Headshots are some of the most common commercial work I do — and one of the most varied. A single-person CEO portrait for a magazine feature is a different shoot from a 12-person team set for a company website, which is different again from a quick boardroom session for an architectural practice. The brief, the time pressure, the lighting, even what the subject is wearing — all of it shifts.
Here’s a roundup of six corporate and executive headshot projects from across Cape Town and beyond. Each one had its own brief and its own constraints.
1. Saicom CEO portrait — Sandton (2020)
CEO Magazine commissioned a portrait session of the CEO of Saicom, a telecommunications company based in Gauteng. Flying up to Sandton for a single-person executive shoot is its own kind of session — limited time, polished result expected, no second chances. We worked through a series of looks in their Sandton offices, balancing classic boardroom portraiture with a few softer environmental frames the magazine could use alongside the formal headshot.
Single-person executive sessions like this one have a different rhythm to team shoots. The subject doesn’t have peers to bounce off, so the photographer has to build comfort quickly and direct without the moment becoming overly stiff. The deliverables: a primary headshot for print, plus alternate frames the magazine could use as supporting imagery.
2. Capitec CEO portrait — Stellenbosch (2021)
A returning brief from CEO Magazine — they asked me to photograph Gerrie Fourie, the CEO of Capitec Bank, in Stellenbosch. I’d photographed him before for an earlier feature, which made the second session easier to plan but no less time-pressured. CEOs of public companies typically have a few minutes between meetings, not an hour, so the shoot has to be tight, prepared, and produce frames that the magazine can use alongside the print article.
The format was a clean editorial portrait with a Stellenbosch backdrop — neutral, professional, focused on the subject. Returning briefs like this one tend to produce better images, because both photographer and subject know what to expect.
3. Verso Group — Corporate headshots in Durbanville (2017)
The Verso Group is a private financial services group based in Durbanville — practically my home turf. They needed clean corporate headshots for their website refresh, with a consistent look across the team so the website would feel cohesive. We set up at their Durbanville offices and ran the team through over the course of a morning.
Matched team headshots are about consistency: same lighting, same crop, same posing approach across every person. The result is a website grid where the team looks like a team, not a collection of mismatched LinkedIn screenshots. It’s also the most common request I get from corporate clients.
4. Harcourts — Estate agent headshots in the Northern Suburbs (2017)
Real estate agents live by their photo. It’s on the website, it’s on the for-sale board outside the property, it’s on the business card a buyer holds onto for months. Harcourts asked me to photograph a set of their agents working in the Northern Suburbs of Cape Town. If you’ve seen a Harcourts board in Durbanville or Bellville with an agent’s headshot on it, there’s a fair chance it came out of this set.
Estate agent headshots have their own brief — friendly, approachable, professional. Not corporate-stiff, not casual, somewhere in between. The look has to work at thumbnail size on Property24 listings and at A2 size on a printed for-sale board. We shot for both ends.
5. Bouwer Architects — Headshots at Tyger Waterfront (2018)
Bouwer Architects (Tyger Waterfront) asked for headshots and group shots for their team, with their boardroom as the background — they wanted something that placed the team in their actual space rather than a neutral studio. We worked with the boardroom’s natural light and the timber tones of the room, which gave the images a warmer feel than typical white-backdrop corporate headshots.
Shooting in a real working space takes more setup than studio work — you’re managing reflections off glass, working around boardroom furniture, and timing around staff schedules. But the result is images that feel native to the firm rather than rented from a stock photography library.
6. Bouwer Architects — Return visit (2021)
A few years on, Bouwer Architects asked me back for additional headshots — new staff members and some refreshed images for social media use. Returning to a client is a good sign in commercial photography. It usually means the previous round of images did the job they were meant to do, and the firm trusts the visual continuity.
This second session was more focused — fewer people, but a wider brief. The social media imagery in particular needed a slightly different treatment from the formal website headshots: looser framing, more environment around the subject, frames that work with caption overlays.
What ties these six together
Different clients, different sectors, different formats — but every one of these sessions shared the same underlying brief: produce images this business can put their name to. CEOs and team members alike are putting their face on a website, a magazine page, a LinkedIn profile, an estate-agent board. The photographer’s job is to make sure that face represents them well.
If you’re a Cape Town business looking for corporate or executive headshots — single-person, full team, or anything in between — I’d be glad to chat. Browse my full headshot photography or get in touch to discuss your brief.
