Environmental Portraits of Illustrator Emily Brady

Illustrator Emily Brady was looking for a series of portraits she could use in a wide range of applications for her creative business.

Emily is a Buckingham-based illustrator who specialises in figurative and sequential art. She uses both traditional and digital methods to create her illustrations and graphic novels, and her work has been used in books, computer games and even printed on to T-shirts.

Emily wanted to commission photography for her website, blog and social media platforms. She didn’t want formal studio portraits or stuffy corporate headshots, but simply a range of relaxed images of her at work. These are a handful of my favourites from our shoot:

Balancing the light

Emily works from home, with her desk at the opposite end of the room to the window. This meant her face would fall into shadow when I photographed her at work. To remedy this, I used a remote flash gun to bounce light on a white surface behind her desk, producing a more flattering light. In the portrait above, I’ve balanced the flash’s output with ambient light for a natural feel.

Then, for a more dramatic portrait, I increased the power on the flash to give an almost nocturnal feel to the next image:

To get maximum variety from a small space, I then asked Emily to turn around, and shot with the window behind me. This meant that Emily would be lit by the window, while her workspace provided abstract splashes of colour in the background:

Emily has a separate desk for working with traditional artists’ materials. I asked her to continue working on an in-progress piece to capture her at work in this alternative set-up:

Throughout our shoot, my focus was on capturing a range of expressions, orientations and scenarios. This way, when Emily writes a thoughtful or funny blog post, needs a serious or relaxed portrait for an official bio or wants to add a behind-the-scenes shot of her digital or traditional processes on social media, she has something flattering, relevant and professional to use.

Client feedback

After our shoot, Emily said:

“I hired Sarah for a photoshoot for my business, the shoot was great, fun and professional, and I ended up with so many great photos from her that it was difficult to choose which ones to buy! Sarah is a talented and friendly photographer who will make sure you have a fantastic time and create a portfolio of photos to treasure.

“If you need professional photos done for business or personal reasons I’d just like to recommend Sarah Plater’s fantastic photographic services. Not only did she manage to make weird little socially awkward me look like an absolute bombshell business professional, but she is fantastic and fun to shoot with and won’t break the bank either! I’m so chuffed with these pics!”

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If you’re interested in photography for your business and would like to find out more, please get in contact by emailing [email protected] or submitting the form below:

Sarah Plater is a portrait photographer based in Bicester, Oxfordshire.

(c) Sarah Plater Photography