Blog

Photography Tips

What casting directors want is simpler (and harder) than you think.

Photography Tips

It's not your face. It's your photos.

Photography Tips

Everyone asks what to wear. The answer is simple.

Advice

Hint: It's not connecting.

BTS

A small change with a big reach.

Advice

I want to tell you a story about how my headshot made me feel less helpless.

Craft

Your profile picture is telling your story, whether you meant it or not.

Advice

I post my pricing clearly so you can make an informed decision. And I never charge extra for tweaks—I'm so committed to that it's even in our contract.

Advice

Aging does happen. Besides basic skincare and session prep, I'll deemphasize wrinkles and help your personality outshine your age—or enhance it.

Advice

School photos and DMV mugshots are about as personal as an assembly line. (Just look at my old driver's license.) The good news is it wasn't you, it was your photographer!

Advice

That's because you're a human! Cameras are weird. Even models had to learn how to turn it on.

Craft

Without capable artists at every stage of production, you’re wasting your money.

Craft

Imagine getting a robocall that opens with, "Hi firstname! I don't care enough about working with you to be here for this conversation, and please ignore the very real possibility I still won't be after you buy something."

Reflection

Sometimes I stumble into the obvious: When you career pivot, it's super tempting to burn the boats.

Advice

The camera makes an educated guess at your skin tone, but it can't know. I do.

Advice

I get it. I've been both employee (free when you're exhausted) and business owner (more flexible, less free time). It's why we put off everything from portfolio updates to oil changes. But just like those, the sooner you get your headshot dialed in, the more it can do for you.

Craft

Showing your real self matters because you work with your coworkers in reality.

Craft

At least not authentically. Even a left-field idea is table stakes now. You have to bring what matters. You have to bring style.

Craft

Hot take: It's getting harder to tell a photograph from a generated one.

Reflection

I've run a small business for 20 years. I can't remember a time I wasn't saying, "Wait, how am I killing it? Wasn't it just killing me?"

Advice

Your headshot is a gift—if you use it that way. Like every part of your brand, your headshot can work for you or it can take up space.

Advice

Your headshot is your best chance to own your story. You get to tell strangers why they want to meet you—or not.

Craft

The fact that most pictures of you suck is why image generators will always suck at making them.

Craft

Only a close-up photograph gives you time and permission to admire a stranger's eyes.

Craft

Glad you asked! Because we work together to make the best images of you possible.

Advice

If you’re a creative, you need creative company.

Photography Tips

The other day I shared three hacks for managing your age in pictures. Here are three more, this time for selfies or content creation.

Photography Tips

If you're over 40, your profile picture is a tightrope.

Craft

You laugh *your* way, stare off meaningfully *your* way, remember your grandma *your* way. Professional photos should be easy—if your photographer knows what they're doing.

Photography Tips

Here's what separates a great headshot from a shitty one. There's the obvious and the subtle, and I'll cover both.

Craft

Even when AI no longer hallucinates, headshot generators will still have a fatal problem.

Reflection

I have a habit of bulldozing introductions. Let's fix that.

Photography Tips

You did it right and made too many pictures. Which ones are good? Glad you asked.

Photography Tips

How do you get a truly great profile pic? Options.

Craft

If your photographer sent you home with hundreds of pictures, they failed.

Craft

I’m casually obsessed with Liquid Death. At first I was mildly horrified. It’s water in a can. That costs more than water in a bottle. Then I got it.

Reflection

In my life, there’s a Before and After realizing what being wrong could do for me.

BTS

Between school photos, the DMV, and passports, we've been trained: Picture time sucks.

Advice

Confidence is not the opposite of vulnerability. You can be both confident and willing to be wrong.

Craft

When you're out of your comfort zone and relying on someone else, how good are they at reading your needs?

Craft

We don't think of light as gendered, but boy (see what I did there), do we gender it.

Craft

Right now everything’s BTS: “authenticity” that has to keep proving its bona fides. When someone named the “Gen Z shake” I’d seen in so many vertical videos, all I could think was "Hurray… more performative bullshit."

Photography Tips

If you've ever thought, "Ugh, I hate picture time," that's because your photographer sucked.

Craft

It’s telling that the headshot generators compete on accuracy.

BTS

Why review images *during* a shoot? Isn't that a waste of time?

Craft

To be trustworthy you have to be willing to be wrong.

Craft

AI headshots might save time… but they’ll cost you trust.