Next up for my brand features…Brooke’s Fresh Cut Flower Farm!!

Brooke is a powerhouse. A wonder woman. She literally does it all…but this shoot focused primarily on her flower farm where she grows fields of fresh flowers and offers an array of products and services from bouquets in local stores to wedding floral designs. 

When we first talked, she was in the midst of creating a new website and trying to keep up with the massive success of the farm.

She really prefers to be working outside than worrying about creating content (though she’s getting really good at it), and the main issue was she didn’t have a ton of photos that showed what her life as a flower farmer looked like but in a professional way — I mean, flowers are pretty but she’s covered in dirt most of her days!

Professional Content That Still Feels Realistic

One of the main goals of a brand shoot is to portray you professionally but also realistically. Beautiful white rooms with a single desk and chair are pretty but people know it’s not what your real life looks like.

I believe the most impactful photography is the kind that let’s people in and builds trust through showing the “behind the scenes” of how you work.

For Brooke, we had to balance between the realness of her usual go-to outfit being an oversized shirt drenched in sweat and wanting to not distract from the beauty of the things she creates. 

Our strategy ended up being to remain authentic to her daily life, with jean shorts and a tank top / a button down and tuft boots – a slightly elevated version of her normal getup – which I love because you can really get to know Brooke’s “down to earth, farmer girl” personality just from seeing her photos.

Additionally, we focused a lot on getting photos for her website that showed the love and care that comes from hiring a florist who grows flowers locally, from her working in the barn, to cutting flowers in the field, planting new buds, and even how her whole family gets involved. 

Digging Deeper For Other Messages

Since this was her first brand shoot, our main focus was getting general content that showed what she does to serve her customers. However, I did want to dig a little deeper (pun intended, hehe) into what other messages she wanted to convey.

Through evaluating her website and the usual topics of her posts, it was very evident that family and legacy is a huge personal and business value. 

The storyline concept I came up with was: “This farm is more than just a farm. It’s about family and heritage –– building something within the community and a way of bonding generations.”

We focused on getting photos with her mom, her right-hand woman, her daughter, her husband, her dad, and her other family members who help her daily. It is a true family business. 

We also brought in old photos of her grandparents and earlier generations of farmers within her family, the main inspiration behind her dream of turning a field into a full blown flower farm. I loved the use of maps to show connection to her community and how the photos pair so nicely with the stories she shares on her website.

Brand shoots are more than just capturing “what you do” (though that is a big part of it) – it’s also about sharing WHY you do it. Someone like Brooke has a LOT of things on her plate and many reasons why she works to fit so much into her day. I’m really proud of how we were able to create images that share so many of those different sides of her flower farm… now on to the other family businesses!!!! 🙂

Follow along with Brooke here:

Website

Instagram