Charles Cotugno Photography

Charles Cotugno Photography Based in Seattle, WA, Charles Cotugno Photography works with organizations to design and create imag

Charlie Cotugno is a Seattle headshot photographer whose clients range from individuals to Fortune 100 companies. He is also a sought-after speaker on the topic of leveraging photography for career advancement and marketing success as well as implementing the creative process for innovation in the workplace. To learn how Charlie can guide you through your visual imaging process, visit www.CotugnoPhoto.com, email [email protected], or call/text 425.501.9725.

07/30/2026

Where it all happens!

Branding images are an important part of your marketing. But don’t confuse branding images with headshots. They are two ...
06/29/2026

Branding images are an important part of your marketing. But don’t confuse branding images with headshots. They are two different types of branding assets.

HEADSHOTS are designed for recognition. Because we always look at a person’s eyes when seeing their image or meeting them in person, headshots are close crops with the focus point being your eyes. Headshots are most effective when they are on a clean, simple background so they don’t distract from your face. They are a catch-all for wherever you need to show your face; profile photos, marketing collateral, websites, announcements, etc.

BRANDING IMAGES focus on you, your work, and your personality. They are best used on your websites and for marketing and promotional materials. They can be wide, medium, or close-up images. They are typically photographed in your office, workspace, another relevant location, or in studio with a more artistic type of background. They are designed to tell a story about you and what you do.

Branding images are NOT good to be used as headshots as even close-up photos are not lit and designed

Why are both headshots and branding images important for your business?
People are visual creatures so both professional headshots and professional branding images are some of your most important marketing assets. What we see usually overrides what we read about a person or business.

If you reserve a Professional Session with me, we can also include your personal or business branding images. Feel free to message me with any questions and I’ll be happy to help.

Do you have sales, repair, or installation teams that work in the field? Send your clients a confirmation message with a...
06/28/2026

Do you have sales, repair, or installation teams that work in the field? Send your clients a confirmation message with a professional headshot of your team member paying them a visit. Not only is it a great ice breaker but it also shows them who to expect and provides both them and your team member a higher level of safety and comfort.

“Why can't I have the image files for the headshots I don’t select for retouching?"That’s a question I frequently get fr...
06/24/2026

“Why can't I have the image files for the headshots I don’t select for retouching?"

That’s a question I frequently get from people during our discovery calls. Here is the policy that I have chosen for my business that appears in my agreements and pricing information.

“For quality assurance, we do not release any images that have not been through our retouching process."

Why is that? If I’m not going to use the images for anything, why would I care if I give them away?

First, here’s why this policy is beneficial to you and your business aspirations. Do you really want people to see an image of you that isn’t color corrected, where lighting needs some adjustment, where your skin looks a bit magenta or green or blue, stray hairs everywhere, without some refining of the natural aging process such as bags under the eyes, clothing wrinkles, etc.? This probably isn’t how you want to present yourself to the world, especially next to the images you selected for retouching.

Second, the same way you would feel about providing unfinished work to your manager or client is the same way most serious photographers feel about releasing their own unfinished work. It diminishes someone’s reputation when subpar work is released, especially when we won’t have any control of where it will be displayed. You might think you could just enter it into your favorite AI program and that will take care of everything. However, what that program decides to do will not provide you what you hired your photographer for and negates the reason why you sought them out in the first place.

Those are just two reasons, one from each side of the camera. There are many more. And don’t get me wrong; I’m not disparaging anyone else’s business model. Each one has its place and you can find someone who will provide you with all the images pretty easily. But for me and many other photographers, our goal is to provide you with the best images possible for both your best interest and, frankly, ours as well. It’s a win/win for everyone who wants to present the best of themselves to the world.

The cast is gone and I’ve got a beautiful new scar! X-rays from the other day show that surgery went great with both the...
06/10/2026

The cast is gone and I’ve got a beautiful new scar! X-rays from the other day show that surgery went great with both the radius and ulna healing in perfect positions. Now it’s six weeks of PT to get things to almost normal and back on the road bike. (I’ll be riding on the indoor trainer until then.)

With that being said, I’ll be back to taking on all types of assignments a lot earlier than anticipated - about a week from now as opposed to sometime in July. As much as I love creating headshots in the studio, I’ve missed getting out on location creating branding and marketing images for the businesses around town. Hit me up!

I really love the opportunity to tell the whole story of a business or entrepreneur through images. We get to create not...
06/08/2026

I really love the opportunity to tell the whole story of a business or entrepreneur through images. We get to create not only headshots but also branding images, behind the scenes, customer interactions, and more.

Grey is a founder and executive for a rapidly up and coming business and needed a new set of headshots for marketing and other promotional purposes. We created both headshots and branding images for him and his business partner over the course of about ninety minutes. They selected a total of eighteen images for multiple usage scenarios, delivered in both color and black and white.

I’ll post some additional images from our session over the next week.

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3250 Airport Way S, #710
Seattle, WA
98134

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Monday 10am - 5pm
Tuesday 10am - 5pm
Wednesday 10am - 5pm
Thursday 10am - 5pm
Friday 10am - 5pm

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