He Came in for a LinkedIn Photo. Something Else Happened.

Laans has spent his career at the intersection of IT infrastructure, cybersecurity, AI, and governance. He's the kind of person who holds CISM, MCSE, and ITIL certifications, someone who has built and led complex systems for a long time. And he had reached a point where the systems he was most interested in building were his own.

He wasn't just changing jobs. He was stepping back and asking a bigger question about what the next chapter actually looks like. More rewarding. More impactful. Something that fits the person he's become, not just the roles he's held.

He booked a business portrait session at Melody Smith Portrait in Petersburg, Virginia. The original plan was simple: update the LinkedIn photo.

That's not quite where things ended up.

What He Expected vs. What Actually Happened

Laans came in expecting the session to be mostly pictures, with a little bit of conversation upfront. A quick warmup, then lights and camera.

"I guess I expected 20% preparation and 80% pictures," he said.

"The engagement, discussion of imaging and artistry was the reverse, and the pictures were far more impactful than I could've imagined."

That's by design. A session at Melody Smith Portrait doesn't start with posing. It starts with a real conversation about what you're stepping into, what you want people to feel when they see your image, and what story you actually want to tell. For someone like Laans, who was rebranding not just professionally but personally, that conversation mattered.

He also noted something about the process itself that stood out to him:

"This was an amazing process for determining objectives. Melody listened, proposed, and listened again as we worked toward the images I was hoping to achieve."

When Laans saw his portraits for the first time, something he didn't anticipate came up.

"I guess the 'oh, is that me?' was a surprise. I thought that was a different kind of person I've seen in politics and on book covers."

That reaction, the slight disorientation of seeing yourself as someone you didn't quite know you already were, is one of the things that keeps showing up in this work. People arrive with an idea of who they are in front of a camera. The session often tells them something different.

For Laans, one image in particular landed differently than the rest. He described it as the portrait that will eventually go on the back of a book cover. And that sentence alone says something. Because he came in thinking about LinkedIn, and left with a photo that is actively pushing a long-held dream forward.

"I see that visionary person as different from the original objective of executive leadership style," he said.

He also noted that the posing itself communicated things he hadn't thought about: "The posing conveyed energy direction in ways I never considered."

On Selfies, AI Headshots, and What Gets Lost

Laans had a sharp take on why he chose a professional portrait session over the alternatives, and it's worth sharing directly.

"Selfies don't give you the outside energy and image discussion. AI can match patterns to provide energy and image that matches convention, but at the cost of your personal style. You literally aren't that person. Even if they are phenomenal, YOU would know it wasn't you."

That last line is the one that stays with you.

There's a version of yourself that a well-made AI image can approximate. But you'd know. And somewhere in that gap between the image and the reality of who you are, something gets lost that you can't quite get back.

What He's Doing With His Portraits

The LinkedIn profile was always the baseline goal, and the portraits delivered on that. But Laans left with images that now have a longer runway than he originally planned for.

"Now I have options for many other situations including the book... and speaking."

His family and friends noticed too.

"Everyone who I shared my porttraits with was very impressed, and I think the line blurs between the pictures and perceptions of me, which is sort of the goal."

That line blurring between image and perception, that's the work.

Melody Smith Portrait is a boutique portrait studio located in Historic Old Town Petersburg, Virginia, serving business professionals throughout

Richmond, Chesterfield, Colonial Heights, and Central Virginia.

Business portrait and personal branding sessions include

a full pre-session consultation, professional grooming, and wardrobe direction.

Sessions begin at a $489 creative fee.

To schedule a consultation, visit melodysmithportrait.com.