Executive Portraits for a Biotech C-Suite: How a Leadership Session Works

When 4D Molecular Therapeutics, a late-stage biotech developing genetic medicines, needed new portraits for its C-suite, the brief was the one I hear most often: the whole leadership team needs consistent, current images, and the CEO needs more than a headshot.

The setup: simple, fast, flattering

For the leadership team, I chose an outdoor location directly outside their offices. Open shade, greenery falling away into a soft blur, and one professional light shaped through an umbrella for each subject. That single-light outdoor recipe does three things at once: it flatters every face, it keeps each session to minutes per person so executives get back to work, and it produces a set where every portrait matches, which is what makes a leadership page look intentional instead of assembled.

Why the CEO gets a bigger session

For President and CEO David Kirn, we built out five distinct scenes instead of one. That is deliberate, and it is something I recommend to almost every company I photograph: a CEO’s images simply work harder. They appear on conference stages, in investor materials, in press coverage, in annual reports. One look gets stale fast when the same photo runs everywhere. Five scenes means the communications team can match the image to the moment for the next couple of years.

How a session like this works

If your team needs this, here is the shape of it. We pick a date and I come to your office, anywhere in the Bay Area or nationwide. I scout a spot on site, indoors or out, and bring all lighting and backdrops. Each person takes five to ten minutes; a leadership team of ten is comfortably done in a half day, and I have photographed up to 100 people in a single day. Executives who need the fuller treatment get multiple scenes, like the five we built for 4DMT’s CEO. Selects arrive in a private online gallery within a few business days, professionally retouched.

I have been a professional photographer for more than 15 years, shooting for AFP and Getty Images on the editorial side and for companies including Google, Amazon, Meta, and Salesforce on the corporate side. Biotech and life sciences teams are a regular part of that work.

About executive portrait sessions

Companies searching for an executive headshot photographer in San Francisco or planning corporate team headshots can see more of this work throughout the site. For budget planning, see what professional headshots cost in San Francisco. Half-day team sessions start from $2,000 and full days from $3,500; executive portrait sessions with multiple scenes are quoted to scope.