Headshots: Hallie Goodman

Hallie had to be one of the easiest people I've ever shot. She had a ton of energy and enthusiasm, which goes to show that the more fun you have while getting your headshots, the better they come out, and that's for both smiling and not smiling shots. Being comfortable with your photographer and knowing that it's OK to take risks is what helps to make your photos more unique. Playing it safe all the time hoping to get a good photo, being self-conscious, letting unspoken insecurities rule the shoot, are all recipes for disaster.

Headshots: Jared Cross

Jared Cross is a senior at Marymount Manhattan College and he came in for his first set of professional headshots. He had been using a photo he had taken when he was sixteen! I'm glad we were able to get him some solid headshots.

Laura Cable BCBG Test

Trying out a few ideas with some BCBG dresses that Laura brought by.

Headshots: Cheslea Calloway

Cheslea Calloway is a comic and actor who came in for his first professional headshot session.

Here's a shot of Cheslea on white with studio flash. Even though natural light does a lot of great things, I like to go back and forth between artificial studio light and natural lighting. A photograph, being a motionless and two dimensional medium, can really misrepresent you. That's why I think it's important with headshots to strive for diversity. All we can do with a great headshot is minimize the difference between the photo and the person as they are in real life. They'll never match up exactly. As Polish-American scientist and philosopher Alfred Korzybski said, "the map is not the territory."

Headshots: Marta Prachar

I took these headshots of Marta Prachar awhile back, but I've just recently gotten around to updating this blog.

Marta was one of the first clients I had where I experimented with some different natural lighting techniques. Originally I was using mostly studio flash with very limited natural light, but after looking at a ton of headshot portfolios and listening to my client feedback, I've decided to change my approach.

One thing you'll notice immediately with natural light shots that you won't get with flash is the large iris and small pupil. A sudden flash doesn't give the eye enough time to react to the sudden burst of light, so the shot records and open pupil. Continuous light, in this case natural window light, gives the pupil time to contract. If one of my clients has anything but a brown/black eyes, the pupil contracts and the iris expands and catches all the light, which gives the eye a lot more color. Depending on the light setup and pose, a reflection of the light source can mask the small amount of pupil that's visible, giving the effect that the eye is more or less one solid color.

Donna Daily

Just finished a test shoot yesterday with Donna Kim, @DonnaDaily, styled by Kyle Chola' Luu, @KyleChola, two very talented and wonderful people who are also very passionate about fashion! Here are some of the shots!

Natasha Denis Beauty Shots

Natasha Denis is one of the makeup artists we've been using and she's absolutely fantastic! She's incredibly easy to work with and she's been vital in getting a lot of our shots to that next level. Here are some photos we took from a recent shoot with her. The models are Meghan Elizabeth and Amanda Lensink.