Method Acting Headshots

“The secret to moving the passions in others is to be moved oneself” said Aristotle and then he added “that moving oneself is made possible by bringing to the fore visions of experiences from life”.  

I wonder, why wouldn’t any actor want to bring to the fore vision of his or her experiences in the casting headshot?

My first headshot was photographed in 1987 when I was 17. My first clients agent would later force him to get another session done by Toronto’s best known photographer at the time, specializing in headshots.  Matching the headshot taken by me a teenager and the other photographer was peculiar to his agent, so she invited me to speak with her.  She would later determine that I was lucky and it was nothing but coincidence that my headshot would be the portrait used for casting.  Thirty years later, I no longer feel lucky for having captured headshot of thousands of others through our distinct approach, the method actor approach to producing headshots.

“Acting is not about being someone different.  It’s finding the similarity in what is apparently different, then finding yourself”, Merryl Streep.  I still find it difficult to call our approach unique because I am dumbfounded that a) other headshot photographers are still photographing people the same way as an event, object and/or scenery and b) actor’s are constantly hiring portrait photographers that have everyone looking the same, I call it the “Vroom Look”, all images end up like a deer caught in the headlights.

Method Actor’s will benefit from a headshot specialist that has the ability to interview his or her clients and then bring that experience to life inside the portrait.  A great headshot has as much visual value as it does emotionally.