Lizzie Butler's Personal Branding Session

Who

Lizzie Butler is a Licensed Master Practitioner of NLP and the founder of Lizzie Butler Communications, based in Derby. She works with business professionals and organisations to develop their communication and influence skills, running workshops and training programmes on everything from sales conversations to presentation delivery. In her work, first impressions and personal presence matter enormously. Having the right images is a professional necessity, not an afterthought.

Why

Lizzie needed more than a headshot. Her business ran across multiple contexts: a website, workshop materials, speaking engagements, social media, and a growing podcast. Each one needed images, and she needed them to work together as a coherent set rather than a collection of one-offs.

She had three clear goals. A strong primary headshot she could use consistently across professional profiles. Images that captured her in her natural working environment, facilitating, training, and engaging with people, to reflect what she actually does. And a selection of more personal images that would give her audience a fuller sense of who she is beyond the training room, and that she could draw on to tell real stories in her content.

How

We shot across two sessions at Lizzie's training premises in Derby, but before a single frame was captured, we talked.

The brief for a personal branding shoot is not just about locations and outfits. It is about understanding what stories someone needs to tell. What does Lizzie do? How does she do it? And what are the conversations she finds herself having with clients again and again? Those conversations become the brief, and the brief becomes the shot list.

For Lizzie, that meant three distinct threads.

First, the professional: Lizzie in full flow, facilitating a workshop at the whiteboard, coaching a small group at a table, working through notes at her desk. Images that instantly communicate what she does and the energy she brings to it.

Second, the polished: a strong primary headshot on a clean background, a confident full-length portrait, and relaxed working images with a laptop and coffee. The kind of images that anchor a website and a LinkedIn profile.

Third, the personal. Lizzie is passionate about staying physically active, and that theme runs directly through her work. The connection between physical wellbeing and professional performance is something she talks about with clients regularly. So we shot it. Yoga. Tying running shoes. Post-workout with a water bottle. Not lifestyle decoration: story triggers. Images that make it straightforward to post about resilience, energy, keeping business-fit, or the client who called that morning feeling burnt out.

That is the point of the planning stage. When your images are built around the stories you already tell, creating content stops feeling like a chore.

Result

Lizzie left with a library covering every context her business required. The images have appeared on her website, in her workshop materials, as podcast thumbnails, and across her social channels. But more than that, she has a set of images that make storytelling easy: each one a ready-made prompt for a post, a reflection, or a client conversation she can share authentically. A single investment in photography that has continued to earn its place long after the shutter closed.

"I love the photos! And your practical approach and effective thought process for personal branding too! I've learnt a lot and really appreciate your support. I'll be able to use the photographs time and time again. If you're looking for photographs and personal branding support, go talk to Peter Nutkins — he's ace! I'd happily recommend him to any business or individual looking to grow your business and enhance your brand for better results. He's a pleasure to work with and I look forward to working with him again soon!"

Lizzie Butler, Founder, Lizzie Butler Communications

Images from the session

Here is a selection of images from Lizzie's personal branding session, showing the range of styles and contexts we covered across two shoot days.