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.

Headshot photo booth! And bacon-wrapped dates.

Last week I partnered with a legal publishing company hosting a networking event for attorneys and provided a little "social media photobooth" in a corner of the room, where attendees can stop by and have their headshot taken for a fraction of the price of an in-studio session.

It was a lot of fun and great exercise for a headshot photographer like me since I've got about 3 minutes to get a great photo of each person. And after the event, the feedback has been spectacular. Today someone called me to tell me he was "fully expecting to hate every last one of the photos and didn't even want to look at them online... but I couldn't believe it- I liked them all! Even my wife likes them and she hates everything." :)

I'm having trouble deciding what was my favorite part of the whole experience:

1. Meeting great new people
2. Great feedback from people happy with their photos already uploading them to LinkedIn
3. The appetizers at the event. Those bacon-wrapped dates were AMAZING.

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.

Spit out your gum.

There's nothing worse than an amazing photo of yourself where your smile looks so perfect, your eyes sparkle, your head is titled in just the perfect angle that makes your nose look so cute... but there's one little hair sticking straight up. Or one little fingerprint on your glasses. Or one little fuzzy from your sweater resting on your lip.

Or one little glob of bright pink chewing gum mashed between your teeth.

Sometimes we can stress ourselves so much about having our photo taken- timing the next haircut and color perfectly or when to trim or shave the beard so it's just perfect at the appointment, or choosing just the right shirt that brings out those itty bitty little blue highlights in your eyes...

For me it's generally about seeing the forest instead of the trees. People are drawn to portraits of friendly faces that catch your attention because of the warmth of the smile and the natural, confident, comfortable ease in their face. It's the overall tone of the image that's the most important in making it successful in grabbing and holding someone's attention.

But something that distracts from that will ruin it and cause the viewer's eyes to go to that one spot in the photo- instead of to the whole photo. Something like a huge, sparkly piece of jewelry, or bright purple polkadots on a tie... or a piece of pink gum poking out of someone's mouth.

So before you have your portrait taken, spit out your gum.

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!

"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.