I've been in this business long enough to try on many attitudes toward headshots. As an actor and as a photographer, here's what I've come to believe.
Your headshot is representing you before you are ever seen in person. This is a tremendous opportunity to — in an instant — represent yourself in the way you feel most authentically encapsulates who you are and what you have to offer the industry as an actor. I have a hard time making that feel too easy going and light, because I do believe it's incredibly important.
As actors we are trained in a deep process of collaboration. Our homework is to delve into the life of a character through the text, the insight from our director, and in collaboration with other actors. I think for an actor to come into a headshot session without going through a similar process — to investigate and highlight who they are — is at the core of all mediocre, forgettable headshots.
Most headshots fail because the actor relies on the photographer's clout or style to make them successful. I've had casting tell me, "I didn't want to bring you in because of your headshot, but now you're here I see why your agent made me see you. Get a new headshot." I was skipping the process and shooting with a photographer who wasn't on the same page as me. Time paid for and a product rendered. But it missed the mark.
What I've found is that my clients get great, authentic headshots not because I am the best technical photographer in LA or have the most expensive equipment — but because we go through the process together. They end up clearer on who they are and what they have to offer than ever before. That clarity ends in a powerful, authentic representation. But only every time.
As a filmmaker, the headshot is the first time I get to look at an actor's face and imagine them in a role. The faces I gravitated toward were ones that felt effortless — comfortable in their own skin, not trying to manipulate me into seeing them as something they're not. The camera reveals who you are. If you're being honest and true to yourself, it shows. Deep down I think everyone knows that, which is why it can feel so uncomfortable and vulnerable. I treat that with process. In process, all anxieties and fears lose ground and clarity takes their place.
If any of this resonates, I'd love to work with you.
All good things,
Logan