Celebrating Irish women in the beauty industry

Connecting Irish women in London.

The Women’s Irish Network is a community for Irish women, specifically women of Irish heritage, living and working in London.

I had the honour of volunteering to assist Nuala Ginty, Women's Irish Network's Community Manager, as an event photographer, capturing some very stylish guests.

I also got to learn about the exciting entrepreneurial hot-bed of beauty innovation happening right now in Ireland.

The breakfast meeting panel event, held at the Bankside Hotel in London, had so much energy in the room.

See more of my photos from the event below!

Gorgeous skin products from Nyrah Beauty have been meticulously developed by Mechanical Engineer Lorraine Corcoran, including a drenching hyaluronic acid serum that is by far the most absorbent that I have tried.

We were gifted a 7-step day and night mini sample set, and so far I have been really impressed by hard working nature of this skincare routine that just seems to plug the gaps left by other brands.

We also heard from the Cat Deeley endorsed Ella and Jo, created by Niamh Ryan, an advanced skin therapist and cosmetic scientist. This is a brand with a with a very strong proposition - connecting skin and mind. I loved their award-winning Melt Away The Day cleansing balm, which we were lucky enough to get in our gift bag!

Not forgetting brows, we heard from The Brow Specialists, founded by Annemarie, specialising in semi-permanent makeup, lash enhancements and brow shaping who have studios in Shoreditch, London, and Castletroy, Limerick.

To find out more about upcoming events and to join the Women's Irish Network, visit https://womensirishnetwork.com/

To discuss how I can help your next event, from planning to photography, drop me a line.

From AI fake experts to social media "brain rot" - are we cooked?

The PRCA recently wrote a letter to the Government urging them to stop using X as a public information channel in light of harrowing content and child safety concerns.

This catapulted itself from my LinkedIn feed as a welcome but rare incidence of the PR industry making an ethical stand in a sea of posts around half-baked takes on AI coming for us and New Year life lessons.

This came at a particularly important time as it acknowledged that we, as non-robots, (also known as humans) have a choice on how we consume, engage with and endorse social media.

It also felt like a North Star for what the industry should represent amidst a wash of sinister AI fuelled practices including the Press Gazette naming and shaming quite frankly odd practices whereby so-called 'PRs' are pitching completely fake entities to news outlets. And, worryingly, securing coverage for the likes of a completely made-up gardener on behalf of a dubious recruitment website. (Why not just ask Monty Don for comment - he exists and does the job well?). While I digress, I'd wager a bet that they are more towards the SEO end of the earned media spectrum, and in terms of personal characteristics - wholly unethical with no grasp of what it means to build real relationships and do good work.

It is good to see a professional PR body taking a stand on social media. But is it getting harder to crack for brands (particularly those without a huge social media budget)?

We have adapted social media use since the pandemic, curating and building communities both with brands we love and those content creators who share our interests.

However since AI videos have flooded the platform, I found myself shedding a tear watching a TikTok about a shelter dog choosing its new owner at an animal rescue centre, only to read the comments that it was AI generated. I felt silly and to be quite honest, played. But show me a video of a cat working as a barista and I'll know it's AI and find it funny as my cat wouldn't do that for me even if he could. But, I should really be spending more time with my real life cat than watching videos of fake AI generated ones.

Surely it's not all bad - but is social media fundamentally struggling amidst "brain rot" style content and endless paid ads? And where do we draw the line?

This week Instagram notified me with the option of paying £3.99 for a non-advert subscription and no use of my personal data. Those who can afford to pay the subscription may not be visible to the more premium brands keen to appeal to them. Some have likened it to playing gig to an empty room, if it is adopted. Give your money or consent to personal data being harvested doesn't feel like a good deal.

Deleting social media is now an act of social rebellion, a pathway to a new way of living in a utopia where we are not addicted to scrolling nonsense for 2 hours without even realising.

But what content can survive? What is clear is that native style content that embraces humanity e.g. unpolished behind the scenes moments still does well providing there is a degree of humour, entertainment, relatability and education. I'm not sure if a ChatGPT prompt could come up with that, as some things have to be felt before they are created and brought into being.

But we are at the sharp end of the attention-span economy. Showing your values, sharing something genuinely useful, and an understanding that it is a privilege to have the attention of someone following your brand or business, is important. Providing an antidote to doom scrolling and breaking the fourth wall builds trust.

Meeting people where they are has to acknowledge that all of us often feel powerless in an ever-more-distressing global picture - but maybe the answer is right in front of us - prioritising trust over reach is more important than ever. I do think a healthy dose of assuming knowledge is also important, along with embracing conversation.

Perhaps you're tackling a sensitive topic - be mindful that watch time, saves and shares will be a more impactful measure, as you are in essence speaking to people privately - building more trust - on a publicly visible platform.

Before you post that draft, ask yourself, is this worth distracting someone from their life for?

The importance of good PR imagery

Let's talk about photography (video can come in a future post - I'm talking about the art of great high resolution photography for media use - print and digital).

The types of photography you may need for a PR campaign include:

• A headshot of you in your professional capacity, which is essential for thought leadership pitching, for example, as well as consistent branding on your professional platforms, including website and LinkedIn

• Product imagery, if you offer products to your industry (lifestyle and cut-out imagery, I'll expand on this below)

• Case study imagery (quality photography of people representing your brand)

• A 'picture story' lead image, where the story is brought together visually in an editorial and uncontrived way - the 'main event' of the story's components, if you will. By uncontrived I mean NOT heavily branded. This type of image really has to make sense on its own and with minimum captioning, really.

Qualities your imagery must possess include:

Having an active quality

Whether your subjects are aware of the camera or not (a creative decision), the image must have an active quality. Think about the energy of the photo. What sense does it create? Is there an emotion, an urgency, an 'ah ha' aspect that justifies why you're capturing the scene in the first place? (An example of an inactive photo would be the 'staged' handing over of a big cheque with people in suits frozen in time, shaking hands - you must know the one).

Not heavily branded - if at all

A bit of nuance doesn't go amiss here - branding must be absolutely relevant to the story, or else - leave it out. The photo should really speak for itself without shoe-horning branding in for no reason other than to try and sneak it in for the marketing team. Do remember, picture editors cannot be fooled into promoting your brand logo for free. Product imagery (such as clothing) is slightly different, of course.

High resolution

The standard resolution for PR imagery is 300dpi, no more than 2MB in size for print titles (do not attach to email, use Google links to share).

Consider lifestyle, cut-out and headshot formats

Every publication will have its own style guide and the best way to understand the right imagery to share is by reading the publication and preparing a shot list brief in advance. This could include:

• Cut-out imagery (product imagery with white/transparent background - the type of image you may see in a product placement column in a national newspaper e.g. top 5 water bottles, tried and tested skincare)

• Landscape and portrait formats - capture both in the shoot as journalists may need to use/edit based on their standard image sizes. 'Portscape' is also good for 4:5 Instagram posts

• Lifestyle imagery - whether for products or headshots, it always helps to have some options of the subject in context, particularly for consumer media. Clinical/no background images also have their place but should not be relied upon for more human-interest led PR/business profiling

Permissions and usage rights

You will need to be legally minded on usage rights and talent terms, safeguarding and photography/media release forms. The latter gives written permission from the person in the photo (or their parent/guardian if under 18) for you to use the image in PR and marketing. This is relevant for both owned and earned and paid channels.

On terms of PR usage, be sure to have agreements in place for this too (whether talent, case studies and staff - i.e. those you are featuring).

When it comes to editorial media usage terms, it is not advisable, as Oasis's team recently did, to put 12-month usage terms on imagery (after which period, it was reported that the rights would return to the band).

The Guardian states: "The industry norm is that such deals for independent photographers from agencies are struck in perpetuity, so publishers can continue to use shots for pieces such as band retrospectives, tributes and to illustrate future concerts."

Conclusion

Allocate proper budget, do not edit or manipulate the final image unless you explain why this alteration is part of the story. E.g. a photography/tech think piece on new editing software, or a feature on AI advancement, or the worrying rise of deep fakes. Authenticity is the only route. You will remember this royal photo story that saw 5 news agencies withdraw their photo.

Achieving this involves putting a decent budget aside in your campaign for a craft that I believe will and should have a resurgence in an age of over-egged filters and AI manipulation (uninspiring, much?)

I will always be a champion of great photographers. I particularly like this lifestyle image by Sophie Davies to promote an equestrian clothing brand I've devised to raise money for a local horse charity.

Credit: Sophie Davies

There are more examples of PR imagery on my main homepage, including a launch with the Tim Henman Foundation and a clowning workshop.

If you would like to get in touch to discuss how to compile a PR photography brief or story for your next PR campaign, please contact me.