"Oh crap, there's a camera" syndrome: a plague upon us

I just took photos for a professional named Charlie, who had a specific request: "I want a headshot that looks... natural. I can't explain what I'm looking for. It's just got to have this kind of in-the-moment realness or something-- you can see it in some peoples' headshots, but others look so forced."

I actually knew exactly what he was talking about. Most of us suffer from "oh crap, there's a camera" syndrome, where we clam up a bit when we see a camera. I understand it because I have it too. Every time I see someone pointing a camera at me there's a split second where every bad photo I've ever seen of myself flashes before my eyes like some kind of near-death experience. Then I feel a sense of responsibility or obligation to make this next photo look great- the smile needs to be perfect and the camera cannot pick up that weird angle in my nose, that ear that sticks out too far, the hair that sticks straight up in the air...

"Oh crap, there's a camera" syndrome is bad enough when someone's snapping your photo at a birthday party or while out at the bar. But boy oh boy, the symptoms sure intensify to unbearable levels when you're actually scheduling a time to go somewhere with the specific purpose of having your photo taken- like a headshot session.

And Charlie was no exception. He knew he was one of the many sufferers of this condition and expressed deep concern that I wouldn't be able to capture a natural-looking photo of him. Just like with everyone who comes to me for headshots, I assured him that we will keep taking photos until we get that "aha! There's the photo!" headshot.

To get past "oh crap, there's a camera" syndrome in my clients I try a variety of methods, since it can take a little while to see what works for each person. For some people, it's the camera itself that triggers the symptoms. If I'm chatting away with the camera at my hip, they listen intently and make very natural smiles that would look perfect in a photo... but the second the camera is near my face in shooting position, with the monstrous lens aiming at them like a missile silo, they clam up and return to that ever-so-practiced-in-front-of the mirror "CHEEEESE" smile. I try to take breaks from the shutter button and tell funny stories, but with the camera still near my face so they get used to the lens and it seems less frightening when it's pointed at them, as one of many remedies for the syndrome.

In the beginning of Charlie's session, a lot of the photos were warm-up shots and not what he was looking for at all. But after chatting together for a while it was easier for him to get comfortable with the pressure of having to summon a natural smile in a very unnatural and staged situation. And suddenly, there it was! The natural smile he was looking for and a great headshot. And then another. And another. Then he had a new problem: too many good photos of himself to choose from. But I think that's a good problem to have.

3 More Headshot Myths

Myth #3: The camera adds 10 pounds, 10 wrinkles, and 10 zits.

When you look at your own photo it’s natural to immediately see all your wrinkles and blemishes and the things you hate about it before seeing how nice of a photo it actually is. You should feel comfortable talking about this with your photographer and working with them to get the best photo possible. It’s alright to say “I hate my nose” to a headshot photographer- we hear it all the time! A professional photographer can use light, shadow, and posing to minimize the things about the photo you don't want to draw attention to and to catch you at your best angle… including your skinny angle. An untrained or perhaps angry photographer might find the fat angle, however…

Myth #4: If you're having a professional photo taken, you need to put lots of makeup on. Like lots and lots of makeup.

Your headshot should look like how you look at your best and have nothing that distracts from your face- such as bright colors on your clothes or on your eyes, lips and cheeks. Ladies should do your makeup like you are going to a nice dinner where the steak is $20-$30, not like you’re about to be a bridesmaid in a wedding in 1985. Men don’t need to wear any makeup. Blemishes can be covered with concealer or foundation for both men and women if you desire, but modern technology has also brought us digital retouching, which can fix those flaws after the photo is taken.

Myth #5: My smile always looks fake in photos.
If in most of your photos of you feel you have a smile you don’t like or think looks fake or forced, it just means you haven’t felt comfortable enough with a photographer to have a more natural smile captured. We all tend to get that “deer in the headlights” look when someone sits us on a stool with lights and cameras all around us. Relax and chat with your headshot photographer and joke around a bit so your more natural self comes out in the photos. Talk to your photographer on the phone or in person for a bit before booking a session so you know they’re a personable person who will make you feel more relaxed and comfortable in front of the camera. And speak up during the session if you feel like the photos aren’t looking their best—it’s the photographer’s job to make them look good. Take some of the pressure off yourself to create a perfect smile! A good smile will come naturally if you let it.

2 Headshot Myths

Myth #1: “Wow, now that I’ve met you in person, you look so much different from the photo on your eHarmony.com profile” is a compliment.

You should always look like yourself in your headshot so people can recognize you on sight at networking events, conferences, on sales calls, or on multiple websites or social networking platforms-- it's like branding your face as a logo. A headshot should also be “organic:” it should look like a natural you that’s nice and fresh with no additives or preservatives.

Myth #2: An iPhone snapshot works just fine as a headshot.

You can always tell who took a snapshot on their iPhone and started using it as a headshot- their photos are simply flat and unprofessional. If you want to be seen as flat and unprofessional in your work and give the impression of someone who doesn’t care enough about their business to get a nice headshot, then by all means, use your iPhone. But a professional photo on your website, blog, and on social media profiles will set you apart as someone serious about what they do and their online presence. And an iPhone shot won’t cut it when you need to print a photo in a press release, newsletter or program for a speaking engagement or convention. 9 out of 10 phone calls I get for headshots are for professionals using iPhone shots who suddenly need a professional headshot by the end of the week for a speaking engagement or other event.

You look nice today.

On Friday Organic Headshots had a booth at the BizNetExpo in Buffalo Grove, IL- where area professionals, entrepreneurs and small business owners learned about social media, online networking, and new ways to market yourself and your business in a social media era.

I hear the presentations were amazing and lots of good information was shared... I didn't get to see them myself because I was busy snapping some headshots! I brought my camera and a studio light to my booth and snapped some quick headshots of attendees who didn't yet have a nice photo for their LinkedIn profiles. People seemed to like the idea, especially when I emailed them their new photos over the weekend and they had a fresh new face to put on their profiles.

"Oh, how important it indeed is to have an updated headshot for your LinkedIn profile, blogs, Twitter accounts, and more," one attendee was heard saying, "it's as vital to a professional as the wind is to spreading the dandelion seeds, the sun is to the budding flowers, and the rain is to the roots of the mighty oak." That attendee just might have been me.

Hot tea and headshots

The other day I took some headshots outside in the courtyard of the building, taking advantage of the perfect weather: about 67 degrees and overcast with perfectly diffused sunlight for a natural light portrait. That night I was going through the "negatives" (I never know what to call .jpgs sometimes, since I'm such a purist and miss my darkroom...) and sipping some hot tea. I got chilly, turned the heat on in the studio, then had a kind of Hemingway moment of sad reflection.

I thought about how the leaves are changing and the days are getting shorter and chillier, and it won't be long before it's too cold to take headshots outside. Well, to be fair, there are some brave souls willing to snap some photos outside in the winter- and I am looking forward to getting some great snowy portraits this year. It's the finger de-thawing after outdoor winter shoots that turn me off to snow-themed headshots I guess.

One thing I try not to do is "date" the headshots in any way-- you shouldn't be able to tell what year it was when your headshots were taken (no fad fashions or haircuts in them), unless you're going to update your headshots every year or so to match the times. Seasonal headshots are okay- meaning you can tell that it's spring because of flowers in the background or winter because of snow on the ground... as long as it doesn't look like a Christmas card with a bright red sweater. Everything needs to be subtle and in the background so it's not the first thing you notice in the photo. If the first thing someone notices is "oh, what a nice photo of an autumn day," and not "hey, that's a headshot of Geoff," then you've got a problem.

Show that product!

Last night I took event photos at a ChickChat event at Mars Gallery. And I ate a lot of cupcakes. ChickChat puts together different types of networking events and soirees mostly for women to meet each other and build their professional skills and connections.

The theme for last night's event was "girls giving back," and featured non-profit organizations who connect young girls with powerful women role models. And cupcakes.

To make these events happen, the ChickChat organizers need the support and contributions of sponsors- who also get to have booths at the events where they can meet the patrons and promote their products or services. And naturally, to help the organizers attract more sponsors in the future, they're going to need photos of them and their booths at an event so future sponsors can get an idea of what kind of exposure they would be getting.

So that's what I did- I took lots of photos of the booths and the happy young women enjoying cupcakes, cookies, chocolate, and other snacks. I love my job, by the way.

Instead of a blog post, how about a little jig?

How do you take photos of an Irish folk band? With a camera.
Well done, One of the Girls- you put on a great show, and thanks for letting me take your photo.

You have the right to own photos of you

I think a lot of people who choose me for their headshots do so because I actually give them their photos when we're done taking them. Strangely, this is kind of a revolutionary idea for photographers: that the person hiring you to take their photo should be allowed to have, keep, and use that photo however they wish. I've gotten a lot of phone calls from very wary headshot shoppers who choose me over another photographer because the other photographer wanted them to sign away the rights to their own photo for a certain number of years.

That just seems rude to me. "Alright sir; we just spent an hour taking photos of you and you have paid me a ridiculous amount of money. What? You want copies of all the photos we took today so you can put them on the internet, print them, and use them for stuff? HA HA HA!"

Most people come to me for headshots not because they weren't doing anything better that day and thought it would be fun to have their photo taken... but because something is going on in their life that they need to have their photo taken- a bio page for their website, a job search on LinkedIn, a program photo for a conference, etc... So they already have a use for the photo in mind, and it would be insulting for me to say something like, "well here are some low-resolution images with my watermark on them that you can't print or use for anything... if you want to use them, I own the copyright and you have to pay me extra for a high-enough resolution copy of it without a watermark."

Now I understand why most photographers want to retain the rights to their photos- even utilitarian photography like headshots is still an art form and a learned craft. And frankly, if you've ever seen a photograph you've taken appear in a newspaper or on a billboard without credit given to you as the creator of that photo... it feels a little like your boyfriend just cheated on you or something. See the above photo of "Comedians You Should Know:" a comedy troupe I took photos for, as an example.

But from the client's perspective- this comedy troupe had me take their photos BECAUSE they needed something to give to newspapers and booking agents, and should be able to submit photos of themselves to these places without worrying about an angry photographer beating down their door later. The job of promoting yourself is difficult enough as it is.

So use your photos, I say! You have the right. Viva La Revolucion!

Michelle does not do weddings... except for when she does.

I get asked now and then if I photograph weddings, since everyone's looking for a good wedding photographer to have in their rolodex. And I usually don't book myself for weddings... Because I eat way too much cake at weddings and end up with a sugar hangover.
This weekend, however, I found myself at a lovely wedding for two Neo-Futurists: cast members from a local Chicago theatre company with a 21-year run of the production of "Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind," a collection of 30 rotating short plays done in 60 minutes. (A great show if you haven't seen it yet. Go see it.) The highlight of the ceremony was a short comedic play on love performed by two other cast members, just before the rings and vows were exchanged.

I was the second camera operator for my good friend and fellow photographer, Johnny Knight, who does more weddings than I and ate more pecan pie at this wedding than I ate. I am, naturally, including an embarrassing photo of him that I snagged as he walked across the dance floor balancing a couple cameras and a piece of pie. Now that's talent.

Now THAT'S indie

Yesterday I had the pleasure of interviewing local filmmaker Coquie Hughes for an upcoming article in my column with CU-Blogfidential on independent filmmaking in Chicago. Coquie is a truly inspirational filmmaker because she's the ultimate independent, home-grown, grassroots artist. She's an African American lesbian mother who had a confrontation with a friend of hers who one day told her that now that she's a mother, she needs to stop being a lesbian.
Angered by the audacity of this woman, she decided to make a documentary film about the social issues of being an African American lesbian mother, and started interviewing children and mothers in the community to explore their opinions and share their stories.

For these filmmaker interviews I like to take photos of my subjects, so Coquie and I went outside for an impromptu photo shoot. I got to take advantage of the murals on the wall across from my building- which I've been looking forward to shooting since I moved in a month ago. After spending 30 seconds with the spunky fresh Ms. Hughes, I knew we HAD to take her photo in this underpass.

Oh, how precious

Today I spent the day at the creative headquarters for Precious Moments, taking product photos for their upcoming Summer catalog collection. It's been a little while since I've taken product shots- I'm so used to taking portraits and headshots and there's a big difference between live models and porcelain ones. I only said "tilt your chin down for me" out loud once. I got no response from the porcelain figurine. No one heard me, so everything's okay.

It was a lot of fun, though, and I'm looking forward to going back there for some pick-up shots in the next couple weeks. I especially enjoyed the large clusters of Precious Moments figurines, plush dolls and ornaments on nearly every cubicle endcap, filing cabinet and spare table space in the office. Every time you turned a corner, there was a grouping of large-eyed porcelain dolls to greet you with a smile. I found it adorable, but I'm sure some employees might start to get creeped out after a while.

A very special thanks goes to Amy for putting the shoot together and for showing me her basket filled with broken doll heads. I learned that when a prototype of a new figurine is rejected, it needs to be destroyed... so the office holds figurine smashing parties. Amy quite enjoys those.

New Location!

Organic Headshots has moved! I'm now operating out of the glorious, stupendous, amazing Bloomingdale Arts Building on Bloomingdale Ave. near Western and Armitage. With my new 1,079 square foot loft, headshots of all kinds of looks and setups are possible! The building has an amazing courtyard with tons of brick and greenery, and there are all types of great walls and textures in the area for outdoor photoshoots. (Come on, summer, let's warm it up so we can take photos outside!)

And a congratulations and thank you to Kate McFerrin and Buffy Esslinger who were the first two headshots taken in the new space this weekend, only 6 days after moving in. It didn't quite feel like home until pictures of wonderful people were snapped within the walls.

Having your photo taken: not as bad as going to the dentist...

Of the countless number of people who have come to me for headshots, I can only think of one person who was really excited to have it done (and he was kind of strange). Most people hate having their photo taken... including me. "What?" you ask, "how can a photographer hate having her photo taken?" Easily. I just do. I really hate it.

But that's where my strength comes in with taking other peoples' photos. Since most people don't like having their photo taken and I'm one of them, I understand how they feel. Then we can bond on the level of "you don't want to do this and I understand, I've been there too, so I'll do my best to make this painless and maybe a little fun." For yesterday's session with 6-year-old Nolan auditioning for a Disney movie this weekend, that bonding included getting some funny faces out of our system before getting to the serious smiles. I vote his family uses this photo for their next Christmas card... but that's why I don't make Christmas cards.

When I finally decided that a headshot photographer should have a headshot of herself for websites and other uses, I bit the bullet, did my hair, and smiled for the camera. I would love to say that it was fun, but at first it wasn't. And now I understand why most people I take headshots for seem to really hate it at first, then slowly warm up and have some fun after a few pictures have been snapped. It gets easier when you go along. Kind of like going to the dentist for a cleaning... at first you want it to be over before it even starts. Then, when it's going okay and no one is getting hurt, you think, "this isn't so bad, I can handle this." And in both instances, your teeth might be whiter when you're done. (After some retouching, in the case of the photos.)

Glasses, or no glasses? (reprise)

Nearly a year ago (I can't believe it's been that long) I made a post on glasses and whether you should wear glasses for your headshot session. My basic answer was "if you wear them all the time, then wear them in your headshot, because your headshot needs to look like how you most often look." My answer still stands. (And I'd like to add that if you wear your dentures often, then you should have teeth in your headshot too.)

But what about people who sometimes wear their glasses, and sometimes do not? Aha! What are they to do? Glasses or no glasses??

If you're looking for some kind of overarching Biblical commandment on how headshots should or should not have glasses in them, you won't find that here. Because it doesn't exist. It's entirely up to you! If you wear glasses sometimes, most times, or even hardly ever but want the option in your photo, then work with a photographer who is willing to let you take some photos with your glasses and some without. Then you can have one of each and choose the look you want to portray for whatever it is you are using the headshot for. So you can say, "I think I'll send the headshot of me with glasses with the press release to Forbes Magazine," or, "I think I'll send the headshot of me without glasses to my 90210 audition."

I also heard someone ask me once if they need to take their lenses out of their glasses for the photo session, so the glasses don't pick up any light reflections. Good gravy, no! A good photographer knows how to light for glasses so there are no reflections of any kind. (see the photo in this post- no reflections! I get a cookie for a job well done as photographer...) In your photo session, ask to see a few of the first photos the photographer took when you were wearing glasses, and if you see reflections... yell at the photographer.

Tell him or her that they need to fix it so there are no reflections. If they say they cannot... fire them. They failed.

Battle of the Boutiques

I'm sponsoring a fun event on February 26th! It's called the "Battle of the Boutiques," is organized by poorlittlerichgirls.com and will feature some local Chicago boutiques battling gladiator-style to prove they're the most fashionable.

Many drinks we be drank and goodie bags given out- which will include an Organic Headshots coupon for a discount on any photo session. (See, I give out coupons now and then like a good girl.) It should be a blast! It even has celebrity judges. PLRG sure knows how to party!