This week, I’ll answer a few questions about the past two weeks‘ Bad Headshots, Good Headshots columns.

If he doesn’t object, I was wondering if you could share the name of the actor/commercial photographer who took his own headshot. Thank you either way.

You bet! Robert Olding is the actor who took his own headshot after having had much success as a commercial photographer. I believe you can make contact from his website.

I came across your article on headshots. I would like you to look at my son’s headshot and tell me if it is acceptable.

Here’s the cool thing about young actors’ headshots: You really don’t need to spend money on expensive, professional headshots until your child is at least six years old (and many working kid actors don’t even get “real” headshots then). Because young actors change so drastically so quickly, the industry standard is actually a recent snapshot or color-printer-generated photo from your own digital camera. Obviously, you should pay attention to good lighting and setting, mimicking a professional-style headshot as much as you can, but until your child is generating income with his acting, the investment in high-end headshots is optional. Even after you do get “real” headshots, young actors can fill in between shoots by attaching a recent snapshot to a headshot that may be “a little outdated,” in terms of the most recent growth spurt.

Is it true that I should wait to get headshots taken until I get an agent, since they’ll make me get new ones anyway?

Well, you definitely want to have good headshots when you go “agent shopping” to begin with, but yes, it’s quite common that agents and managers will sign an actor and then ask that the first order of business is getting new headshots. Remember, if the agent or manager requires that you use a certain photographer, that’s a sure sign of kickbacks and not at all worth your time or money! If, however, the agent or manager provides a list of recommended photographers and also is open to you shooting with someone NOT on the list, you’re probably not dealing with a skeezy pseudo-rep.

Typically, agents and managers like to kick off the new relationship with a headshot everyone likes and feels great about sending out. Unless your existing headshot is a “winner” that has gotten you in casting offices with good results pre-this-agent, it’s okay to get new shots. If this is a point of contention between you and your new rep (you love, love, love your headshot and so do CDs; you just got it taken and haven’t had a chance to see if it works yet or not), perhaps mention that your “headshot he hates” is one that got you in HIS door, so it can’t be “that bad.”

Sorry that I’m sending this in late. I hope that you are still working on the good and bad headshots; and if you are, please give me your input on mine. Thanks for your understanding.

I received a few headshots after my deadline for both columns, so here’s what I’m going to do: If you are reading this in the archives, weeks or months from now, but still want me to take a look at your headshots, go ahead and send them along to me at the email address below. When we’ve reached critical mass (enough good examples of good and bad, with broad enough categories to cover information for many readers at once), I’ll put together another Bad Headshots, Good Headshots column and roll out the new thumbnails. Sound good?

One of the things I’ve noticed, when I’m speaking to groups of actors, is that I could seriously spend THE WHOLE TIME evaluating actors’ headshots. Actors have so many questions about whether their headshot is good or bad, looks like them, would work commercially, sells their dominant type, etc. And it is absolutely true that I will never be able to accurately assess whether an actor’s headshot really NAILS the actor’s TYPE until I’ve seen the actor’s WORK. But I understand that there is a lot of feedback that actors can use even before that happens, in selecting their best headshot. So, let’s just consider this an ongoing project here at The Actors Voice. I’ll roll out the next column in the series as soon as there are enough headshots to share in the same way as those I shared in the past two weeks.

Bonnie Gillespie is living her dreams by helping others figure out how to live theirs. Wanna work with Bon? Start here. Thanks!

Originally published by Actors Access at http://more.showfax.com/columns/avoice/archives/000402.html. Please support the many wonderful resources provided by the Breakdown Services family. This posting is the author’s personal archive.