You don’t have to be a gender-nonconforming person to see this is a hard time to be a gender-nonconforming person.
I’ve been adjacent to the queer community my whole life. A lot of my family is gay; my sister came out in her teens, my cousin in her 30s, my dad in his 50s. I cofounded my high school GSA in the mid-’90s (as if “GSA” didn’t date me). That’s where I first learned gender is flexible, moldable, breakable. I’ve had close trans friends for decades.
I’m also obviously fascinated by the complexity of the human face. The little things that tell a person’s story. Your style—how you wear your hair, choose and rock your clothes, glasses, etc.—are all in a dance with what’s inside. Sometimes they prop one another up, sometimes they’re in creative tension. You’re an infinite well of you.
And portraiture is all about gender. Light’s no more gendered than hair length or jewelry, but just like those, we’ve decided certain kinds of light are meant for certain kinds of people. That makes them tools for expressing gender cues.
Why Does This matter?
Well, a great headshot can help you get a job.
Where your resume touts what you do, a picture of you suggests how it’ll feel to work with you doing it. It doesn’t tell your whole story—that’s for you—but it helps you make a meaningful introduction. More and more, especially in corporate, personalities outshine performance. A confident, authentic headshot makes a powerful emotional connection with a hiring manager. It sets the foundation for trust (which is becoming critical as more people hand off… uh… everything to AI).
Meanwhile, a great portrait can validate how you see yourself, confirming your outside matches your inside. That’s crazy empowering on socials, and potential magic on dating apps.
What am I offering?
A free studio session and a free final retouched image, with usage rights. This includes a 20ish-minute consultation on Zoom.
The same services and styles you see on my portfolio. Nothing different, except the price.
What’s in it for me?
Natural question. Like everyone, I have to make a living. These are some ways this project helps me do that.
- I hope you’ll refer me paying clients. Word of mouth is the heart of my business. For every person you send me, they get a discount and you get an additional final image.
- I expand my portfolio with unique faces, and get to strengthen my craft working in unconventional, gender-affirming ways.
- I hope you’ll come back. I love documenting change through the face, and through my approach to the image. (This one’s a life goal, not a financial one.)