Headshots and Social Media
Headshots used to be the domain of working actors and corporate management. Today everyone needs a great image to help us move through a virtual world of our own making. Between personal and professional social media, how we present an image for work, how we shop, sell and date to find our life long partners - all of this demands a great image to communicate who we are and what we represent. Creating that photo feels like an impossible image to capture for most of us. I am typical in that I will wait it out and hope that someone else takes a picture of me on set working or at friend get-togethers and I'm a working filmmaker/photographer! For others they wait for a corporate photographer to take an image that looks vaguely familiar but doesn't seem to speak to any real sense of them outside of work. Hiring a good photographer with an accomplished hair and makeup artist puts you in control of your image.
I have clients from all walks of life come for a portrait now because of our 21st century demands for a more open sense of who you are and what you represent. Julie Bolder, Hollywood based award winning production designer/set decorator and interior designer is pictured here. She needed shots for all of her social media platforms (juliebolder.com, Facebook etc.) as she is often behind-the-scenes - a recognizable name and brand but without a stellar image to match her fabulous rep. Full disclosure, we've been friends for a long time and have worked together on various shows so we had fun making these images.
That being said, taking the time and money to have hair and makeup done is important - you want to put your best foot forward. I brought in long time hair and makeup collaborator Kenneth Gonzolas to help Julie polish her already brilliant look for camera.
As you can see with these shots, once make and hair is done, Julie and I experimented with various set ups to see what was going to work best for her. Julie is a working artist, part of the larger filmmaking machine for television movies and series and the point of these shots was to bring the magic of her out for all to see.
We chose an industrial space with great light - not the cleanest working environment but since we are both used to locations that can be particularly sketchy, a bit of industrial dust was nothing. We adjusted positions and the use of light to find moments of real inspiration.
The series of images that Julie and I created together has become part of her social media presence - in fact, we're about to do another round this coming year. Keeping things current is also part of the image making and posting cycle of relevance. Julie does an amazing job of letting her design fans, her clients, family and friends know what's up and having a series of professionally executed images helps her to set a tone of beauty, creativity and engagement.
