Headshot PHotography is not just for actors anymore...
This is Robert, well …Bob. I met Bob last year while working on a play he was co-directing. Back then, he briefly talked to me about needing to get a headshot done a some point but it didn’t happen then…It happened just recently. When Bob got in touch with me it seemed he was very determined to get his headshots done this time around and ASAP. As we started the session at my studio I asked him, as I ask many of my clients, “when did you have your last headshot done?” His answer was what sparked this very important post. To make the story short, the important thing is not when he had his last headshot done but really why was he doing it now and why was it so important to him.
Bob used to be an actor, but now he is actually a director and quite a successful one with credits all the way down to having directed a play or two in Asia. Back in his acting days Bob needed a headshot for auditions, just as every actor does, but now…? Well just until recently he didn’t really see the need for it until something happened to him. Bob was invited to direct a play for an important national festival. While at the festival, a friend took a photo of him (a snapshot type) and this is the photo that ended up being used all throughout the festival’s media and publicity. Now, I can’t give faith for the quality of that particular photo, but it sure seemed it didn’t portray him as good as he deserves to be represented as a professional. That experience taught Bob a really important lesson. So as he finished telling me that story, Bob turns to me and tells me “…and that’s when I realized I needed a headshot done and fast. I have to be the one who takes care what image people see of myself.”
That is a lesson worth learning for everyone. Consider this, social media is, whether you like it or not, the equivalent of a giant résumé that not only follows you around but that has a life of it’s own. In a certain way it’s like we are always potentially being auditioned/judged. Maybe not by the people who knows you (MAYBE), but what about the friends of friends who might land on your profile and see your face for the first time. Just as an experiment, have you ever tried doing a image search of yourself online. More often that not, one of the first images that will pop up will be your profile picture.
Now think you are being considered for a job and your potential employer does a search for your name just out of curiosity. Maybe that’s not your case, maybe you have your own business and someone heard your name somewhere so they just do a search to see if they find your website or FB page. Last but not least, what about this one…? ” Hey I think you should date my friend Sarah Something Last Name, she’s like super cute…” Most people will go on FB and try to find you to see if you are as cute as they were told….The truth is that anyone can find your social profile (picture) on the web for whatever reason at any given time. If you want to be taken seriously, they better see you in a photograph that is flattering, professional and simply put awesome.You should learn that headshots today are not only for actors, dancers and models. Professional Headshots are for everyone out there who cares and/or should care about their public image, that’s the bottom line.
These are some of the images resulting from Bob’s session with me. After the session Bob came out really happy and confident. He knew that these headshots will give him the proper control of his image and people will see him in the best light possible. And that my friends, it’s the right kind of headshot!
That is a lesson worth learning for everyone. Consider this, social media is, whether you like it or not, the equivalent of a giant résumé that not only follows you around but that has a life of it’s own. In a certain way it’s like we are always potentially being auditioned/judged. Maybe not by the people who knows you (MAYBE), but what about the friends of friends who might land on your profile and see your face for the first time. Just as an experiment, have you ever tried doing a image search of yourself online. More often that not, one of the first images that will pop up will be your profile picture.
Now think you are being considered for a job and your potential employer does a search for your name just out of curiosity. Maybe that’s not your case, maybe you have your own business and someone heard your name somewhere so they just do a search to see if they find your website or FB page. Last but not least, what about this one…? ” Hey I think you should date my friend Sarah Something Last Name, she’s like super cute…” Most people will go on FB and try to find you to see if you are as cute as they were told….The truth is that anyone can find your social profile (picture) on the web for whatever reason at any given time. If you want to be taken seriously, they better see you in a photograph that is flattering, professional and simply put awesome.You should learn that headshots today are not only for actors, dancers and models. Professional Headshots are for everyone out there who cares and/or should care about their public image, that’s the bottom line.
These are some of the images resulting from Bob’s session with me. After the session Bob came out really happy and confident. He knew that these headshots will give him the proper control of his image and people will see him in the best light possible. And that my friends, it’s the right kind of headshot!
