Prior to becoming a headshot photography specialist, I’d already had two careers in photography.
The first was as a photojournalist, shooting assignments for national and regional magazines, and for design firms, corporations and the entertainment industry — including several years photographing Jane Fonda’s exercise video covers and publicity sessions.
During this time I photographed many people, including these notable subjects…
- Kim Alexis
- Steve Allen
- Gloria Allred
- Maria Conchita Alonso
- Julie Andrews
- Anne Archer
- Sir Richard Attenborough
- Lynda Barry
- Ed Begley, Jr.
- Karen Black
- Steven Bochco
- Sonny Bono
- Powers Boothe
- Beau Bridges
- Jeff Bridges
- Eli Broad
- James Brolin
- Jim Brown
- William S. Burroughs
- James Cameron
- Kirk Cameron
- Roger Corman
- Ted Danson
- Richard Diebenkorn
- Bruce Dern
- Michael Douglas
- Anthony Edwards
- Linda Evans
- Sally Field
- Carrie Fisher
- Rep. Tom Foley
- Jane Fonda
- Harrison Ford
- Michael J. Fox
- Larry Gelbart
- Frank Gehry
- Laura Dern
- Jeff Goldblum
- Merv Griffin
- Matt Groening
- Darryl Hannah
- Tess Harper
- Phil Hartman
- Lili Haydn
- Tobe Hooper
- Sir Anthony Hopkins
- John Hughes
- The Hughes Brothers
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
- Philip Johnson
- Bruce Jenner
- Diane Ladd
- David Lander
- Linda Lavin
- Norman Lear
- Jack Lemmon
- Tea Leoni
- Patti LuPone
- Shirley MacLaine
- Taj Mahal
- The Manhattan Transfer
- Penny Marshall
- Jayne Meadows
- Alyssa Milano
- Henry Miller
- Joe Montana
- Ed Moses
- Ornella Muti
- Louise Nevelson
- Laraine Newman
- Nick Nolte
- Ryan O’Neal
- Dolly Parton
- Cassandra Peterson
- Jeremy Piven
- Stefanie Powers
- Gilda Radner
- Lynn Redgrave
- Molly Ringwald
- Julia Roberts
- Kenny Rogers
- Norton Simon
- O.J. Simpson
- Steven Spielberg
- Mindy Sterling
- James Stewart
- Julia Sweeney
- Cheryl Tiegs
- Grant Tinker
- Liv Ullman
- Billy Vera
- Ben Vereen
- Irving Wallace
- Lew Wasserman
- John Wayne
- Forest Whitaker
- Cindy Williams
- John Williams
- Carl Wilson
- Jane Withers
- Beatrice Wood
- Brig. Gen. Chuck Yeager
My second photographic career was as a producer of commercial stock photography, supplying New York-based photo agencies images to be licensed for usage worldwide. Stock photography involves creating category-driven pictures for the marketplace — ad agencies, corporations, publishers and others – to be used to promote or illustrate whatever it is they’re selling. I was a lifestyle shooter, using models to portray couples, families, businesspeople, exercisers, doctors and patients, teachers and kids in classrooms, and portraits of all sorts of people in a variety of emotional states.
At the time I had a 4400 square foot studio in Hollywood and a team of experienced freelance assistants, wardrobe stylists and makeup artists. Over the years we built a succession of large three-walled sets, designed to be self-lighting. Strobe heads were attached to set’s outer walls, aimed away from the set, towards the white walls of the studio’s cyclorama. When the strobes fired, light bounced from those walls through the set’s windows, creating the illusion of soft, diffuse daylight across the entire area. We never had to add light — only reflectors for balance as we changed setups. Beautiful daylight 24 hours a day!
Over a dozen years I produced 600 shoots, hiring 1500 of the best actors and models I could find – experienced and talented people who brought realism to the scenes we shot.
What do my two prior photographic careers have to do with headshot photography? Good question. (I’m glad I asked it.)
For one thing, assignment work gave me years of experience, and the chance to interact with many subjects — more than a few of them, as you’ve seen, quite famous. I learned also that being assigned to photograph prominent people for publication didn’t necessarily tell me what to expect from the encounters. Most subjects were relaxed; others weren’t. Most were personable and even joyful to be around, which could be exhilarating. But some were, well, difficult. Often this had to do with their discomfort at being photographed, or having been photographed too often, or issues in their own lives at the present moment.
These encounters could be challenging, but still, my job was to get usable pictures, no matter the situation. I had to learn how to navigate these waters, and for the most part, I did. (No one on my list of notable subjects was difficult.)
(To be continued in the next post…)
