Headshot

Photo by mistermundo via Flickr. I thought I'd hate having my head shot. I thought I'd see the aftermath, burst into tears, and bury any evidence that it ever took place.

But a class I'm taking with Christina Katz about discovering my specialty and launching my platform assigned students to have some headshots done, and, because I want to be a good student, I did it. I asked for help from my photographer friends, got a quick response from Photographer Steve, and today, I completed my assignment.

And it was actually pretty fun.

I've known for some time that I needed to have headshots, that I couldn't go on with these goofy Photo Booth things that I hacked away at on Photoshop Elements, or the phone-in-the-air snapshots of me squinting into the sun that make me look like I'm being held hostage on last decade's MySpace page. 

Photographer Steve kept telling me, as he was setting up all of his gigantic lights and white umbrellas, that the process was going to be long and grueling, but he was wrong. I coulda been a photo subject for days. When he said we were all done, that he'd taken all the shots he'd thought of, I was kinda bummed. I did manage to squeeze one more out of him, though, when I said I wanted a Steve Jobs pose. I think that's going to be my favorite. 

I guess it makes sense, given that I'm a writer, that a part of me just loves undivided attention. I told my husband last night that I think the reason I write is so I can complete an entire thought without interruption. Part of the problem is that I've lived with interruptions for so long that I've started creating them for myself. Given an entire day to write for as long as I want, I'll invent six different reasons to step away from my desk. And none of them good ones. I'm the queen of auto-interruption, the master of self-sabotage.

Not today, though. Today, I showed up at Photographer Steve's art gallery and let him shoot me for the whole afternoon. I was nice to the camera, and I was courteous to Photographer Steve, even when he told me, for the fortieth time, to drop my chin, show my teeth, and open my eyes (I'm a natural-born squinter). I was sure he didn't get a single shot of me with my pupils showing, and I was sure the camera would multiply my chins. There's a reason I'm more often behind a Canon than in front of one.

But Photographer Steve was very patient. He even showed me the pre-edited results, and I didn't once gag or wince or even cry, like I do when I leave the license bureau. In fact, I'm actually, genuinely excited about my new headshots. They look great! They're fun! They're creative! I'm not squinting into the sun in any of them! And, lookie there, only two chins! Even more, joy of joys, they motivate me to create something cool to put them on, like a refrigerator, or an abandoned building, or, maybe, even a....

But let's not talk about that now. Instead, let's talk about you. 

What have you wanted to do for a long time that you've been putting off out of fear or dread? What do you know you need to do to take your goal to that next level? What facial feature are you trying to hide, hoping to cover up, keeping on the backside of the camera?

Isn't it time you ditched those fears and moved forward?

Yep, I think it is, too. So give your own Photographer Steve a call, forget about your double chins, and take the next step.

It's time to show your face.