A haiku to hair

Today I wrote a haiku to hair:

Hair, you are so strange
one day you look so lovely
the next, oh so lame.

When preparing for a headshot portrait session a lot of us make a laundry list of all the things we hope look okay. We hope our shirt isn't wrinkled or that we brushed all of our dog's hairs off it. We hope our eyeshadow isn't creasing or our mascara isn't mysteriously flaking off and leaving little black snowflakes on our cheeks. We hope we remembered to trim that one little nose hair that always sticks out of that left nostril...

On top of that list is almost always our hair. Oh, hair. That pile of filamentous biomaterial emanating from the dermis of our scalp which causes us so much heartache. We wash it, dry it, spray it, curl it, flatten it, tease it, dye it, and otherwise attempt to torture it into the shape we want it to take. And it usually resists.

So what do you do when your hair isn't doing what you want it to do for the one hour you want it to look perfect (during a photo session)? You get a photographer who understands your pain and looks out for your hair- making sure it's not covering your face, sticking up like Alfalfa's hair, or being otherwise totally disobedient.

And then you chill out! Smile through your crazy hair because when someone looks at your headshot they shouldn't even be looking at your hair anyway- they should be looking at your friendly, approachable personality radiating from your smile and drawing attention from everything else in the photo to your smiling eyes.. Unless you have hair like the B-52's. Then people will notice your hair before your face.

What not to wear for a headshot: episode 1

I have a few rules for choosing clothing to wear during your headshot. One of those rules is this: no t-shirts with stuff on them. Stuff like logos, crazy patterns, glitter, bows, splatters of mud, or anything else that distracts from your face.

A headshot should be a photo of your head, and anything else in the photo- the background, your clothing, jewelry, etc.- should be incidental and exist only to frame and compliment your face. Anything that steals the show from your face is a no-no.

If you see your t-shirt before you see your face, then it's got to go. Change, that is. Being shirtless for a headshot is also a no-no.

Check out these examples-- in the first photo, her face is competing with the awesomeness of a giant griffin fighting a dragon on her t-shirt. If you're put into an empty room and there's a young woman standing in one corner but and a griffin fighting a dragon in the other corner of the room, which corner are you going to be looking at?

Don't let your face be upstaged by a griffin.

And the second photo is pretty self-explanatory. If you're going to wear a t-shirt with someone's logo on it, you might as well be selling their product in the photo, and not your own face. Now excuse me, I suddenly want a refreshing carbonated drink...

Can't decide what you look like?

Most people are not like my dad, who has had the same haircut since the late 1950's*. We like to change our look here and there and even on a daily basis... one day we've got a beard, the next day it's a mustache. The day after that it has vanished to mustache heaven.

Although I wear contacts 95% of the time, I walk my dog every morning before I put my contacts in, and I always see the same early morning commuters and dog walkers around the neighborhood who only see me in my big, black librarian glasses and red and white knitted hat. They must think I always dress like I'm in a "Where's Waldo" book.

So how should your headshot look if you've got so many different looks? I always vote for the majority. (we're not talking about political stances, by the way, just portraiture trends.) If you usually wear your glasses when meeting your clients for the first time, then wear your glasses in your headshot. If you're usually clean shaven and only sport a mustache to go with your Tom Selleck Halloween costume, then leave the mustache at home for your headshot.

Or in some cases- if you're an actor and want to have multiple looks for different types of auditions, then take photos with all those looks so you'll have a big pool to choose from. Auditioning for a lumberjack role? Send them that bearded headshot! Trying for the part of a young librarian? Send them the naked cheeks and spectacles look!
*true story.

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.

Headshots: four eyes or two?

I've taken a lot of headshots for people who, at some point during the photo session, suddenly turn to me and ask, "should I wear my glasses in the photo?"

And, as usual, my answer is, "it depends."

The first question to ask is, "do you always wear your glasses?" If the answer is yes, then put your darn glasses on for the headshot. A headshot is supposed to be a photograph of you, depicting what you generally look like on a regular basis... while looking your best and in a good mood, of course. So if you're always wearing your glasses, then wear them in your headshot.

Now you might be thinking, "I always wear my glasses, but sometimes I take them off when I'm on stage... or I want people I'm auditioning for to know that I can go without glasses too..." Aha! Very good point. Gold star. Most people look completely different with and without their glasses, so if you want people looking at your headshot to see both of their options, what do you do? If you're expecting an answer like "you should always wear your glasses in a headshot" or "you should never wear your glasses in a headshot" then I apologize, but you're not going to get that here.

There is no right or wrong answer to something like that- it all depends on what you want, need, and are comfortable with. Here's a case study with Victoria DeFrancesco Soto. She came to me asking for headshots for publicity purposes as a television personality and expert on minority figures in international politics. (With the recent Obama campaign, she's obviously been a busy lady...) She normally doesn't wear her glasses on camera, but is looking to expand her reach and believes some people might think she looks more learned and professional with her glasses on. So we snapped most of her photos without glasses, but made sure to grab a handful with her glasses on.

Now she has the option between two different looks and can use the glasses headshot for gigs she knows she'll wear her glasses for, and the other one for purposes that she doesn't think having glasses on will necessarily give her a leg up.

Like with any question about determining your look for a headshot, just remember to go with your gut and what you believe depicts you at your best. And ask yourself simple questions like, "do I ever wear my glasses?" And if your answer is, "only when I wake up in the morning to get myself from the bedroom to the bathroom where my contacts live, I'll never wear them outside!" then of course you should leave the glasses off for the headshot. Or maybe ask yourself the question, "am I a Groucho Marx impersonator?" If the answer is yes, put your Groucho glasses on.

And find a headshot photographer who will ask you these questions so he or she can help you set up the best possible photo.

"Standard" vs. "Artistic" headshots

The general "rule" for photographers when lighting a headshot is to light it evenly, diffuse it nicely, and keep shadows to a minimum. The idea is to take a portrait of someone that shows every inch of their face- because that's what a headshot is-- a photograph of a person that is a clear representation of what they look like, to help casting directors, agents and anyone looking at the photo know who that person is.

So most of the headshots I take are very bright and lit rather simply and minimally. But that can get boring for me. I didn't spend all that money on cameras, strobes, grids, and fancy electronics to take high school portraits, did I?

To keep me happy as a photographer, I like to try new things and get a little creative with the lighting. After all, "rules" should be in quotation marks, because if you know what they are and why they're there, can't you try breaking them now and then?

So here's the challenge: make a headshot more interesting with a more dynamic lighting setup, but still be true to the headshot's main purpose: to be a clear representation of a person. When you start changing lighting and angles in a photograph, a person's face can appear a little different than it did in the photo before. Our faces are 3D and photos are 2D, so any change in angles and representation will make a person look slightly different... which we don't want in a headshot-- a photo of someone that doesn't look like them.

I was taking headshots for Hannah yesterday, and after taking a majority of the photos in a more "standard" headshot lighting setup, I changed the lighting to make the headshots more "artistic." Hannah asked which would be better for a casting agent.

Good question.

My only answer is whichever photo you are more comfortable giving, and which one you feel looks more like you at your best. If the more "artistic" or interesting-looking headshot still conveys your look, your style, and your attitude, then print that sucker and hand it out. But if you're more comfortable with a "standard" look, then go with that. Some may say that the "artistic-looking" headshots will give you a leg up on a casting director's desk-- if the photo pops, then the person pops too, right? Others might say it's a gamble. But I think as long as a headshot is doing its job, then it's already a winner.

Watery dreams

I was looking through some old photos of mine the other night and then I had weird dreams. I dreamt I had to take photos under water but couldn't keep my eyes open under the water and couldn't find the shutter button for the camera so I had to open my eyes to see it... so I opened my eyes under water and my contacts floated away. When I finally found them, I tried to put them back in my eyes, but they were the size of teacups and too big to put back in.

A friend of mine told me once that if you eat different kinds of cheeses before going to sleep, you'll have strange or intense dreams based on the kind of cheese. Maybe the photos you look at have that same effect. I looked through a file of folders a friend and I took at a hotel swimming pool while we were on a trip, and the contacts-the-size-of-teacups is the dream I ended up with.

Maybe tonight I'll stare at a big chocolate cake and brochures from day spas before heading off to bed...