From Neuroscience to Branding & Portrait Photography
Art, Science, and the Identity In-Between
By: Andrea Molina | Dayton Headshot & Portrait Photographer
I’ve been editing my own websites since the early 2000s, when About Me pages were simple and MySpace pages had top friends & music. I didn’t overthink them.
Lately, though, that section feels more complicated. I noticed that I’ve been trying to edit myself into the version I think people expect to see.
If you’re on a photography website, you expect the person behind it to be… a photographer.
So I’ve wondered: Do I lose credibility as an artist if I mention my science background?
And after an unexpected career pivot, I found myself rejuvenating my photography business to be my full-time work. This fall, I started to (once again) offer professional headshots, branding photography, and portraits that tell stories.
As I re-launched, I carved off entire layers of myself so I could fit neatly into a succinct bio. I trimmed away the parts that didn’t seem “creative enough.” I removed the fact that I have a master’s degree in physiology + neuroscience. I left out the years I spent in research labs and clinical research settings. I didn’t mention that I’m fluent in the languages of data, precision, observable truth, systems, and departmental leadership, as if those chapters were somehow irrelevant to the photographer I am now.
I tried to compartmentalize these parts of myself into tidy categories that would never overlap.
Questions lingered:
Am I “allowed” to claim both?
Will potential clients think it’s confusing?
Does being trained in science make me an outsider in the creative world?
Does being an artist make me an outsider in the scientific one?
Yet the more I photograph people, the more obvious it becomes:
I can’t separate the scientist from the artist, because we share a brain.
And more precisely, a corpus callosum that sits between two hemispheres and efficiently integrates signals from both sides cohesively.
Blending artist & scientist, I notice tiny shifts in muscle tension, posture, and the way light shapes the edges of a face. Photography lets me translate those details into images that help people see themselves as capable, professional, approachable, and deeply human.
And in a world where first impressions happen online, especially on LinkedIn, websites, About pages, and brand stories… a headshot isn’t just a picture. It’s communication. It’s biology meeting creativity. Milliseconds meeting emotion.
That intersection is exactly where I live as I shape people in front of my camera.
Curiosity is what makes both science and art come alive. It’s what keeps my work evolving…
I’ve studied light like I’ve studied physics & chemistry. It’s what makes my photography feel grounded, intentional, and distinctly my own.
So I’m learning to stop asking if there’s room to be all of me. There is.
In fact, it’s a path of alignment.
And I think that’s part of the reason why I’m so passionate about helping people reshape their professional image. I know what it means to see a bio picture in Outlook, on calls, at keynotes, at symposiums… we use them everywhere. I want that photo to reflect who you actually are and scope of expertise you offer. I want it be the culmination of all your training, hard work, and who people connect with when they meet you in person.
Not a boxed-in version.
Not the minimized version.
But the full, layered, capable version.
I will stop shrinking myself and I can’t wait to help other people do the same.
-Andrea
