Playful, Polished and Completely Martha: A Voiceover Branding Session
Sometimes the feeling of “not quite ready” creeps in before a branding session. You know what your business feels like, but how can you translate that into photographs? And maybe there’s a little question hanging around in the background: What if I don't actually like the photos?
That was one of Martha Cousins' concerns before her branding session. Martha is a voiceover artist with a wonderfully fun sense of style and personality. We needed images to show her authentically, they needed to be bright, playful and a little whimsical, but still polished enough to use professionally.
With a full-time career in healthcare and and a commitment to knowledge translation of pediatric health research, we had another side of Martha to capture too. We had some ground to cover, we had wardrobe changes, we had props, and it just so happens, we had stuffed animals.
Planning a Branding Session That Actually Feels Like You
Before the session, Martha and I met over Zoom to talk through what she needed, the kinds of photographs she liked and how she wanted to present herself.
She didn’t seem particularly nervous about being photographed; more like a nervous excitement. She had ideas and inspiration, but she wanted some guidance about wardrobe, backgrounds and how we could pull everything together. And wouldn’t you know, the planning is one of my favourite parts of a branding session!
Martha shared some pose inspiration, we talked about clothing and backgrounds, and I planned to bring a few props so we could create images specifically connected to her voiceover work. Typically, I like to find at least one element for every branding session that makes it different from anything else I've photographed.For Martha, that was pink. We used a pink backdrop inspired by the colour in her existing logo and branding. I later adjusted the colour slightly in Photoshop so it tied even more closely to her brand. It's a fairly simple detail, but those details matter. When the photographs eventually land on a website, social media or marketing piece, everything feels like it belongs together.
Showing the Person Behind a Voice
Voiceover work is interesting from a branding perspective because, by its very nature, the person doing the work can be almost invisible. That is, you hear the personality, but you don't necessarily get to see it.
And Martha has plenty of personality to show. She is genuinely fun. There is a spark to her. She doesn't take herself too seriously, so I didn't want to create a gallery of photographs that suddenly made her look like she did. The goal was to give someone looking at her website or profile an immediate sense of what working with Martha might feel like. Professional, but also approachable, bright and fun.
Martha’s first career was in pediatric health research and she is developing a podcast around that work. She brought along a few bright, colourful stuffed animals in case we could work them into the session. Of course we could!
We tucked the animals into the background of several setups. In a few photographs they play bigger role, but in others they were simply there. You look at the image and there is something that makes you curious about what she does. That is one of the things I love about branding photography. Sometimes the smallest thing in the frame can tell part of the story.
Martha later told me that one of the things she took away from the session was to think about the items in the background of her own content and how they connect back to her brand. That is a great take away, the background always matters!
Branding Photos Aren't Just Pretty Pictures
Martha plans to use these images pretty much everywhere: her website, LinkedIn, marketing, media, YouTube and other areas of her business. That is really where a branding session earns its keep, you're not creating one profile picture. You're building a collection of photographs you can pull from as you create content, update your website, pitch yourself, launch something new or suddenly realize you need an image for a post you forgot you were supposed to publish tomorrow.
Why I Save the Serious Headshot Until the End
The final photographs we created that day were some of the most traditional. Martha needed a professional headshot for her healthcare career. I almost always leave that kind of photograph until the end of a session. By then, we've talked, moved around, laughed, tried different things and settled into the rhythm of being photographed. Any initial awareness of the camera has usually disappeared and the person standing in front of me is much more relaxed. The result may look more serious, but it doesn't look stiff.
The Only Problem? It Was Hot.
We photographed Martha at Studio Revery a beautiful studio in Milton Ontario, with a long bank of windows and gorgeous natural light. Photographically, those windows make me swoon.
Temperature-wise? They make things...interesting. In fairness, it was in the middle of one of Summer 2026 ridiculous heatwaves. It was hot, like…stupid hot. We asked a lot from the AC that day. We kept things moving, took breaks where we needed them and did our best not to melt.
“I'm Decisive.”
After the session, Martha received her gallery and very quickly sent me her image selections. And when I say quickly, I mean quickly. Her explanation? “I'm decisive.” I always love when someone sees their gallery and immediately knows which photographs feel like them.
Martha had gone into the session wondering whether she would be happy with the images. Her answer afterward was simple. Professional photography, she told me, was worth it. The finished images looked much more professional than the photos she'd been creating herself with a halo light. NOW HEAR THIS, there is absolutely a place for creating your own content. In fact, I encourage it. Your branding photographs aren't meant to replace everything you make yourself. They give you a strong professional foundation to build from.
Sometimes You Just Need to See Yourself Do It
One of the things I hope Martha takes from this session has nothing to do with file sizes, websites or LinkedIn. It's seeing herself in these photographs and knowing she was a huge part of this session’s success. She had sent inspiration images showing poses and styles she liked. And now she has photographs of herself doing those things. She nailed them, she looks fantastic. And she still looks like Martha. For me, that's the win.
This session was creative, collaborative, colourful, very warm in the literal sense, and a whole lot of fun. If you've been putting off brand photography because you're waiting until your business, wardrobe, website or confidence feels completely ready, you may be waiting for something that doesn't actually need to happen first. We can figure much of that out together.
You can learn more about Martha and her voiceover work at www.marthacousinsvo.com.