Supercharging your visibility with Sarah Tulej
Listen on
Sarah Tulej is a photographer specialising in brand photography for changemakers, socially-conscious small business owners and entrepreneurs.
We talk about what personal branding is, her thoughts on visibility and the confidence of putting your face to your work.
If you've been thinking of becoming more visible in your work and showing up in the world, then this is the episode for you.
You can find Sarah at: https://www.tulejphoto.com on Instagram and on LinkedIn.
You can also download Sarah's free guide to supercharge your visibility.
Transcript
Karla: Hello and welcome to Conversation Changes, the podcast where we hear from women who are changing the conversation, guests who inspire experts in their field and those who are doing things just a little bit differently. Each week, I ask a guest to share the lessons they've learnt, their experiences, challenges and insights. We have conversations which I hope sparked thoughts and discussions long after you finish listening. I'm your host, Carlo Lidlwhite and I began the podcast with an aim to amplify women's voices, challenge perceptions and change the conversation.
This week I spoke with Sarah Tulej. Sarah specializes in brand photography for change makers and small business owners and we delve into what personal branding is, her thoughts on visibility and the confidence of putting your face to your work. I asked Sarah on to the podcast because I booked a personal branding photo shoot with her last year and it was a really helpful first step for me in trying to be more present with the podcast.
We sat and chatted on a balcony at sunset in Rotterdam and it was magic to talk as the sun went down. So, without further ado, here she is. Thank you for coming on the podcast. Why don't you start off by introducing yourself and letting us know what you do?
Sarah: OK, my name is Sarah Tulej, I am from England, the North Lancashire, and I am a personal branding and headshot photographer and I photograph small business owners and freelancers and particularly people who are trying to make positive change in the world.
Karla: So how would you describe your journey into photography?
Sarah: I always loved photography, but I didn't think it would be something that I would dare to do because there was always a voice at the back of my mind saying that it would be impossible to make it as a photographer, as a career. Because I think the model we're giving is, like, the fashion photographer. There's, like, one big guy, and it's very competitive, and there's only room for a few when that's not the case at all.
So it took me a while to take the leap and say, I'm going to give this a try. So my journey, we're spending a lot of time taking photos. So one of my first forays into taking photography with like an SLR camera, which is like the camera where you have to turn dials and knobs and things. Whereas my dad's film camera that he'd abandoned from the 1970s, so I was using it in the probably the early 1990s age, about eight or nine, his film camera.
I was taking pictures of the little playmobil characters and making little scenes in the garden, little tiny miniatures, which then became one to be quite a well known postcard series with even smaller figures. But, yeah, I was there first, so, yeah, I was always obsessed with well, I think it came from my parents holiday albums, like this idea of needing to document everything and then I realized that I just loved taking pictures of people.
I was also one of those people that had like thousands of Facebook albums when that was a thing when you would upload your weekend or your night and have a folder called Random. But before, we had phone cameras and we have digital cameras, but I think a decisive moment was seeing my friend's boyfriend's back of his digital camera, and he'd taken a picture where he has a lovely blurry background, which is called Boko. If you didn't know, didn't know that. I don't know if I'm saying that right. And I was like, wow, I want to do that.
Karla: You've had a successful career in sustainability and then changed direction to become a professional photographer. But what brought about that change?
Sarah: There were a few things I don't know if you're like me, but I've had several career crises during my life, often linked to being very stressed. So I worked for a sustainability not for profit and loved the work, but it had issues dealing with the workload and the stress load and all sorts of things, and came to a point where I just thought, right, I need to have a rethink. I need a career change. I did a brilliant course with this organization called Escape the City in London, which was a brilliant course, and a lot of it was around trying to tap into not what your passions are, but what you're interested in, what your curiosities are. So when you were a kid, what did you mess about doing?
And photography came through very clearly, and one of the things that they advised was, before you make a career change, try it in a really low risk way. So, for example, if you wanted to become a psychotherapist, why not take a psychotherapist out for coffee? Ask them what it's like to work in their job, what it's like to have to qualify. So I did this. I had a photographer friend called Alice, really great photographer, doing stuff in the newspapers. And I asked for her advice on what I should do. And she said, well, you need to learn how to operate a camera, which sounds really obvious. I did like a proper digital photography course and just try out doing it, see if you actually like it before you take the leap, quit your job. So that was really good advice.
But the thing that probably gave me the opportunity to try it out was at the start of the pandemic, I was put on furlough, so I had about three months of paid time off. I did have my child with me, who was two at the time, but somehow, I don't know how. Somehow I was like, right.
I went to the hairdresser and she told me about this thing called Creative Live, which is where you can learn all sorts of things about becoming a photographer or learning how to edit in photoshop. So I did this course about how to set up a photography business and kind of gave you all the steps. I was like, right, I'm going to make my website, I'm going to start doing free shoots. And I just had that appetite to do it and so I just started doing it on the side of my job. Okay. And to be honest and open, it is still half my job because I still work in sustainability.
So at least half, probably more than half of my income still comes from sustainability consulting as a freelancer and the rest is photography. So I'm still transitioning. I don't fully do it, so I'm kind of like and maybe it will stay like that for a long time, I don't know. But I think I've gradually moved more towards photography.
Karla: Yeah, that makes sense though, doing it that way.
Sarah:: It's a lower risk way of doing it, for sure, because it's not easy to start from nothing. No, it's not easy.
Karla: So what led you to focus on small business brand photography and portrait photography? Like, you made the leap to photography, but then what kind of photography? There's so much out there.
Sarah: I knew it was always going to be some form of portraits because people was the topic that I was most interested in. And I started off doing family shoots, so newborn babies and kids as well as headshots. So I wasn't really calling it personal branding or business portraits or whatever you want to call it, or people photography. There's so many ways you can call it. I just heard the term headshots and thought that was it. So it was kind of what was available for me to photograph. So my kid was really little when I started and so I had other friends with small children and that's an obvious thing to photograph.
And then I would ask my colleagues at work if I could photograph them to the website, which was a nice way to get to do photography on the slide while I was being paid to do my job, but no one seemed to mind too much. And then having done a number of photography business courses, the advice is it's easier to focus on one thing because then you've got one marketing message. You can kind of channel all your energy into one thing. And the thing with families is you have to work kind of when the kids aren't at school or at weekends. And for me, I was like, well, I don't want to work at the weekends, I want my weekends free.
And also working with other small business owners or other professionals is a nice way for me to meet people professionally. And it's a lot easier on your knees to take pictures of adults rather than small children. So that's another key factor as I head into my 40s, is to think about my knees. I hadn't thought of that. I've got enough carpet burns on my knees from my own child. I don't need any more.
Karla: What does so what does life look like now as a professional photographer?
Sarah: What does it look like? I mean, it's very flexible. I think what quickly became apparent was that most of your time is spent marketing your business. And about 10% of the time, probably 5% of my time is spent actually photographing people, because I moved from London to Rotterdam two years ago. And a big thing about photography is about it's drawing on your existing network. And most of my network is in England.
So here I'm doing a lot of trying to write blogs, go on social media, hopes that you're doing something effective. Not really sure. Getting my website up to date, trying to build up an email list. So there's a lot of marketing stuff. And the other half the time is spent doing my other job, which is very much a desk based job, but it's definitely good, from a peace of mind point of view, to know that I've got this, like, steady stream of income.
Because the thing with photography is it's job after job after job, whereas a sustainability contract, which is the area I work in, could be several months. And you can just go, Right, okay, just do the work. Now, with photography, you're always having to generate new work. But a day, I feel like I have quite a nice lifestyle because I have I go to a coworking space, because another thing about being a photographer is you're on your own all the time. So I work at a coworking space.
We run it as a community, and so I hang out with architects and graphic designers and it people, and we just have a nice time that's good together. Yeah.
Karla: Sounds like my kind of space.
Sarah: Yeah, it's very nice. Yeah, very nice.
Karla: So what particular skill set do you think you need to be a professional photographer and what sets you apart?
Sarah: You need people skills. I do. I'm going to be controversial and say that I think there's a lot of photographers that don't have good people skills. I think you're right. I mean, we've all had our school photo or work photo, where you've just been thrown in front of a photographer and made to spend a minute, and it's a bit traumatic and you expected to know how to pose. And so I'm the opposite of that.
I'm someone who hates being photographed personally, so I can very much empathize with the person that I'm working with. And I think so much of it is about and this is before they even get in front of the camera is reassurance understanding what a good outcome for them would be if they've got anything that they're nervous about. Or that they really want to make sure they do have, like, in terms of what expressions they have or what type of photo they have.
So I think it's very much putting yourself in the shoes of the client. And the client is often camera shy, really nervous, really doesn't want to do it, but they know they should and it will help them, it will help their business. But they've been putting it off for maybe at least a year, so there's that. But also, you just have to be a good all rounder when it comes to running a business because until you take on staff, you have to do the marketing, you have to do the finances, you have to be creative and artistic.
So I think it suits me because I'm a people person and I'm a bit of a jack of all trades. It suits me quite well. But I definitely miss having a team. So that's something I'm thinking about. How can I collaborate with people when it comes to photography so that it's not just me all the time.
Karla: Yeah, I can imagine that gets not lonely because I guess you have got people around you, but not the consistency.
Sarah: Yeah, that's why having the co-working space is so great because I get to complain to people. But also that's probably something we'll come on to later. But I'm in quite a few different online communities so that when something goes wrong or I really do not know what to do, I can pop a question in a Facebook group and have a load of people give me tips. Which is really helpful because sometimes you're just like especially if something goes wrong, you're having a hard day, you kind of need to let off steam somewhere, find some way to do that.
Karla: Yeah, exactly.
Karla: So how much direction do you give to people? Does it depend on the person?
Sarah: It does, like the average person quite a lot, at least at the beginning. Because at the beginning of a shoot, most people are very nervous, they don't know how it's going to go. So I would say I'm very directive and give a lot of positive reinforcement. Like, that looks great. Yeah, keep doing what you do. Oh my God, it's looking so good. But one great tip I had from a tutorial I watched was say, for example, I might take a picture and the light is totally wrong, but if I go, oh, that doesn't look good, the person is going to think I look bad. And actually the photo looks bad. They look might look great, but you don't want to put anything in anyone's head that is going wrong. But like, say I'm doing a shot and it just looks just not working. I'd be like, I won't say it, that's not working. Let's try something else. I'll say, Great, I think we've got all those. Let's go over here. Just to keep the energy positive. Because for most people it's such a nerve wracking thing that you just want to keep the vibe, really.
But then every so often you get someone that just knows how to look at the camera, and part of you is just like, oh, my God, yes. Because they're just like, boom, boom, boom. Yeah, I have one of those the other day and it is nice from time to time. Yeah. I think everyone says to me, but yeah, but the thing you need to know about me is I'm not photogenic. And everyone says that, and I think it's just like, no, you just haven't been photographed by someone that gives you good direction.
Karla: That's true, actually. What's not photogenic about someone?
Sarah: I think it's like people have a different image of themselves from what they see in the camera, and sometimes there's nothing I can do about that, but sometimes it's because they're very tense when they're being photographed and they have, like, a fake smile because they're just like, go. Whereas once you spent most of my shoots are a minimum of half an hour, and they're normally an hour or more. Everyone relaxes in that time because you can't be uptight for a 60 minutes straight. You just forget yourself at some point Normally it's after ten minutes chat away.
Karla: Yeah, you're talking.
Sarah: Yeah. And we're walking around. Like, most of the time they're outside, or at least half outside. So we're walking around, we're getting to know each other, and then we'll take a picture for five minutes and then we'll go somewhere else.
Karla: Yeah. And you're talking about life. Exactly. It's very relaxed. So I wanted to talk about visibility and the importance of telling stories visually, because this season is all about change. So I made a change to be more visible with the podcast, because obviously podcasting is your voice and I hid behind the podcast and then I decided to make the change to be visible. So I was wondering, what does visibility mean to you?
Sarah: I have a bit of a problem with the word visibility and I don't have to use it, but I'm always trying to think of ways to circumnavigate it because I think visibility in itself isn't really anything to aspire to. It's like, in the service of what? So how can being more visible help you reach more people with your service or change people's minds to something progressive, for example? Because I think we've seen a lot of, like, representation politics and stuff, so I think it's about what will that enable you to do? And I think often I work a lot with women who in many cases lack a bit of confidence and often work with creative types, and they kind of stand behind their thing, whether it's a designer, they stand behind their designs, and it's like, let them speak for themselves.
But there's a million designers, podcasters, chefs, architects, and if you are providing the service, and that service is you, then it's really important that you show who you are so that person can then go ‘I like this person'. I would trust them. I would trust to spend, I don't know, a lot of money on them advising me to do something’. I think one big thing is trust. Another thing is differentiation. If you're in quite a crowded field, then what makes you different is you and all the experiences you bring and your quirks and your personality type. So I think that's really important because I'm working with small business owners, it's often just them doing the whole show.
So I think that's extra important. I would say the main things. And then the other thing is that and it's something I want to do more with my business is photograph people that tend to be underrepresented in the media or in the online world. So I think just it is important that we see people of different genders and ethnicities, differently able people being seen. So that just becomes normal and accepted and isn't seen as something strange or other or minority in inverted commas. So that's definitely where I'd like to move more with my business.
Karla: So what is personal branding and why is it important? Because I hadn't actually heard of this term, really, until I went on your website.
Sarah: It's the name of the genre and it's come out of I'm assuming it's come out of the United States. And it's the big growing genre of photography in the UK. I'd say it's in the Netherlands, at least. It's not as well established. It's portrait photography. Personal branding is to photography is creating photos that match whatever the brand of your personal brand is. And I think personal branding, if you're an individual with a business, generally the business is about you.
And so it's not just you as a person, it's like which aspects of you are at the front foot of your business. But I really dislike the term. I think it sounds like I just don't really like it. And I'm always trying to find ways to talk, like but it kind of makes sense. Like, I felt like once I had.
Karla: Your photos, I felt like I had a personal brand and it led from the photos rather than the other way around. I didn't have a preconceived idea of what the brand would look like.
Sarah: Yeah, and there's different ways into it. We have different levels of services. And with the kind of bells and whistles one, which is a three hour plus shoot, I go through an exercise. It's like a workbook where I ask people to set aside some time and write down what are your values when it comes to your business? Who are the people that you're trying to serve? What's different about you? What aspects of your business or your life do you want to show so that might be behind the scenes?
What are the tools of my trade, what are the things I do in my free time to show a rounded perspective? What are the books I love or the food I love. And it's all just little accents that help someone connect and go, oh, yeah, this person, I can relate to them. And then how you portray that visually.
So it's kind of that really but most of the time, it's just trying to show someone be in themselves, in their own environment. I think that does 90% of the job. Like, what's their kind of natural expression? Are they a very animated, smiley person? Are they a bit more composed and sort of chilled? Do they hang out in cafes, on their sofa, out in the woods that does a lot of the heavy lifting? Like, do they work in the fashion sector and are you showing them kind of sewing machines? And a lot of the time, people have got to a certain point and they're like, I just need something that looks professional because it's almost like a seal of approval. It's like having a nicely designed website. People go, oh, this is a real person, which professional photography can really help with.
Karla: Why is it important to you to amplify and enhance other people's stories?
Sarah: I started out not really caring about amplifying people's stories. I just really like taking pictures of people because I find it fascinating. But then I also really enjoy writing, so it's very nice to be able to tell the story, to show my photos and tell the story of that person. And it's wonderful when I hear stories like yours about how it's really helped. But one thing that I'm realizing is that you have to charge money for your services, and it has to be enough money, and that can be too expensive for a lot of people, especially if they're starting out with a new business.
And so it's really important to me to have genuinely want to serve a wide demographic and particularly to not exclude people that could really benefit from more visibility and professional photography. So I launched a new service a few months ago called Photography for Everyone, which is where I ask people to apply if they can't afford my prices. It's a pay what you can afford model, and you fill in a form, and if you meet certain criteria, which is generally like, do you have some kind of aspect of your life that you may be discriminated against or you may struggle to afford? For example, you're a single parent or you're a migrant woman or anyway, it's pretty flexible, but it's a way of I don't have to do it all the time, but when I'm maybe a bit quieter and I've got some capacity, I can open it up to wider people. So that's a really nice way of me making sure that I've got a wider group of people that I can photograph.
Karla: Why do you think it's important to not only be behind the scenes creatively, but to put yourself out there visually?
Sarah: I think for some people, the people you see in the media or people that we’re used to seeing represented, it's second nature to them. And for everyone else, we've got to learn to do it. I think having photos of yourself that you can use is a shortcut so you have something that you can put out there and start to put your face to your work and be recognised for your work.
Then that can create its own momentum. Then you become more confident to go on a podcast or speak on a stage or say something about an issue and put your face to it. Often you go on someone's LinkedIn profile and there's barely anything there and then you meet them and they’re amazing. If I'd known that they were amazing from their profile, I’d be banging down their door. And I think that's when we miss out.
Karla: So say there's someone on the fence about making a change, say calling up a photographer or putting their face to their brand. What tips would you give to people who are nervous about getting in front of the camera?
Sarah: I would say, first of all, you're the same as most of the people. Well, 95% of the people I work with do not feel comfortable at all. So that's one thing is like, that's just normal. The second thing would be is to find someone whose style of photography you really like. That's going to be a lot of the job. But then the other thing is to kind of sound people out. Because if you're someone that's nervous about being in front of the camera, you want to work with someone who helps you with that. And not all photographers do.
Some are very much focused on getting a beautiful creative output, but that might not involve much input from you. So it depends on your working style. If you just want to be in someone's hands and look amazing and not have much input, you can get that. Or if you really want to be kind of codesigning the shoot where you tell them what you want and you kind of create it together. That's another thing. So I think if you're going to contact photographers is to understand what happens before the shoot because really tough to turn up cold not knowing what to expect and to then get something that you like because you really don't know. When I work with people, it can be really minimal. It's just like, do you want to be smiley or not?
Do you want to be in an urban or a non urban environment? It can be very light or it can be like, what the shots do you need? Do you need the killer headshot for your conferences? Do you need the big wide angle shots showing you in your studio, like making your art or whatever it is? So I think it's, just going into it with your eyes open and knowing what you're getting. And also things like do I get to choose the pictures or do you just give them to me because people work differently?
Am I going to be paying for the shoot and all the photos or will I get just a few photos and have to pay for any extras that I want? So every single photographer has their own unique way of working, their own unique pricing. It would just be to do your research and get a recommendation.
Karla: Okay. Lastly, well, second to last. So do you have any tips for posing for the camera?
Sarah: Number one is breathe in and then have a deep breath. Number one. The other one is think about your posture. So most of us are a bit slumped as I am, as we record this podcast. So it's kind of like think about the long line of the spine and shoulders back and down and kind of shake it off a bit. You start doing it as you talk. Think about that. Put your shoulders back, keep it nice and straight. Even if it feels unnatural, it looks much better.
And then in terms of actually posing, it's always good to be a bit of an angle to the camera and the photographer should help you do that, but kind of find the light so like the lights shining on your face. So everything's been nicely lit. But that's really the photographer's job to help you with that. The other thing I would say is practice a lot in the mirror and also try out different poses. So kind of observe like, am I someone that if I'm having a conversation around the coffee machine, do I stick my hand on my hip? Do I fold my arms?
Do I kind of cross my arms? Like hold one of my arms with my other hand? Like kind of see what your go to poses are because it's funny. I'll go, what are you? Do you put your hands in your pocket? Do you fold your arms like, no, that looks really corporate. And then, yeah, I fold my arms like that's my thing. And everyone has their thing. So find out what your thing is.
Other ones is get a prop involved. So for instance, if you're feeling really like, what do I do with my hands is the main question. You've got a cup of coffee, you can just hold that. Or like we did with your shoe, if you've got a notebook, you can just write in your notebook. Or you can flick through a book or you can chop some onions. I mean, depending if it's relevant. I love props and if I'm doing a shoot that involves props, I always do them first because that's the easy stuff because you're focusing on the prop, not on you. So if you think that's going to be you, get a prop involved.
Karla: Lastly, where can people find you?
Sarah: You can find me at my website, which is Tulejphoto.com. And there you can download my free guide with 13 game changing ways to use brand photography to grow your business. I highly recommend. And I also hang out on LinkedIn and Instagram. Instagram. I'm at too late photo.
Karla: Thank you very much for coming on the podcast.
Sarah: Thank you for having me, Karla. I loved it.
Karla: There you have it. Thank you so much to Sarah for coming on the podcast and thank you for listening. I will see you next week.