BEHIND THE CAMERA
Hey! I’m your Personal Branding Photographer in Southampton & Bournemouth
My name is Alison, and I’m the lady behind the camera but I’m getting much better at getting in front of it too. This is my story about why I love being a personal branding photographer covering the Southampton and Bournemouth areas.
I specialise in a more relaxed and natural approach to personal branding photography, taking authentic lifestyle images for my clients to use as part of their brand story.
I’m from a small town called Eastleigh in Hampshire, where I live with my partner of five years, Matthew. We met at school and found each other some 25 years later. We live with our two fur babies Baxter and Ron. They have superb characters, Baxter is the dark prince and can control us with his mind, and Ron, well he’s so fluffy he controls us with his cuteness.
My love for photography started in my late teens when I got my first camera for Christmas. My dad helped me build a darkroom in our shed and I would spend hours in there printing my black and white images.
This love for photography has never left me, and I have a thing for techy stuff which really helps. Nowadays the old wet darkroom is no longer used and it’s all digital, so rather than a drafty old shed you can find me with a cuppa behind my Mac editing my work in comfort.
Personal Brand Photography is not my only job!
Being a personal brand photographer isn’t my only job though! I also own a boutique, it’s a long story but photography has led my life in new directions and challenges.
I have close ties to Southbourne in Bournemouth where my boutique shop is, which I’ve had for 14 years now. In fact, having this business is one of the reasons I started doing personal brand photography, as I realised that so many of my customers who have businesses needed help with their brand story to help promote their businesses. And I knew that I could help them to grow.
My years of running my own indie biz give me a unique insight into what it takes to run a small business in this age of digital marketing. My experience really helps me to connect with my clients and tell their stories in an authentic and engaging way. I know how important it is to have some professional images ready when you get a call for some free PR.
Who Inspires Me
Over the years many photographers have inspired me, I absolutely love Steve McCurry’s work. He takes the most amazing portraits all over the world I particularly love the way he captures depth, colour, and texture in his work. Another iconic photographer is David Bailey, again with amazing portraits but this time in black and white of some of the world’s best-known faces. I think these two have inspired me the most, but there are many more whose books I love to collect. I have posters all around the house too.
If you think we would be a great fit and you would like me to capture your personal branding images, get in touch and tell me more about your plans.