Mel & Mane, Aldeburgh: Social Media Shoot

A social media shoot for a Suffolk salon rebrand

Mel has spent more than 25 years doing hair, and she has recently moved and rebranded. What used to be Innov8 in Saxmundham is now Mel & Mane, based at Belle Âme in Aldeburgh. A change like that needs a fresh set of images. New name, new town, new look, and the pictures a business had before the rebrand rarely carry across. So we planned a shoot built entirely around her social media. Facebook and Instagram are where Mel talks to her clients, and everything we made was for those two places. There was no point creating a big library for a website or a brochure she does not need. The brief was simple and specific, and that made it easier to plan properly.

Working with Mel and Keira

I worked with Mel, who was wonderful company throughout, and with Keira, who modelled for the day. Keira was a real pleasure to have on a shoot. She brought energy, she took direction well, and she made the whole day good fun. I am hoping to work with her again before long, whether that is with Mel or on something else. When a model is that easy to work with, the day runs better and the pictures show it.

Mel & Mane is a luxury salon offering a full range of hair services, along with treatments and plant based luxury colours and products. Mel also does wedding and special occasion hair, which is careful, detailed work that clients plan around. The shoot needed to show that side of the business, not just a finished look, so we built the day around Mel actually working. A photograph of a good result is useful, but it does not tell a new client much about the person doing the work or what a visit feels like. Showing the process does both.

The idea behind the shoot

I wanted the salon part of the day to feel busy and slightly frenetic, closer to a paparazzi feel than a set of posed portraits. That was a deliberate choice. Social media rewards images that feel alive and caught in the moment more than stiff, formal setups, and it suited the energy Mel and Keira had on the day. So we photographed the real steps of getting ready. The hair being washed at the basin, sectioned and prepped, styled and finished. Those working pictures matter for a stylist, because they show the craft rather than only the result. A client scrolling Facebook can see what actually happens in the chair, and that does more to build trust than a single polished portrait on its own.

Keira was a good match for that approach. She kept the energy up through the styling, which is not easy when you are sitting still for long stretches, and she stayed relaxed once we moved on to the portraits. That is worth saying, because the paparazzi feel only works if the person in front of the camera is comfortable enough to let it be a bit loose.

We split the day into two halves. The first was in the salon, covering the preparation and the styling from start to finish. The second took us out and about in Aldeburgh.

Aldeburgh as the backdrop

Aldeburgh is where Mel works now, so it made sense to use the town itself. There is no reason to hide where a business is based, and a recognisable local setting helps the images speak to the people most likely to become clients. We photographed along the high street and down by the seafront, using the fishing boats and the weathered timber on the beach as backgrounds. Those textures give a picture something to sit against, and they are honest to the place rather than a generic backdrop that could be anywhere.

The light on the coast that day was strong and direct, which suited the on the move feel I was after. Bright coastal light is not always easy to work with, because it can be harsh, so I positioned Keira carefully to keep the light working for us rather than against us. Keira’s finished hair held up well in the sea breeze, which is always a fair test of a style. If a look survives a walk along an open beach and still photographs well, it says something about the work that went into it.

How Mel receives the images

Everything from the day goes into a large private gallery. Mel can go back through it and cherry pick whatever she wants to use. I supply the images uncropped, which is deliberate. It means Mel can crop each one to suit wherever she is posting it, whether that is an Instagram square, a story or a Facebook post. Different platforms want different shapes, and handing over uncropped files gives her the room to make those choices herself.

There is one thing worth saying about that, because it applies to any client I deliver social media images to. An uncropped file is not meant to be posted exactly as it arrives. It needs a moment of thought first, a crop and a bit of framing for the platform it is going on. If a client is unsure how to approach that, I am happy to talk it through beforehand so they get the most out of the set.

We also shot a number of frames with deliberate empty space in them, so Mel can add text or a banner over the top. If she has an event to promote or something to announce, she has images ready made to carry that message.

Where I work

I photograph businesses and people across Suffolk, working from my studio at Bentwaters near Woodbridge and on location when the shoot calls for it. This one belonged in Aldeburgh, and it was a good day out with two people who made it easy. If you run a business and need images made for your own social media, that is exactly the sort of work I enjoy.