Special Intensive Weekend Workshop:
Saturday, April 23 & Sunday, April 24 – 10 AM to 6 PM
Two Days for $375 (Repeat Student $150)
Individual Workshop:
Introduction $120
Basic: $150
Intermediate: $200
Seminar: “Starting up your photography business”: $120
Question? email
Shooting head shots for actors in Los Angeles for over 35 years has brought a host of experience my way. Just when I think I’ve seen everything, some wacky actor comes up with a whole new weirdness.
I once had an actor walk over and touch my forehead with her index finger and inform me that she had to “get in touch with my third eye” before we could shoot. I was just glad she didn’t stick her finger in either of the other two eyes.
This last decade has brought a wave of “Method Actors” that feel compelled to get in touch with their deep feelings before they can smile for a commercial shot. Any photo seems to come with a period of time where they stare at the floor and dig up piles of past crap so they can emote.
While I think this is a big fat waste of time and energy, I nevertheless, just hang out by my camera waiting for them to make their magic so I can take a photo.
Here’s a video of one such actor. He’s kind of new at this, but I think he has talent. He seemed to lose it at the very last second though and took it out on his cell phone.
Special Intensive Weekend Workshop:
Saturday, September 14 –
Sunday, September 15 –
(9 AM to 5 PM)
Saturday, 9 AM to 12 noon – Introduction
Saturday, 1 PM to 5 PM – Basic
Sunday, 9 AM to 12 noon – Intermediate
Sunday, 1 PM to 5 PM – “Starting up as a business” / Special Guests
Two Days for $350
Individual Workshop:
Introduction $120
Basic: $150
Intermediate: $200
Seminar: “Starting up your photography business”: $120
Question? email
There are some distinct advantages to being in this business for 40 years. One is simply experience. The other is an awareness of evolutionary changes in marketing. In other words – the way head shots have changed over the years and what is current.
One simple fact is that very few actors really understand their chosen art form is a business. Very few actors are able to look in the mirror and OBJECTIVELY figure out how to market their product because their product is themselves. For all of us, seeing ourselves objectively is difficult at best.
Also, this marketing has evolved over the years.
The internet has hugely influenced the way head shots are done nowadays. Since your image will be relatively small and on a page full of other head shots, it is important to make you photo stand out.
Remember: This is the size of your pic Casting Directors would see when they are looking at submissions:
This is Cute – but it would get “lost” in the pile:
One way to do that is wear very colorful clothing and have colorful backgrounds in your image.
Another way is to be as high profile as possible and have a Twitter account, Facebook, a personal web site, and any other social media.
My friend, Jim Beaver, is great example.
His FaceBook is filled with contents about his career and his interests. His SuperNatural fans dig his Twitter updates, too.
Another GREAT example is a great stage actor Bill Oberst Jr. (Google him!) His Website is VERY ENTERTAINING.
The internet is a wonderful thing but it also requires actors to put time into their careers more than ever.
Look at lots of other head shots. Make sure what you are about to shoot isn’t dated but is current.
Your photographer should also know what is current, how to shoot your head shot so it looks professional and marketable, and give you at least 3 “looks” to work with.
Be aware… all things evolve… even head shots!
Message from Squicken. He thinks he wants to go to college … eventually.
A day after the funeral, we decided to do something creative to cheer us up.
My GF’s friend, Seri, set up the glass making class for me.
My cheek hurt … it’s hard to get the bubble going, but once you do, then it gets easier.
CLICK HERE for Michael Helms – Glass Making Video
I decided to make a bowl. I chose a kind of teal color with a red rim. Here we are shaping it a bit before blowing again to enlarge it.
Here I’m expanding the opening in the bubble to create a bowl. It takes a little pressure at first and getting the bowl perfectly round is tricky.
Still expanding the bubble to form the bowl while the glass is red hot. Then I changed the angle of the tongs to flare the top of the bowl a bit.
In these last two photos, you can see the finished bowl. It has a bubble in the glass, a flaw but some glass blowers think of it as character and leave them in. I like the “flaw”.
Also…my bowl isn’t perfectly symmetrical, but
again, I like it. Gives it character.
This would be exciting.
On Monday, April 29th, Michael Helms will be in Vegas to help his good friend, Charlie Schlatter’s on-camera class, so their students will have great lookin’ footage!
Come meet us – and Squicken “may be” there.
This is the first time for us to be teaching in Las Vegas.
Happy Easter!
I suppose it’s a good thing that after 37 years of shooting head shots for actors, that I still enjoy it. I attribute this to the fact that I find people endlessly fascinating and what better place to be a head shot photographer than in Los Angeles! I get all sorts of fascinating characters through my photo studio and I sometimes think it should be a sit com.
In the past, an actor would get a recommendation from his Agent or manager for what head shot photographer to go visit. Usually an actor would meet with four or five photographers, look at their portfolios, check out the studio, and choose who they felt would be the best for the images they needed. This decision making process was good for everyone, actor and photographer alike although it required the photographer to sit through hours of seemingly endless and unnecessary recitations of resumes.
While I understand the concept that an actor wants the photographer to capture a certain essence, it has little bearing on whether or not that actor will actually book a job. The reason for this is that very very few actors see their casting. Every actor has an idea of the roles they want to play in film, commercials, or on stage but very few actors understand that it is a business and they will be cast according to how they look to a casting office.
An example of this would be a girl who came to my studio for head shots and she handed me photos of fashion models and proclaimed,”I want photos like these!”. What amused me was that MY idea of her casting was that she would be prefect in a role as a midwest farmers wife…perhaps pulling a plow. Suffice it to say she was NOT in shape for Victoria’s Secret.
Agents in Los Angeles have lists of head shot photographers that they recommend and I am fortunate to be on almost all of those lists. So, it presented me with a challenge, because, knowing her agent, if I shot images the agent liked, she would be unhappy but if I shot images she liked, the agent would be displeased.
I suggested to her that she show her agent what wonderful versatility she had as an actress. I told her she should shoot some rather plain images, then we could add more makeup and fluff her hair for more sexy images. She reluctantly agreed.
A week went by and I got a call from her and I winced as I asked her how she liked her photos. This was in the days of film so it would take a few days to process. She told me she was really happy with “some of them but some of the others she liked less”. I asked her if she had shown them to her agent and she frustratingly replied,”YES…and you won’t believe what he said to me. He said he liked the plain ones and could use those but the pretty shots he didn’t like. He said to me, these are pretty but I can’t use them because you aren’t pretty!”
“Yikes!” I responded,”What did you do!?”
“Well, I’m looking for another agent!” she growled.
I have had actors in my studio who did their best to imitate Robert DeNiro, sexy women who wanted to play “smart” roles, nerdy looking guys who wanted to be James Bond, and the aforementioned chubette who wanted to be Cindy Crawford.
When an actor walks through my doors, I know in the first minute how I am going to light him. I already know what roles he will get. I already know, after years doing head shots in Los Angeles, how an actor will be marketed. But it is not my job to make those decisions but rather to provide and actor with what type of photos HE/SHE wants. I make suggestions, I talk it over with all my clients, I can tell them what wardrobe I think will work, and I can let each individual know what the trends in head shots are current, but ultimately every actor needs to do their homework and see this as a business and realize they are a product and how best to market that product.
The idea is to have a head shot that gets you called in to a casting that, when you arrive and look around the casting office, you see actors who are in the same category. You don’t want to look around and see people who are 40 years older.
If an actor looks at TV, film, and commercials and identifies characters that “look like” him, he will know how to dress for a photo shoot. Basically an actor needs a smiling head shot for commercials and a more serious shot for theatrical purposes. Nothing more.
Casting offices generally know what type they are going to choose for any given role, so if you got a call, you have a shot!
The rest is up to you!
