During my time as a photographer, it’s been interesting to observe how people feel immediately before my the camera is pointed in their direction. When I’m shooting families, couples or anything where multiple people are involved, my clients are usually pretty relaxed for the most part about being photographed, unless, of course, the family consists of small children. In those instances, the parents have an ample amount of anxiety about their children behaving or sitting still long enough for me to get the ‘Perfect’ shot that they envisioned in their heads.
However, on the other hand, when I have a single individual in front of me who is about to take their business headshot, that’s when the monsters of anxiety or insecurity start to rear their ugly heads. From time to time, people will share with me beforehand I start shooting that they THINK that they don’t have a good smile or how one side of their face is more photogenic than the other. Truth be told, I have the same thing going on in my own head if the camera is pointed at me. When I smile, one cheek sticks out slightly further than the other. However, I can’t remember which side of my face has the ‘fat cheek’ without looking in the mirror. So much for having a perfect asymmetrical face.
Now that I understand what most people are already thinking once they book a session with me, my very first goal is to get folks to relax, stop thinking so much about how they look and just have a good time…….And YES! This especially applies if it’s for a business headshot. My personal belief is that HAPPY is beautiful. I don’t care what you look like. Therefore, I’ll make a bunch of pictures during the session. Most get tossed away because, well, you were blinking….or you were looking scary….because you were about to sneeze…and you told me that I better delete that one. Seriously though, the ultimate goal is to help each person feel comfortable in their own skin with no judgement.
So I decided to put a little video together with images of some of my clients having a good time with me. And although, these might not be perfect for a final business headshot because…we’ll they might be a little too ‘cheesy’, They are excellent photos in and of themselves. More often than not, the next few images that I snap are usually the images that they select. Why? Because the image embodies everything thing that most business headshots need. Confidence, Professionalism with a good amount of Approachability.
Enjoy! And if you see yourself in this video, just know that it makes me HAPPY to see you HAPPY!