Monday, May 2, 2011

A post about headshots...

Yeah, I know, I haven't posted in ages. Many reasons for that, which I won't get into right now.

Instead, I offer a history of my headshots. Perhaps someone can learn from it.

I have had eight different headshot sessions over the years. Yes, eight. Five were paid for; three were free. Of the three free sessions, one was a trade with a photographer, one was a gift from a photographer, and one was a "thank you" from a photographer for being a test model at a shoot. I have used four different photographers, one of which has shot me five times. Why do I keep going back to her? Because, not only do I like her work, but she has also done an amazing job of working WITH me, instead of just working FOR me.

So, now begins the pictoral history:

This shot is from my very first headshot session, in Chicago.



It's the only shot from that session of which I have a digital copy. I have a hard copy proof sheet and three hard copy headshot proofs from the session. No disc. I got these taken just before I left Chicago. I used them during my first year in LA, before I realized that color was king. The photos are, overall, not the best photos of me, but they aren't necessarily bad. I just look very different in each of the photos. I obviously cannot use these in LA, despite the fact that they are old, because of the black & white issue. However, I have always liked this one shot, so I kept a digital copy of it, for the hell of it. My mom has copies of the other headshots in frames at her house, which is amusing to me.

The following shots are from my first session in LA, with Kelsey Edwards. This session was free--I got it as a trade, for working a party that she had at her studio. Kelsey came highly recommended from my friend, Alex, who has shot with her numerous times:






Now, these photos don't have anything wrong with them, per say. But...I never loved them. Part of it is that I can tell I'm uncomfortable in a lot of them...but, I also feel like they are very "stock" photos--the looks are all generic. Girl next door, sexy, etc. There's no sense of who I am in them, at least, not to me. This is particularly true of the "sexy" look--it could not be less sexy to me. If you had seen the amount of make up I had on...insane. I think the photos are pretty--they're well shot, that's for sure. But...they lack something. I will also add that I was not particulary comfortable during this shoot, and that must have added to the lack of personality coming through on most of the shots.

My first shoot with Felicity Murphy garnered these shots:





These three photos were ones selected for use by my reps. The one with the yellow background is one that they still use--and I know for a fact that it gets me into the room for commercial auditions. One of the things I was looking for in this session was a "Sexy Tina Fey" look, which I think I achieved with the shot where I am wearing my glasses. During this session, I was able to let some more of my real personality come through, but I wasn't 100% comfortable, mostly because, at the time, I was not comfortable taking still shots. The older that I get and the more I am comfortable with my work as an actor, the better I am in in front of all cameras. In these shots, my hair is darker than it currently is--I had a hair horror story just prior to the shoot, in which my (now ex) hair dresser did a real number on my hair while trying to give me red highlights. I had to dye over everything, resulting in a darker hair color than my natural color. I love the color, but nevertheless, it's not true to how my hair looks now (although the length is close).

These are from a free session with Christopher Moscatiello:



My main issue with this session was my make up. I hated it. At the time, I was working on reshaping my eyebrows based on recommendations from the lovely ladies at Anastasia...this required me to grow them out, in order to fill out a certain shape...which left me with a bald spot, oddly enough. So, in the photos, my eyebrows look strange--the photog tried to do all of the retouching, but it looked weird, so a friend of mine worked on the photos as well...in the end, none of the photos really worked out for me. My reps were not fans of them, either.

These are from my second session with Felicity Murphy:






These are among the shots that my commercial reps use--specifically, the one in the red shirt is used as my main commercial shot. I worked with Felicity to nail down the looks that my agents had requested (I approached them ahead of time, for input on what they felt I needed). We took soooooo many photos during this session--and much more of my personality came through. All of the shots from this session lean heavily toward commercial, versus theatrical.

The next round of Felicity Murphy shots:




Now, I had a specific goal with these shots: sexy. I wanted sexy pictures. It had been something on my Bucket List, for lack of a better description. I took advantage of a special discount package that Felicity had been offering. We worked with my favorite make up artist, Michelle Diaz, who has worked with us on all of our shoots together. I picked two looks and researched them, bringing photos to the session for us to work off of (for the record: I also did this for my first session with Felicity, too). I was very happy with the results. I got what I wanted. I was comfortable enough to play and be myself, and the photos reflect that.

My Broncolor session pics:







These photos were free. Felicity asked me to be a model for her friend, who was holding photo tests for his lighting company. As payment, Felicity shot some "headshot" like pics for me. The other photographers involved were Melissa Brooks (purple/blue shirt) and Allyson Aliano (pink shirt with blown out lighting). I didn't end up using these photos for anything more than business cards and social network profiles, but I do like a number of them, just for fun. I also cut my hair off not long after taking them, so I can't use them unless I grow it out again. :)

Latest session with Felicity:







This session came after I decided to chop off my hair. Why did I do that? Last summer, I won a general meeting with Mark Measures of Abrams Artists, through Twitter. He held a contest in which the person who submitted the best haiku on why they should get a meeting would win a meeting. I won (as did my costar from my Big Lots commercial, Cory Jacob). At that meeting, Mark suggested that I find a different way to do my hair. Why? Because, at the time, I had very long, beautiful hair...which did not fit my most marketable commercial look. I had been thinking of cutting off my hair anyway, because I had noticed that most gals who were my "type" in commercials did not have hair as long as mine. So, after consulting with my rep, I opted to chop off 10 inches of hair. The photos that my reps chose are: yellow tank top, both shots with the orange plaid shirt, and the cupcake shot. The teal sweater shot is the one my acting coach chose for a theatrical option, although I don't love it as much as another shot I am toying with getting reproduced. At any rate, during this session, I felt most like myself. I was able to get MANY usable shots, with different looks, all of which exhibited some aspect of ME on top of being a typed shot. Here are some others:








I have a tradition with Felicity of saving one look to be a "fun" look--on the first round, it was the yellow background with the 60s dress...during the "commercial" round, it was an 80s look...during this last session, it was my Mad Men look with the pink dress.

(The 80s look--improvised at the end of our shoot, just for the hell of it...we ran around and found this van in Los Feliz to shoot in front of...)


This is one of the reasons that I love working with her--she took the time to "get" me. She encourages me to be ME in my shots and instinctively knows when I'm holding back or uncomfortable. She doesn't have an ego about things--if a shot or a look isn't working, she wants to make sure that we find a way to get what we want, even if that means abandoning the shot or idea. Over the years, she's really developed how she works with actors, so her shots have gotten better and better. The cupcake shot was a totally improvised thing--I had brought cupcakes because it was Michelle's birthday that week. We were playing around with them and thought, "Why not try some shots with these?" They ended up being the highlight of the shoot--those photos have SO much personality and energy.



Clearly, I am a fan of her work. :)

My overall recommendation for headshots--no matter who you shoot with--is to go in knowing what types you want to nail for the shoot. Do your research, not only into what types you fit best, but also, how those looks can be translated into shots. Look up actors who are your type or who you look like--see what shots are out there of them. Might give you some ideas of how to translate that look for yourself. Do your best to be comfortable with whomever you're working with, and most of all, try to let your personality come through.

Felicity Murphy Photography if you want to check her out on the web. :)

Okay, so I think that's quite enough photos of me for tonight...