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.)