Photographers in the Hotseat - Creating a Headshot

Last week, my colleague and friend Kevin Harkins, of Harkins Photography in Londonderry, NH, suggested that we get together and refresh our headshots. I thought, what an awesome idea! So we met up at my studio in Kevin's hometown of Lowell and proceeded to watch each other work, first-hand. We were each in that seat that you all dread! It was incredibly interesting just to see how the other approached the lighting and compositions. What I was struck by was how we each produced photos that were distinctly different and still incredibly consistent with our own personal styles, even though we were shooting in the exact same setting.

Here are my favorite shots that I created of Kevin. Watch for Kevin's shots of me on his blog at: http://harkinsphoto.wordpress.com/

...or just look at one of his masterpieces here on my site: http://www.adrienbisson.com/about/

Kevin Harkins

Professional Portraits vs. Happy Accidents - We're Making Photographs, not Taking Them

There's a term that applies to a certain type of photograph that you may be familiar with. The term is "happy accident". It's generally a pretty loaded term. It can be an insult directed at a photographer who may have created an image that is good, or even great, but the person wielding the phrase feels that the good image is an exception rather than the rule, based on that person's perception of the artist's work. It can also be used by a photographer to describe his or her own photograph, implying, not so subtly, that the image in question was acquired by luck, clean living, or some other reason not directly related to skill or artistry.

Hobbyists tend to thrive on happy accidents. I don't mean this as a criticism! If photography is something that you love, just for the fun and satisfaction that it brings, there is nothing at all to be ashamed of! For professional photographers, happy accidents are things that you will certainly take if they make themselves available, but cannot be relied upon to pay the rent. Its a little like winning the lottery; I'll take it, but lottery winning is not a livelihood.

As a professional portrait photographer, your goal is to 'create a photograph'. I really prefer that phrase to 'taking a photograph'. The difference is one of mindset. Am I showing up, putting up some lights so that the subject won't be in the dark and then snapping away, hoping for some kind of intervention? Not a chance! You need to walk into the studio or onto a location with a frame of mind totally focused on making a great photograph. You are creating a work of art, no matter how mundane or commercial the assignment might be. The location is sized up. A series of shot options is internalized, discussed with assistants and possibly the subject, any lighting that is necessary is set up, furniture is almost always moved(*). Then, photographs are made.

There are so many things to take in and consider when you are about to create photographs at a professional commercial level: how subjects or models will be portrayed, composition, lighting, style, props, distractions, etc.. You can't just walk in and start shooting, hoping for some happy accidents. You need a concept, and an ability to execute it. Once things are starting to fire on all cylinders in a given context, the shooting can commence in earnest. I make a lot of shots when I am creating portraits. But the activity is directed and intentional. Often, when discussing an upcoming shoot, the subject may ask, "how long will it take, a few minutes?". Um...no. It's important to explain to the subject that this takes preparation, must look great, both for the client and the subject, and while accidents happen, both happy and otherwise, we are making photographs. Really good photographs. Which is my job.

Just Some Photos that I Like!

When I blog, I like to write something that readers will hopefully find interesting and will compel them to read and look further. It's often a challenge, as I don't feel like a writer. As photographers, we communicate with our images. Ultimately, that's what I hope will draw people in. I know it won't be my words, but I hope that my words will serve as an introduction to my work.

This time, I only have my images. As a commercial photographer, I spend a lot of time creating photographs that are not strictly artistic. While artistry is involved, their role in life is largely utilitarian. That is true in a business sense, but the discerning client knows that they are more than that; they serve to evoke an emotion in the viewer. The esthetic value may be subtle, but it's there. That's why I can only shake my head in disbelief when I see a cell phone self portrait or a red cup party shot used as a business headshot. People! Potential clients are judging you, possibly unfairly, based on an initial impression. You've heard this rant before, I'm sure.

So since I have nothing to say today ;-), I thought I would post some business portraits and some actor headshots that I did recently and that I really like.

The first bunch of shots are of a young actress and dancer.

I also had the privilege of photographing this Boston attorney, who also does legal commentary on a TV network. She really understands the value of good images!

Business Headshots vs. Business Fun Shots

Kim SaltmarshOften, when professional people come to me to have me create their portrait, they have a vision in mind of what they want me to do that can be somewhat rigid and I think, stifling to both parties. Obviously, some organizations and the roles that some people play in their professional lives dictate a certain style of portrait. That's not always true however, even though the individual may feel that it is.

I certainly do create traditional "head shots" for corporate executives and other professional people, but given the opportunity, I am more than happy to try to break the mold and create something more interesting. I blogged a while back ("Got Style") about several people who were more than willing to be interesting, and it showed in their photos.

Over the last year or so, I have been working on magazine articles with Kim Saltmarsh who, along with her writing jobs, is a morning radio voice at WCAP in Lowell, as well as a TV Pledge Anchor at WGBH-TV in Boston. So I suggested to her that, rather than do something expected, we do something more that would show her personality. I have done this with people from many professions too, not just media professionals, but I thought that exploring a dignified but fun approach would be worth doing in Kim's case. I think it works!

Spring Cleaning of the Mind

Is it a headshot, or is it a portrait? I get a fair number of calls from people looking for a headshot. They are often business people who are told that they need to get a headshot taken for their employer's web site, or they are in business for themselves and they are working with a professional to improve their branding and on-line presence. They are often actors or musicians too, who need a headshot in order to audition. But this "headshot" thing... I think the term is complicit in the dumbing down of the concept in popular perception. If all they needed was a shot of their head, the arm's length iPhone self-portrait would do (or should I call it a self-headshot? Self-inflicted headshot?), as would scanning their driver's license photo, although there may be copyright issues there ;-) Clearly, neither approach would be acceptable to a casting director or a marketing/branding consultant.


The ease with which we can all create digital photographs of exceptional technical quality has made professional photography a difficult pursuit. Consequently, there are many photographers who, out of desperation I think, will be willing to do a $20 headshot. I will not. Art can never be a commodity. Once it becomes a commodity it cedes its place as art. A professional must value himself or herself as an artist.

Now there is nothing in the slightest wrong with a traditional approach to a headshot. In fact, many purposes for what a headshot is used have specific requirements and norms for such shots. That being said, artistry does matter. An artist will fulfill the client's requirements and then go the extra distance to make the session matter. Other artists, such as performers, are easier to convince, but it's often difficult to persuade business people of the value of really great photography, especially when they are the subject. But when you see or think of the best kinds of business branding and marketing, the photography is never mundane or perfunctory. It's extraordinary and special. It's art.

If you have read some of my previous posts you may recognise a couple of these people. Some of these "headshots" were done in the course of doing environmental portraits for them. But these headshots are portraits just the same! They are unique and in each case I have made an attempt to bring out the personality in each individual while creating an esthetically pleasing experience. A photographer who cares and who values his or her work and artistic sensibilities is worth investing in.

Location Portrait Photography That Tells a Story

I love working with professional people who understand the value of story telling with their on-line photography. This executive wanted a traditional head-shot for certain applications, but also wanted a series of location portraits that would tell a story about who he is, what he does and would present a professional, sophisticated image. Photographing at an office in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the goal was to show him instructing and interacting with his clients, as well as simple portraits in an office environment that would convey his professionalism and friendliness.

Starting with One Light

I often go into an environmental portrait shoot with a bunch of great ideas. Within the first 15 minutes or so you can often find them on the floor around where we are shooting. There's a tension between being prepared and ending up being too rigid in my approach. So I like to show up with a bunch of things that I have thought through, which I try to use as a guide as we shoot, but it's also important to just follow where things naturally lead.

When photographing one person though, I tend to start out thinking about how I can do so using one light. It's really important to consider available light too. One habit (not sure whether it is a bad or good one) that photographers who use flash have can be to simply assume that flash is always necessary. When shooting a particular kind of work, it is difficult to imagine shooting it with only available light. The real issue there is, if you are expected to get the shot and it needs to be of a certain style and technical quality, it's crazy to hope that available light will be your friend when you arrive at a location. On the other hand though, it is important not to discount the possibility of unbelievably good available light, and only that. I know, current digital cameras have unheard of high ISO functionality, and that is a great tool. But that table lamp is not always casting the best light on your subject, or that fluorescent fixture on the ceiling may not be the look that the commercial client is going after. So I bring lights.

Last week I photographed an excellent musician, Alex Prezzano, both in my studio and in a few locations around the building. He was great! Alex wanted me to create and had no interest in dictating a style to me. So we walked around the mill where my studio is located and did some setups. My goal was to have the shots look as natural as possible. The available light was not always what I needed, so I used one light. The little secret is that moving around a location like this with a speedlight on a stand makes things much less nuts too.

Alex Prezzano

A lot of people are put off by any shadow on the wall. I love the look of one light with an simple reflecting umbrella. If there's a shadow, well, there's a shadow. Light makes shadows where it cannot fall. Rembrandt was partial to that look too, as I recall. No, I didn't know him personally...he lived in Europe.

After taking the photo walk around my building, we landed back in my studio. If a client wants a traditional look for a headshot, I use at least two lights and one or two reflectors. But here we were still going for a more dramatic look, so my default starting point is always that single light source. Here I did break out the 24x36 inch softbox, but used it at almost 90 degrees to camera right to give him a very dramatic effect.

Alex liked some work that I had done with a grid spot from the back hitting a gold reflector in front. This is a very cool effect because there is no light in front of the subject, and it is so soft and warm.

Adding a second light, finally, from the back as well, creates a really interesting effect too.

Check out Alex Prezzano's work here: http://www.myspace.com/alexanderprezzano

An Artistic Voice

Color, light, shadow and texture. The elusive harmony of form and composition. A look, a laugh, or a moment that draws you in. These are the things that compel me. This is why I create images.

I wrote this recently in an attempt to describe how I feel about what I do. What made me think of this was that I had recently photographed a young actor and college student and was trying to come up with a reason to show them off. She and I will be doing some conventional  actor headshots for her portfolio, but I also asked her to be a subject for my ongoing Merrimack Valley People portrait project, and those are the shots shown here. In mulling  over today's blog I encountered another blog, entitled "Your Artistic Voice - Do You Have One?", which you can read here.

I hope I have a vision and a distinctive style, or as the blog describes, "that work [that] couldn’t possibly have been done by anyone else". I also hope that my short statement at the opening of this post accurately describes it. The other article also says that a style comes from "life experience and mastery of material". In my life, both of these things are works-in-progress. I think if one ever considers either of those things complete, the game is over. If there's no learning going on, things get old pretty quickly, both in terms of the work product and the activity of creating it. One of the things that I like the most about doing a project like this is the ability to experiment, both artistically and in terms of that "mastery of material". I've seen web videos of photographers who tell their audiences that one light goes here, the other one here, and a hair light goes over there, and how they use a length of string to check the distance of each light from their subject so that their setup is identical each time. All together now: yawnnnnnnnnnnnn ..... Even in the studio, where I can control everything, I normally breakdown the equipment after each shoot so that no such boring thing will occur.

Color, light, shadow and texture. The elusive harmony of form and composition. A look, a laugh, or a moment that draws you in.

Whatever I am seeking when I shoot, even if it is something that I've done many times,  if I am not stretching, at least in some dimension, I am not growing and am not giving everything I have to my artistic voice. In a commercial photographic setting, the client may think, and verbalize, that they "just want" <fill-in-the-blank>, but giving them something more than that is what differentiates and what results in an artistic vision.

Plan, plan and plan some more

The great Boston photographer, Louis Fabian Bachrach Jr., known as Fabian Bachrach, passed away last week at the age of 92. (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/02/arts/design/02bachrach.html)

He came from a family of photographers, most of whom worked and still work in the family business. His grandfather, who started the studio, photographed Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg!

According to the NY Times article, when John F. Kennedy was a US senator, he sat for a portrait with Bachrach. The results were what Bachrach considered unusable, which, in the words of his son, "ate on my father for months and months and months". Any commercial photographer can relate, although most not at the same level as that of photographing a US senator. But when Kennedy became president, Bachrach convinced his office to let Kennedy sit for another portrait. This time, Bachrach was kept waiting for 8 hours only to be told that the session had been cancelled. Pleading to be allowed to go ahead with the session, he was given 10 minutes, "from start to finish", as the Times article says. This 10 minute session resulted in the president's official portrait, which is arguably the most well known portrait of Kennedy. See the NY Times article and the gallery of Bachrach's work to see the photo.

There are so many lessons here, for people photographers especially. When you screw up, the first thing is to admit it to yourself and to your client, and then to get over it. Easier said than done. But you can! I have a quote from Joe McNally on my wall. You can find it in his blog post, (http://www.joemcnally.com/blog/2008/09/10/cant-get-no-respect), look for the paragraphs that begin with "I’ve shot a lot more bad pictures than I’ll ever shoot good ones". That I read his quote periodically is closely related to one of my blogs from last week in which I talked about being the photographer you want to become. Even that phrase is a quote from another great photographer, Craig Tanner. But when you doubt yourself, step aside! Try to step away from your own person and ego for a minute and ask, what would <a photographer that I admire> do in this situation? Obviously, that person could be anyone that you admire, not necessarily another photographer.

Another lesson that I took away from the Bachrach anecdote was how necessary it is to plan. Plan, plan and plan some more. Try to envision what the situation will be like, how you will feel and how you will act and react. You need to be reacting to the environment and to the things that could not have been anticipated. You should already have thought about all of the things that you knew about beforehand. Clients don't want to wait for you to have a happy accident. The art, creativity and imagination that you bring to a commercial job begins where your technical knowledge and experience leaves off.

All right Mr. De Mille, I'm ready for my close-up

Last Saturday, Melissa, who was featured in a previous blog, kindly returned to help me create a stop-action video. The short, which I will post here on a future blog post, as well as on YouTube, will allow the viewer to observe a photo shoot of Melissa at my studio. Interspersed with the action will be the actual photos that I took as the "video" camera captured the action. This is not a video in the sense that you might think, but is shot with a still camera. That camera is on a tripod with a programmable shutter release causing it to fire every three seconds. It is also equipped with a PocketWizard transceiver that fires the strobes that I was also firing with the camera with which I was shooting. As you might imagine, this caused a few random failures due to shutters going off without adequate recycle time for the strobes, but that didn't happen as much as I had anticipated, and it was something that I was willing to live with.

Obviously, this technique is not my invention. It has been used quite a bit recently, most notably in the video called "Her Morning Elegance", by Oren Lavie (http://www.orenlavie.com), and is really just a technical variation on a normal video camera. But high-resolution still images captured with a photographer's existing equipment, as well as lighting by strobe makes it far more accessible to still photographers. On the other hand, like many things, it's a gimmick and as technology waits for no one, it's expiration date is probably not far off.

But Melissa is a great subject and was really patient as I attempted to keep all of the plates spinning in my studio to make this work. (For those who don't remember shows like Ed Sullivan, you might want to Google plate spinner. It was a simpler time...)  In fact, I went into this shoot not really anticipating that the shots that I was taking of Melissa would themselves be keepers because I was so consumed by the "film-making" part of the endeavor, but I was pleasantly surprised.