Are you thinking of starting your own business? Perhaps you’re already a small business owner, but feel like you need to take things to the next level. In either case, working with a professional photographer will help your branding and could be the key to your success.
A professional photographer will help you capture your unique professional persona and create visuals that will help to promote your brand. Creating that distinctive visual identity will set your business apart. 

 

So if you’re thinking about investing in a your branding, here are four reasons why you should do it:

1. Help you establish a strong visual identity for your business. 
2. Create images that capture the essence of your brand and convey its values.
3. Help you communicate your message effectively to your target audience.
4. Produce high-quality images that will bring professionalism to your business.
   
   I hope this list helps you understand how branding photography can help take your business to the next level. Remember to communicate your goals and vision to your photographer so that you’re both on the same page for your photoshoot.
   

 

Special Guest
Fernando Santos aka Chicky Nando

Tell us a little about Fernando Santos aka Chicky Nando?

There is not much to say about me… I’m kind of boring… I was born in Lisbon, Portugal, back in the mid 1960’s. Got interested in Photography as a teenager, but only started to do it seriously about 20 years ago. I’m a geek and I’ve been running my own IT company since 1989. I love music, and even though I can’t play any instrument, that is still on my to-do list: learn to play music. I’m a people person. I have friends across the world. I love to travel, and I hope I can travel a lot more as soon as I retire, but I’m still a few years away from that. I love the ocean. My happy place is a cold but sunny winter morning for a walk on an empty beach. It’s hard to beat that…unless you are at the B&H store in NYC!

 

What are some of the challenges you face being a photographer?

Photography is not my main source of income, so my challenges are mostly on the creative side, and not things like finding customers, determine prices, or collecting payments. One of the main challenges to me is finding time to do more. I wish I could have 48hour days. With so many things I want to do, many times I end up doing less than I could, just because it is hard for me to focus on one thing. Also, being a geek, I have to know everything about my new camera. I have to know all the details on my new strobe. I want to try all the lens. Again, lack of focus: I know a lot of many techniques, equipment, software, but I’m not the best in any of that. Over the years, I’ve become more obsessed with light and how to control it. I know my strobes and my modifiers, but I feel there is always a lot more to learn. However, my main struggle is posing.

 

What Inspires your creative process?

Great photographers and great photography, particularly those that do it mostly in camera - I have nothing again post-processing and in fact, I enjoy using Lightroom and Photoshop and get the most of my images. Looking at a great portrait and knowing that, that photographer created all the light in there so that the photos was mostly done, first in the mind of the photographer and then in camera, and that no AI was used to fake it, that is inspiring. I have many Photography books, not just technical books, but books from great photographers. Looking at those images is inspiring. Then there is also the challenge: would I be able to do some kind of image? Would I be able to master a certain technique? The “problem solver” side – as Joe McNally says “photographers are problem solvers” – that is something that I enjoy, so sometimes I try something just for the sheer pleasure of solving a specific problem. When I’m doing a portrait of someone, I’m also inspired by the smile I know I will get from someone that “does not like to be in front of a camera”, but suddenly has a great portrait that he or she is proud of – not for me being the photographer, but for them to see themselves as great as they really are.

 

 

What drives your passion to be so helpful in the KelbyOne Community?

I love to help others. That is something that I’ve developed over the years. It is hard for me to say “no”. When KelbyOne launched their Community, I had been a KelbyOne member for many years already, and I jumped into the Community immediately. I noticed many people were asking for help with Lightroom, or Photoshop, or Photography in general, and I could answer many of those questions. Most, if not all of what I know about Photography, I learned from KelbyOne, from Scott Kelby and his team of awesome hand-picked instructors. I felt (and still feel) so blessed with that, that I thought it was time for me to give back and I intentionally set myself to be as helpful as I could on the Community. Life is interesting, because over the years, the more I give to the Community, the more I get from it too. I have now many real friends that I met initially on the KelbyOne Community. I have people sending me prints, or inviting me to visit them, or even staying at their house, just because they are so thankful for what I did for them. I do it because I love to help, and not because I’m expecting anything back, but it seems it all comes back to me in the end, so this is an endless circle of giving and thankfulness.

 

 

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Retired! I wish! It will take at least twice of that…
In 5 years, I would love to have written a book on photography. Somehow, I want to give back that same way I did with the KelbyOne Community, I want to be able to leave out to the world what I learned other the 20+ years of being a photographer. I see myself as being more and more a portrait photographer. The older I get, the more I enjoy photographing people. If I can get good enough, maybe I will be able to share a conference floor with some of my all-time favorite photographers, maybe they will even allow me to create their portrait. As you can see, I dream a lot too. Having said that, maybe it will take me 10 or 15 years. I’m not in a rush. I can wait…and if after all those years I was not able to achieve any of that, I guess I was dreaming a dream that wasn’t mine.

 

One word that describes you?

Kind. At 5’11” I’m kind of short. I’m also kind of big. Some people say I’m kind of nice. I’m kind of cheeky. Sometimes I’m even kind of fun. I guess kind is kind of a good word to describe me.

 

Follow Fernando on social at:

Instagram: @fernandoferreirasantos     |     @chickynando     |     Web: www.fernandosantos.com

 

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