Pinup photos! With food.

Organic Headshots is the official photography studio for FOODGASM- an online cooking show with a vintage pinup theme. Michelle takes all the fun promo photos for the show, and even films it with them as one of the camera operators or the director of photography for some episodes. Congrats, Foodgasm, for all your recent success. Here's to many more yummy episodes!

Print!

As if being a full-time photographer didn't keep me busy enough, I'm also heavily involved in the world of handmade goods and markets with my side project, Cussing Cozies. (If you haven't checked it out yet, you should... they're reusable handmade coffee cup sleeves with swears on them. Yes, you read that right.)

When Cussing Cozies has a booth at handmade markets, I usually share that booth with talented letterpress printer, Shayna Norwood, and her business Steel Petal Press.

Today I visited Shayna in her studio and took some headshots and action photos for her to use in the massive amounts of press she's been getting lately. You might be seeing these photos in a publication or two sometime soon on local letterpress awesomeness!

Wedding outtakes

It's summer, which is "wedding season," as we photographers call it. So I figured I would share some of my favorite photos that usually never end up in the wedding albums... Prepare yourself for some minor ridiculousness...

151 headshots in 8 hours!

Last week, Organic Headshots set up shop at McCormick place to take photos of 151 members of PepsiCo who were in town for a couple days of meetings, banquets, and other general annual convention duties. Hair and makeup artists touched everyone up, and Organic Headshots set up 3 studio settings, taking photos of multiple people at once. Since it was mostly walk-in based, we were rushed with occasional crowds of smiling, photo-ready attendees, but no one had to wait for longer than 90 seconds for their turn. This is thanks to the Organic Headshots team of Michelle and her fellow shooters Vanessa and Alex- who all did a great job keeping everyone moving quickly and making sure everyone got some great photos they could be proud of!

Summer Headshots Outside! 20% Off!

Today is the first official day of Summer, and to celebrate it the only way I know how, I'm offering a discount on headshots! Since we only get a few months of really great weather in Chicago, let's make the most of them by taking headshots outside. Then when you're looking at your headshot in the winter and you see yourself surrounded by green grass, flowers, and natural sunlight, your photo can warm the cockles of your heart.

From today until July 31st, 2011, any headshot session you book that we shoot entirely outdoors is 20% off the session price! Want to update your headshot with one taken outside? Now's the time.

And speaking of deals, Organic Headshots is working with GROUPON to perhaps someday offer a Groupon Deal. But we need your help! We need 25 followers on our profile page to be eligible, so please go to our profile page HERE and simply click "follow" at the top of the page. Thanks!

And remember to follow our new page on Facebook!

Contact Michelle Kaffko for more information or to book a session OUTSIDE in the summer sun today. And since I'll use any excuse to go to the beach, so anyone requesting a session at the beach gets a whopping 25% off!

Impromptu band photos

The great thing about having a studio in an artist collaborative building is that it's filled with artists. And sometimes a great Latin sounds band will be hanging around after a practice, ready for an impromptu photo shoot.

The photographer finally gets shot.

What kind of decent headshot photographer would I be if I didn't have an updated headshot of myself? Last week I teamed up with fellow Chicago photographer Johnny Knight to take some self-inflicted headshots of each other. Johnny is a great photographer and a great friend- possibly the only person I would trust to take my photo. Yes, you inferred correctly from that statement: Michelle Kaffko the portrait photographer hates having her portrait taken.

Last week's photo shoot reminded me of how difficult it can be to have your photo taken. Every bad photo I've ever seen of myself flashed in front of my eyes like a near-death experience, and you can see it in the first 15-20 photos that were taken: I'm rigid, uncomfortable, and forcing a smile. It wasn't until I remembered the things I tell my clients when I'm taking their photos and they clam up in camera fear that I was able to relax and look more comfortable in the photos.

Johnny and I both designed our own shots and set everything up so the other just had to snap the shutter- I guess you can call them "assisted self portraits" in that way. Johnny's represents his work in theatrical photography, standing on the seats of an empty theatre. Mine reflects my work in filmmaking- using that same theatre as a movie theatre and a light behind me almost like a film projector for one of them.

How young is too young for retouching?

How young is too young for retouching their photos? Good question, right? A lot of time we think of retouching our headshots as a way to remove the things we hate about our own faces. Dark circles under our eyes, coffee-stained teeth, blemishes, freckles, scars, or even... wrinkles. Hell, you should see what I do to my own photos.

So what happens when a 12 year old comes into my studio for headshots and she is wowed by the differences in the "before" and "after" photos on my website and wants her own photo retouched? Since we usually think of retouching as a way to make us look younger, prettier, more handsome, and more perfect in our photos; it's hard to apply that to a photo of a young girl. We want to tell all young people that they're pretty and perfect the way they are.

But I don't think of retouching a headshot as a way to disguise our supposed flaws and make us look better than we already look. I think of retouching as a way to maximize the potential of that first-impression-via-photo and to minimize the things that pop out in our photos when they're not really supposed to. When you take something 3-dimensional like a human face and make it 2-dimensional into a photograph, you're going to notice things you don't usually notice when you're looking at someone in person. Things like shadows, stained teeth, blemishes, hairs out of place, fuzzies on our sweaters... When we're looking at someone in person our eyes filter through these things to see the person as he or she is: just the person and not the shadows under their eyes.

So there's nothing wrong with whitening the teeth of a 12 year old in her headshot. Especially when she drank some Kool-aid on her way to the studio.

It's like going to Costco and buying bulk, right?

I can think of no greater bonding experience between father and daughter than getting headshots taken together. Okay, I guess it's not exactly a game of catch in the backyard... but pairing up for a headshot session is a great way to spend some quality time getting something done that you've both been putting off for a while.

The other day I took these headshots for a father/daughter duo who both needed some headshots for LinkedIn and company websites. And their first question was a question I actually get quite a lot: "if we come together, can we get a discount?"

And the answer I give is always, "yes." Partnering with someone for a headshot session is a great way to get a thorough headshot session for yourself and your comrade, while saving the photographer time and money in setting up the studio equipment and readying everything for a session. A good photographer will pass this savings onto you and give you a "bulk" discount.

Organic Headshots needs an Intern.

This week I spent several days on-site at clients' offices taking photos of their staff. After 41 headshots in 3 days came out looking spectacular, I was absolutely beat and even a little sore. I came to two conclusions this morning:

1. I'm slightly out of shape and need to build my weak little muscles up a bit.
2. I need an assistant.

So Organic Headshots is opening its doors to consider a candidate for an Intern/Assistant. Here are the details!

Organic Headshots is a photo studio specializing in capturing confident, natural-looking portraits for professionals, executives, entrepreneurs, and entertainers. Currently there is an opening for an intern/photo assistant to support the studio on a flexible schedule for a few hours a week. Like any photo studio, the majority of the daily work done is administrative, sales, and marketing. The candidate must have a strong willingness to learn and high interest in sales and marketing of photo services to help grow the business further. Marketing and administrative work in the office is unpaid, but assisting work on photo shoots is paid at $12-$16 an hour, depending on experience.

Duties:

Assisting photographer during studio and on-site shoots, including lighting set-up and breakdown, equipment testing and cleaning, photo uploading, labeling and processing, client disk creation, client greeting and management

Building web presence to strengthen SEO

Identifying new opportunities

Attending networking events to promote services, expand Organic Headshot’s professional network

Promoting “headshot days” events

Creating Facebook fan page, updating it, increasing fan base

Creation of marketing materials

Various projects such as cataloging equipment and receipts for insurance, maintain and updating client database

Skills needed:

Organized and efficient

SEO, web marketing

Experience with Facebook fan pages

Portrait photography and strobe lighting

Sales, retail experience

Friendly, approachable, client relations experience

Basic Photoshop skills such as image size, resolution, cropping, basic retouching a plus

Have your own laptop= a plus

To be considered, please send a resume accompanied by a short paragraph of your goals in the photography industry and a short explanation of your experience and why you would like to work at Organic Headshots to michelle@organicheadshots.com.

New assistant in the studio

As the people who have stopped by for headshots over the last couple weeks have noticed, there's a new assistant in the Organic Headshots studio. She's short. Fuzzy. Doesn't say much. And she doesn't really help much either.

She's a dog. A foster dog from PAWS Chicago. I'm fostering her and giving her a good home while she recovers from being neglected and most likely abused before being rescued by PAWS. Under my recent care (and mad tuna dog treat baking skills) she has gained a much needed 15 pounds so far and is looking and acting like the healthy happy Akita she is.

She's the sweetest thing since Pop Tarts- very friendly and just wants to be loved, pet, and fed every minute of every day. She greets visitors at the door during headshot sessions and sits quietly behind the camera, watching intently, waiting for a lull in the conversation so she can nudge her way over to whoever is having their portrait taken and distract them with belly rub requests.

I'm setting up for some headshots this morning and took some quick portraits of this adorable photo assistant. Who is available for adoption, by the way. Come for headshots, walk away with a perfect pet!