Behind the Scenes: Taking My Own Website Photos (With Harold as Creative Director)

When I decided to build my website, I knew I needed professional looking photos. In my marketing career, i became very 'anti' stock images. No matter what, if you can manage it, please try and take your own photo's for your website, it makes such a difference!

What I didn’t realise was that I would also need:

• A plant repositioned at least 14 times

• A laptop screen carefully angled to avoid glare

• And a French bulldog who apparently felt the entire operation required his supervision

Taking your own website photos feels slightly ridiculous.

You’re sitting at your desk, pretending to be “mid-strategy,” while a phone balances on a stack of books and a 10-second timer counts down like you’re diffusing a bomb.

There is nothing natural about trying to look natural.

At one point I was calmly “discussing commercial plans” while Harold was, behind the scenes, attempting something that absolutely required my immediate attention. If you look closely at a few of the photos, you can see the exact moment my expression changes from “confident consultant” to “what are you doing?”

Pro tip (from doing it one time!) i ended up taking a video, then screenshotting anything i decided would pass as sufficient. Was so much easier than trying to take multiple photo's. Those photos will not be making the homepage.

But they do exist, and they made me laugh.

The truth is, building something of your own requires a willingness to feel slightly silly at times. You do the professional things, even when it’s just you, a laptop, a plant, and a dog who refuses to respect brand strategy.

And honestly, I think that’s important.

I take my work seriously. I care about quality, clarity, and presenting myself properly. But I don’t take myself so seriously that I can’t laugh at the process.

There’s something grounding about seeing the imperfect moments behind the polished ones.

So here they are, a few behind-the-scenes shots that didn’t quite make the final cut.

Because while the final images may look composed and calm, the reality involved timers, retakes, and one very mischievous French bulldog.