in this market.
Common questions
How long does a headshot session take?
The Headshot Session is 30 minutes, with two outfit changes inside it. That is deliberately short: past about half an hour on a single-look sitting, expressions get tired rather than better. A Branding Collection session runs for an hour, because it is covering several looks and settings.
Do you travel to my office?
Yes. On-location sessions are a core part of the work: offices, hospitals, clinics, corporate spaces and other workplaces across Chicagoland, up to 100 miles from Naperville. Building access, visitor passes, facility guidelines and parking are all arranged before the day.
What should I wear for a headshot?
Solid colours, sleeves, and clothes that fit you now rather than clothes you own for occasions. Avoid loud patterns and logos — they date the photograph and pull attention off your face.
Wardrobe guidance is part of every session and is specific to you rather than generic. The full guide to what to wear for headshots goes through it in detail, including what works under a white coat and on camera in an office.
Can I see the photos during the session?
Yes — the images are reviewed on screen as the session runs. It is one of the things clients mention most often, because it turns the session from something being done to you into something you are steering.
Where is the studio?
The studio is in Naperville, Illinois, and Kay works across Chicago and the surrounding suburbs — Oak Brook, Downers Grove, Wheaton, Aurora, Hinsdale, Schaumburg and the rest of the western suburbs — as well as travelling further for on-site corporate work.
Kay captures the essence of who you are for you and others to see! She keeps showing you the pictures for feedback to see if you think they display you accurately. She genuinely enjoys connecting and meeting people and has fun in the moment too.
Book a session
One photograph, doing the work of an introduction.
Sessions run in the Naperville studio or on location at your office, clinic or business. Headshot sessions start at $200.