This Accelerator Visual Branding Session with Raleigh artist and maker Erin Stesch was a total blast! Erin’s revamping her website and wanted some seriously gorgeous photos that shows off her unique hand-painted jewelry to prospective clients.
After meeting together to clarify her vision and branding goals, we came up with a game-plan and started building our creative team for her session. Erin found 2 models and brought along a stylist, and I brought my fab creative assistant Veronica to help the session run smoothly.
We settled on the Haw River Ballroom for our location– between the ample natural light upstairs and the dreamy river nearby we would have a variety of backdrops for the photos. The session lasted several hours and included several outfit + styling + backdrop changes. By the end of the night, we were all happily exhausted and energized from a productive session of creating! Erin answered a few questions about her experience in the Q&A below:
1. Tell me about you and your beautiful art! What is the inspiration behind your jewelry? What do you hope your customers feel when they wear your pieces?
My jewelry is made of hand painted glass. Each glass pendant is painted by me using a variety of techniques: freehand painting, stamping or blowing air. Due to the unique nature of each piece, the painting is one of a kind work of art and cannot be duplicated. I then set the glass inside my handmade wooden necklaces that are designed, cut, and finished in my North Raleigh studio. The inspiration behind my jewelry is my love of color, which is a big focus in my fine art painting. I hope customers feel emboldened by wearing my jewelry; that it raises their confidence level and makes them feel as though the jewelry helps to express who they are on the inside to the outside world.
2. What was your motivation or vision behind this photo shoot? What did you want to communicate with your pictures?
My jewelry is composed of primarily statement pieces that are one of a kind. My vision was to show my potential customers what the jewelry looks like on a woman-what she might wear with it, how it might enhance her outfit, and how a woman might feel in my jewelry. I also wanted to show women who embody my target audience and Amber and Michelle, who graciously agreed to model for the shoot, absolutely do that.
3. What did you feel when you first saw the photos?
I was really excited to see the photos. Courtney has a great eye for composition and lighting, and those talents along with the talents of the models just really came together to create several wonderful shots.
4. What was it like to work with me? Feel free to write anything about the preparation process and the shoot itself!
Courtney was very professional at the shoot. She knows the photo site well and what times are best for lighting and mood to help capture the shots that she knew I wanted. She told me what to expect as far as when I would receive the photos and organized all the photos into folders for use in different places-website, social media and print. She is very organized, anticipating questions I might have and I felt confident that I had hired the right person throughout the process.
5. How have you used the photos I created for you? In what ways have they helped your business?
Yes, I have used the photos a lot. I use them on social media to promote my brand and my individual listings. I also printed a few pictures to have on the table in my booth set up at craft fairs and even had three favorites printed as banners to hang in my booth. They are a great attention getter and really help show who my “girl” is from far away, enticing customers who might have otherwise walked right past my booth.
6) What’s next for you as an artist and small-business owner?
My goals are to keep making products that I love and committing to shows that I enjoy and have done well at in the area. I really want to focus on doing fewer shows of higher quality this year. I enjoy selling online through my Etsy shop as well and plan to continue growing my online presence.
Wanna learn more about Erin and snag your own statement necklace? Connect with her here:
Are you a creative professional who needs help refining and visually communicating your brand? Learn more about ways we can partner together here.
