Agency Test M. Cutts Imaging Group

I photographed M. a couple of weeks ago, but haven't been able to post about it until she approved the edits.  I understand, she's a beautiful young woman wants to be an actor has worked as a model, if she wants to protect her image that's cool with me.  We shot for a while in her lovely apartment trying out a few ideas she had.  Unfortunately she burned her right hand while at work so we had to work around it. 

After a short break were we talked about what we would shoot next, M. asked if we could shoot in her tiny pink stair well.  I threw a 50mm and a 580exII on the camera and we went shooting.  I think some of the best images we shot that night we did in that tiny pink stair well.  

This is one of my favorites: 

This is Mirela's number one pick:

To be honest I'm still waiting for her okay to post my favorite number one pick, you know the one golden gem that goes in the portfolio.  I think it's that good.

Quigley Fine Wines

I hooked up with this cool gig for the second time this year, I shoot bottles for them, and they give me the bottles when I'm done.  Doing a bit of research the wine I drove away with today was worth it.  Normally I would never buy a bottle of wine for over ten bucks, so it's nice to have a little stash of the good stuff around for when the urge hits, or friends are coming over.

Young Lee Los Angeles Headshot By Cutts Imaging Group

Way back in December I worked with So Young Park, we got together again on Monday, this time to photograph Young Lee who is going to appear in K_Town.  Young is a great guy with an interesting habit when he is being photographed ... some how he manages to flex his ears back, which he says gets uncomfortable after a while.

My picks:

Young's picks:

Bryant Duke, Los Angeles Headshot/personal work.

Bryant sent me a message last week, he meet with an agency and, needed a natural light headshot to complete his portfolio.  So I drove in to L.A. and met with Bryant again, we busted out his headshot, and I talked his girlfriend Hailey into getting in front of the lens for a few minutes.

Since I went out to shoot his headshot I thought I better throw it out here.

Allen Cutts Imaging Group Headshot

Allen's originally from Virginia he moved to California last year after visiting his sister in February, I guess the California winters are more pleasant, yeah I know.  He's recording an album on said sisters Mac, and decided to get into modeling after driving DeAngelo to a shoot in Malibu (I think that's where he said it was ... I hope it is).

DeAngelo Townsell Headshots by Cutts Imaging Group

On the road again, I drove out to Huntington Beach yesterday to photograph DeAngelo and his buddy Allen (tomorrows blog post).  D's been a fitness model since he blew out his knee and lost his football scholarship.  His headshots were a couple of years old and I was happy to help him out with some new ones.

D is a quarter Japanese which I would have never guess until I mentioned his eyes, which lead to an interesting (and humorous) discussion about the racial differences between Canada and California.  We had a great time photographing, he and Allen are good friends and hammed it up as we shot which kept all of us relaxed.

Last week two great headshots, and a Tuesday disaster.

Shooting last week got off to a lousy start, it affected my desire to post what I shot.  I'll start from the end and work towards Tuesday evening.

Thursday:

 I drove to Anaheim to photograph Ashley.  After a long couple of days it was nice to do a quick shoot with a lovely young woman.  Ashley is looking to get back into modeling after the birth of her son.

Wednesday:

 I drove back into Los Angeles to do a headshot for Keaton.  We had been trying to shoot for a couple of weeks, so it was nice to finally get it done.  Keaton spent a year and a half in England studying Shakespeare and is back in Los Angeles looking for an agent and pursuing her dream.

Tuesday:

What to say about Tuesday ... it's just probably best not to say much, but it's fair to say that some people just don't respect photographers and well karma is a bitch.

Getting a great headshot

How are we going to make a great headshot for you?

First I’m sure you have done a little homework about this for yourself so you’ve read these statements on other photographer’s sites.  That’s great and a lot of what those other folks have said is good advice.  But really some of those guys are full of shit.  Yeah get a good nights sleep, and do what you need to do to make sure your looking good the day you walk into the studio, but I’m not going to ask you to stop smoking or drinking or any silly huge life style changes a week before you come in that’s kind of dumb.  Don’t come in wasted or anything if you’re nervous, we’ll talk a bit and you’ll be fine.

First off, come meet with me so you know what you are getting!

Be comfortable with who you are, we won’t be able to change that.

Clothes … bring what you love, and bring a lot, if it’s not here when we shoot it’s going to be tough to shoot it, oh and nothing distracting no polka dots, lasers, stripes or labels.

Clean up the background, the photograph is about you, so no distracting elements, I prefer to keep it bright, and simple.

Go big and tight, again the photograph is about you not want you are wearing so fill the frame with you face, we might even crop the top of your head to really get in on your face.

Most headshots are bland and expressionless, don’t fall into that trap, work your face and expression, use your brow, it a major way we communicate so work it. 

Relax, have fun and smile!