Headshots and business portraits with Rebecca

Rebecca got in contact as she needed some professional headshots for work. Like many of us, Rebecca doesn’t enjoy being in front of the camera, so much so that she has been in only one picture over the past three years!

However, as Chief Scientific Officer, Rebecca is the face of her organisation, Ducentis BioTherapeutics, and part of that role demands visual representation at presentations and on marketing platforms.

Rebecca is a bioscientist who specialises in therapies to treat autoimmunity, infectious diseases and cancer. She has a BA and DPhil from the University of Oxford, and over 20 years of pre-clinical and clinical experience developing biologic therapies.

In fact, many of us may owe our lives to Rebecca and her colleagues.

That’s because as well as her work in her day-to-day specialties, Rebecca was co-opted in 2020 to help outsource manufacturing of the Oxford SARS-CoV-2 vaccine.

When she’s not busy saving lives, Rebecca is most likely to be found dancing salsa. By that she means real salsa, with Cuban music and dance trainers, not the ballroom and high heels version you’re more likely to find on Strictly.

For Rebecca, the joy of salsa dancing is the lack of prescribed routine, which means she’s free to express herself in response to the music, responding to her mood and the motion of her dance partner.

She enjoys it so much that she’s even followed the trail right back to the source, heading over to Cuba for a holiday filled with dance, music and laughter.

Rebecca couldn’t stay abroad for too long, however, as she has two giant house rabbits to care for: Dill and Nutmeg.

Dill loves affection and cuddles, often nudging at Rebecca’s ankles when she’s cooking to get her attention, while Nutmeg is a little more aloof!

On a rare weekend from supervising medical research and applying for grants, Rebecca loves to spend time with her two nephews, who are 8 and 11. 

The boys most enjoy being chased around in the family’s swimming pool, although Rebecca tells me they are getting so fast now that they are almost impossible to catch!

After all that exercise, Rebecca likes to relax with a glass of white wine and an episode or two of Succession, a trip to the theatre or simply a game of Worldle, (where you guess a country from only the shape of its border – perfect if your geography skills are as poor as mine!).

But all this is only part of what these images aim to capture: yes, Rebecca is an incredible woman with a successful career improving others’ health and a busy and fulfilling personal life.

But in addition, Rebecca is fun and fascinating company, and her headshot session with me seemed to pass in a matter of minutes.

She taught me why so many rabbits hate being picked up (they are a prey animal, so have evolved to be fearful of being approached and ‘captured’ in this way), what salsa really is (and what it most definitely isn’t!) and about the shows and performances she’s particularly enjoyed recently.

Hopefully Rebecca also had a nice enough time that she won’t leave it another three years before being in a photo again – and will capture more of the many, many things she has going on in her life instead. 🙂

“I thoroughly recommend Sarah, especially for anyone who is nervous about having photos taken of themselves, or who has had disappointing results in the past. The results are fantastic, and look very professional. Above all it was a fun experience – I really enjoyed chatting with Sarah, and felt completely relaxed throughout.”

Rebecca, professional headshot client from Kidlington, Oxfordshire

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If you’re looking for professional headshots in the Oxfordshire area, please get in contact.

I am a full-time professional portrait photographer based in Bicester, Oxfordshire, and the Master Photographers Association Newborn Photographer of the Year 2019 for the Central Region (covering Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire).