Some of my favourite client stories don’t start with a booking form, but with a conversation at a coffee morning where someone goes: "Wait, you're a photographer?!"

That's exactly how I met Katie Hunter Waite.

We were both at a coffee social at a co-working space I regularly use in London. We'd gone round the room doing introductions, and the moment Katie heard what I do, she turned to me and said something along the lines of: "Oh my god. I really need to talk to you." So we did. And honestly, her story is one I recognise in so many of the people I work with, so I wanted to share it here.

The To-Do List Item That Wouldn't Get Done

Katie runs Coaching to Contribute, a coaching and facilitation business working primarily in the social impact space. She's brilliant at what she does and she knew for at least two years, that she needed proper brand photos to match. She'd looked at self-portrait studios. She'd mulled over packages. She'd mentally committed to booking more than once.

But something always held her back and when we sat down and actually talked about it, the reason became clearer. It wasn't the cost or the faff of planning an outfit. It was the fear of going through all of it and ending up with photos she hated.

Katie had been a bride once. She'd had a photographer at her wedding and she'd come away from that experience dreading being in front of a camera ever again because she didn’t the photos of herself.

That kind of thing sticks with you. So while part of her brain was saying "yes, you need these photos", the other part was quietly going "but what if they’re awful again?"

She wrote it quite honestly in her intake form: "My current images were either taken by me on a Mac (the quality is terrible), or by my sister-in-law (I don't even recognise myself)."

Two years. Still no photos. Sound familiar?

Why a Self-Portrait Studio Wasn't the Answer

When Katie thought about the problem, her instinct was to look at self-shoot studios, places where you essentially do it yourself, with a studio light and a selection of backdrops and props. And I get the logic: if the photographer is the scary part, remove the photographer.

But what she actually needed wasn't fewer people in the room. She needed the right person in the room. Someone who could guide her through the whole thing, tell her what to do with her hands, make her laugh when she was in her head about it and come with a proper plan so she wasn't just winging it in front of a camera hoping for the best.

By the time we'd had that conversation over coffee, she'd already worked it out herself: "I needed the guidance and support."

She booked that same afternoon.

Shooting Somewhere She Already Felt Safe

We did the shoot at the co-working space where we'd met, which turned out to be the perfect choice. Katie felt comfortable there already, which matters more than people realise. A shoot location isn't just a backdrop; it's part of the mood of the whole session. When you're somewhere familiar, you carry yourself differently. You're already a little more at ease before you've even picked up a prop or thought about your posture.

We spent about an hour and a half together across a few outfit changes, which is what you get with my Starter Package. It's enough time to warm up, try a few things, and actually relax into it without rushing.

The Brief: Bold, Bright and Entirely Her

Here's one of the things I love about working with people who've been thinking about this for a while: they often know exactly what they want, they've just been waiting to say it out loud to someone who'll listen.

Katie's brief was brilliant. She was celebrating Coaching to Contribute's third birthday, which she'd planned to mark by doing something that scared her (classic). She was also launching a new creative direction for her coaching, moving towards something bold and playful, think pop-art, bright colours, superhero energy. The aesthetic she was stepping into was a long way from the corporate headshot world she'd dipped into before, and she was ready to lean into it properly.

She wanted photos that said: "This is me and all of you is welcome here."

And her trademark lightning bolt earrings? Absolutely included. They're part of her brand, they show up in her graphics and proposals, and they'd been conspicuously absent from her existing photos for years. Not on my watch.

What Katie Said Afterwards

After the shoot, Katie left a review that made me genuinely smile:

"I loved working with Nicole to create my brand images. I was particularly nervous having had a bad experience with a photographer previously. But Nicole is so much fun to work with, very genuine, and she immediately puts you at ease. Her step by step instructions were also really helpful to get prepared and to get the most from the session. I thoroughly recommend Nicole, and will be going to her for all my business photography needs in the future."

She also wrote about it on LinkedIn, because that's what happens when you finally get photos that actually look like you. You want to tell people. The post had also a super high engagement, because telling a story that is relatable with visuals that support it is key to getting eyes on your content.

In her post, Katie described the mood of the shoot as "warm, inviting, and fun - just like my coaching practice", which is, genuinely, the highest compliment I could ask for. She also mentioned, almost in passing, that she realised the solution had never been a self-portrait studio. It was finding a photographer who could hold her hand through the process. I'd like to think I did that.

The Bit I Want You to Take From This

If you've had a bad experience with a photographer before, I understand why that makes you want to avoid the whole thing. I’ve actually been there myself many moons ago and it stuck with me for a long time. But I'd also gently push back on the idea that the answer is to do it alone, with less support and less guidance. More often than not, what made the bad experience bad was the lack of those things, not the presence of a person.

If you're a small business owner in London and you've been mentally circling a branding shoot for longer than you'd like to admit, I'd love to have a conversation. Not a sales call. Just a chat, the way Katie and I had one over coffee, because sometimes that's all it takes to figure out what you actually need.

You can find out more about working with me HERE or send me a message and we'll go from there.

Personal branding photography for small business owners and female entrepreneurs in London. Camera-shy clients especially welcome.