Corporate headshots
for execs and
founders—
in Cape Town.

What a corporate headshot needs to do

The photo is doing more work than people realise. It sits on your LinkedIn profile, on your firm's About page, in the speaker section of conference programmes, on the back flap of board reports, in the email signature that lands in eighty inboxes a week. Each one is a small audition. Most of the people seeing the photo will never meet you in person, so they form a view of you in about three seconds.

A weak photo costs you the benefit of the doubt. A strong one buys you trust before the conversation has started.

The common ways amateur headshots fail: lighting that flattens or distorts, a crop that's dated by five years, a backdrop that fights for attention, an expression that reads as guarded when you meant approachable. None of these are about the camera. They're about direction, lighting, and craft.

A weak photo costs you the benefit of the doubt. A strong one buys you trust before the conversation has started.

What to expect on the day

You arrive about ten minutes before your slot. Coffee, quick wardrobe check, a brief about what you want the photo to do — LinkedIn, About page, conference bio, all of the above. The lighting is already set up. We don't ask you to wait while we fiddle.

We shoot tethered to a 27-inch screen. Every frame appears on it within a second. You see what's working. We coach in real time — small adjustments to the chin, the jacket, where you're looking, what your hands are doing. After about ten minutes of shooting we sit at the screen together and pick the selects. You leave knowing exactly what you've got.

Retouching is restrained. Skin, stray hairs, the bit of collar that's gone funny, a distracting shadow on the wall — handled. We don't change the structure of your face or shave years off your appearance. The point is for the image to stop being distracting from you, not to start lying about you.

Wardrobe by industry

The general rules: solid colours, well-fitted, a layer that holds its shape, nothing that competes with your face for attention. Specific notes for the industries we shoot most:

Legal and financial services. A jacket on for the photo, even if you wouldn't wear one in the office. Navy and charcoal sit well; mid-grey is harder to light. White shirt is fine, light blue is better for skin tone on most people. If you wear a tie in client work, bring one — but you don't have to.

Management consulting. Smart casual to suited, depending on your firm's register. If in doubt, bring two options and we'll choose on the day. Open collar works for most people, especially if your client base is in tech or industry.

Tech founders. A neat t-shirt or open-collar shirt works well. Avoid logos. A plain dark t-shirt under a casual jacket is a strong look that ages well — much better than the founder-in-a-suit photo that screams "advised by a marketing agency".

Healthcare professionals. Clinical wear (scrubs, white coat) if the photo is going on a clinic site or hospital page. Smart casual otherwise. Stethoscope optional — most clients leave it out unless the photo is going somewhere clinical.

Renewable energy. A lot of our work in this sector is for executives whose photos need to work both for corporate contexts (annual reports, board) and on-site (project pages, conference talks). Smart corporate is the default. Hard hat and PPE are easy to add for a second look if you want a site-context portrait too.

We send a one-page wardrobe guide once you book, with specifics for your industry and links to the kinds of pieces that photograph well.

Where we shoot

The studio is in the Saltcircle Building on Kent Street in Woodstock — three minutes off the N1, easy in from the City Bowl, Atlantic Seaboard, and Southern Suburbs. Parking at the door. Coffee within walking distance.

For execs short on time, on-location is usually the right call. We bring a full studio kit and set up in a meeting room or quiet office corner. Setup takes 30 to 45 minutes; the shoot itself is the same length as in studio. We've shot in offices across the metro — the City Bowl, Sea Point, Century City, Tygervalley, Stellenbosch, Somerset West, Bellville. The R4,500 setup fee covers travel within greater Cape Town.

Outside the metro — Hermanus, Paarl, Franschhoek — we quote travel separately. The rate is fair and we'll be honest about whether it makes sense for one or two people, or whether to wait until you have a small group.

Industries we work in

Most of our headshot work falls into four sectors:

Renewable energy. This is our largest single sector. Executive teams, project leads, conference portraits — both at head office and on site. Many of our long-standing client relationships sit here.

Financial and legal services. Partners and senior associates at firms working in finance law, tax, banking and dispute resolution. The brief is usually consistent: credible, current, looks the part. The photo lives on the firm website for years, so we shoot it to age well.

Management consulting. From boutique strategy houses to the larger global firms with Cape Town offices. Often booked for a new partner, a refresh of the firm's About page, or a speaker bio for a conference.

Healthcare. Specialists, clinic founders, and group practices. The photo needs to be approachable without being casual.

There's overlap, of course. A tax lawyer who joins the board of an energy company still looks like a tax lawyer. The constant is that the photo has to read as competent and trustworthy at a glance, on a screen the size of a postage stamp.