It may surprise you, but I have no set style when it comes to headshots.  None.  Zilch.

My style?  You.  You and your personality.

Some photographers have a look that defines them.  I try not to be that way.  I don’t want to be the photographer that always uses black backdrops or certain poses.  I want you to know that I took someone’s headshot because it really brought out that person’s personality. 

I made that person shine.

Headshots should be like snowflakes – not like a one-size-fits-all t-shirt (that actually fits no one).  Do you need to look corporate?  Quiet?  Lovable?  If you run a multi-million dollar corporation, you need to look like you run a multi-million dollar corporation.  Your headshot shouldn’t look like a passport photo.

Yuck.

Every client has specific needs and wants when they step in front of the camera.  Because of this, every session is different.  What are your concerns?  What do you want to accomplish with your headshot? 

It’s not up to me to decide how you should appear.  How do YOU want to appear?

If you look on the main page of my website, you’ll see a place to request a FREE GUIDE to help you strategize your headshot session.  I call it my “Headshot Strategy Planner”. 

It has four main points:

·       What are you looking for in a headshot?  Why do you want or need one?

·       What are four words that you want people to describe you with when they look at your headshot for the first time?

·       What is your target audience?  Or, audiences?

·       Who are you?  What makes you different?

Your headshot is all about you.  When you walk into my studio, I want to have a plan in place for meeting YOUR goals. 

What I realized, though, is that the questions above are really, really tough to answer for some people.  Most people need some time to think about their answers.  And just like that, the Headshot Strategy Planner was born!

Let’s face it – we’re all insecure.  It manifests itself in different ways, but we all have something that we would like to change about ourselves.  It could be our weight, our age, a mole, or a freckle.  Maybe we hate our thinning hair, or maybe we’re worried about a stray eyebrow that shows up somewhere unwanted on our face without warning (not that I have any idea where that would be).

 

Don’t think that insecurity is only for women, either.  Just as many men sit in front of me as women, and I see it in them, too.

Luckily, I can help; it is my job.

If you are in your 50s or 60s, I’m not going to light you the same way I’d light a 20-year old.  That just doesn’t make sense.  I’m also not going to pose you the same way I’d pose a 20-year old.  Again, it just wouldn’t make sense.  I could go on and on.

So, yes, maybe I do get a little too involved in the headshot process.  But you know what?  It’s working.  I love it when a client updates their profile picture on Facebook, and someone else asks if I took the photo. 

It means that I made that snowflake look amazing.