Hal Perry often gets called in for the part he lovingly calls “All American Dad.” This is the guy who mans the BBQ in the back yard, tosses a football around with his kid and then goes in and watches sports on his big screen TV. He’s a non-threatening guy who probably works in middle management at an office. And every other Saturday night, he and his buddies have a poker game.
This is how Hal auditions commercially, and not surprisingly he auditions a whole lot. Theatrically Hal often auditions as a much more serious character, most recently he shot an episode of Nip/Tuck where he played a husband with some kinky tastes.
Hal knew not to go for one headshot that captured every single part he went out for. He came in for headshots that would capture his fun, friendly commercial side. In this photo he’s a very fun and comfortable dad. An attempt to capture both sides of Hal’s personality and marketability would come across as muddled and wouldn’t sell either type very well. But with this one photo Hal nails one of his primary types and allows his other headshots to speak for his other types.
Keith Johnson came directly to his headshot session from an audition. The audition was for the part of “Formerly Athletic Guy” and Keith realized that he had no headshots that suggested this part of his personality.
Keith is a former athlete of sorts as he’s a former US Marine. This particular audition was for the part of a soccer player turned coach. So Keith literally came dressed for his session as he would for an audition. He chose a shirt that featured a soccer player but wasn’t a soccer jersey or something a soccer coach would wear to a game. This is something a soccer coach might wear to a practice. But Keith also smartly chose something that still can come off as sport neutral for a headshot.
This photo can say “sports coach,” “weekend warrior” or simply “sports fan.” But you know one thing for certain, this guy takes his sports seriously.
Laura Lock is the first actor to have her new headshot posted on the blog, congrats!
Laura often goes out for what she calls the “Wal-Mart/Home Depot Mom.” That’s the blue collar mother of three who has to do everything for the family herself. It’s easy to go with a cliche of the poor Wal Mart mother who’s not put together. But watch a few Wal Mart commercials, these women are smart, strong and dressed casually.
This is a more dramatic photo of Laura as the blue collar mom. Her eyes and pose are showing the strength to tell her kids to stop misbehaving while she still shows the vulnerability inherent in a woman who has had a lot thrust upon her. By steering away from the stereotype Laura can market herself as a “real Wal-Mart mom,” not the cookie cutter sketch impression of a Wal-Mart mom.
Character Photo is proud to announce something unique in headshot photography: a blog.
There are many photographers out there with blogs but this one will be different. The blog will be seamlessly merged with other aspects of the photography process.
After a headshot session you can look forward to seeing your photo on the blog with a description of the shoot and an analysis of the photo being displayed. This will provide potential clients with a glimpse into the way the work is produced and the results of every client, not just a few good looking ones gracing the frontpage.
Also, the blog acts as a sort of marketing tool for both the actors and for Character Photography. The plan is to allow actors to e-mail in bookings that come as a direct result of their new headshots and those accounts will be posted on the blog. Also, every post about a specific actor will have a link back to their website (if they have one). Hopefully this will encourage reciprocal link sharing which will drive more traffic to the actor’s page as well as to characterphoto.com
This blog will also be the place to go to for news on Character Photo as well as upcoming events.
