Matt came in for his updated headshots recently. He is a filmmaker and needed some new headshots for his website and a variety of other uses - these days a headshot is in demand for such a broad range of things it's always interesting to see how they are used. The other day I went to an exhibition opening and noticed that the artists had been asked to supply a headshot with their artist statement, and I recognised one of my shots on the wall for an artist I photographed a couple of years ago now. These images do tend to have a short lifespan as we age and change our look, but it's just amazing what a great use we do get out of the images for the couple of years that they are current.
Initially we booked a studio session for Matt until he mentioned in an email that he wanted some more 'natural' portraits as well for maximum flexibility in how he could use the shots. After the studio shoot we popped outside the studio to continue the session, and the weather was so windy it was blowing my reflector and lighting gear about too much for me to light the way I usually would for a location portrait.
As a result I was forced into open shade by the side of the studio. The location worked quite well for a simple urban street portrait, although the brick wall is rather too close to skin tone for my liking. However with a shallow depth of field Matt is still able to stand out reasonably from the background. We were able to work more comfortably in the shade of the studio shielded from the wind, but there was still a lot of glare to contend with.
I hope Matt gets some good use of these shots and it was great to chat to him during the session about his aspirations and ideas. The best part about my job is the fantastic one-on-one time I get to spend with interesting people to discover what makes them tick, and in the short time we shoot for it's amazing the range of topics we often get to cover.