Headshot questions, answered

Solid colors photograph best. Skip busy patterns, logos and anything trendy that will date the photo. Bring two or three options and we’ll go through them together before we start.

Get a good night’s sleep. If you’re getting a haircut, get it at least three days before. Shave the morning of, or groom your beard the way you like it. Keep makeup natural and close to how you look day to day. A blemish is easier for me to remove in retouching than it is to cover with heavy foundation.

Express: wear what you want to be photographed in and bring a backup. Professional: bring one to three outfits for your two looks. Executive: bring as many as you like and we’ll work through them together.

Blemishes, color, softening under the eyes and stray hairs. You still look like you, on your best day. Reasonable revisions are included after delivery.

You’ll get an email with a link to your private online gallery, where you can download and share them. I keep an archive, so if you ever lose them I can send them again.

134 Hawkins Way, Geneva, IL 60134. It’s about 45 minutes west of downtown Chicago and close to Naperville, St. Charles, Batavia and Aurora.

Yes. Your first reschedule is free, even on the day of your session. The rest of the terms are in the cancellation policy.

Yes. Tell me when you book and I’ll add it to your session at a lower price than booking it on its own. See specialty photos for what each one includes.

A room about 8 by 10 feet with an outlet, like a conference room or an empty office. I bring the backdrop, lights and camera, and I’m set up in 30 to 60 minutes.

About five minutes, so about 12 people an hour, with real direction the whole time. If your schedule is tight, I can move faster, up to 20 an hour.

I send you a sign-up link to pass around, or you send me the list and I’ll send it out. Everyone picks their own time and gets a text reminder before it.

I leave time at the end of the day for late arrivals. Anyone who still misses it can come to my studio in Geneva for $150, or join the next group when I come back to your office.

Within 24 hours. Every photo is retouched for color, skin and light, and each person gets a link to their own private gallery to download them. Revisions are included after delivery.

Solid colors photograph best. Skip busy patterns, logos and anything trendy that will date the photo. If you want the team to look like a set, agree on a dress code ahead of time, like jackets or no jackets.

Yes, downtown and anywhere in Chicagoland, with no travel fee. The same goes for anywhere within about two hours of Geneva, around 100 miles, including Milwaukee and Northwest Indiana. Farther than that, I quote travel with your day, and for a larger booking up to about 200 miles away, travel matters much less. I’ve done a three-day booking across Milwaukee, Madison and northern Wisconsin.

Yes. I can visit each office on back-to-back days or spread the visits over a few weeks, with the same backdrop and lighting everywhere, so the whole company matches. Tell me where your offices are and I’ll send a price.

A headshot session gets you a great headshot for LinkedIn and your bio. A branding session starts with a call about where the photos will be used, and adds photos of you at work, on location, and with your team, your clients or your tools.

My studio in Geneva, your office, outdoors or a space we rent for the day. We choose the places together on our planning call, based on where the photos will be used.

As many as the plan needs. I help with wardrobe before the shoot, and the Executive session in the studio has unlimited outfit changes.

On location, yes. A hair and makeup artist works with us on site. In the studio, you can add hair and makeup to an Executive session.

By your plan: how long we shoot, how many places and how many photos you need. After our call I’ll send you a price. In the studio, the Executive session at $850 covers it.

The eyes. Wardrobe, background and lighting all come second. A great headshot has alive, energized eyes with real thought behind them, and that’s what stops a casting director mid-scroll. Every session is built around getting you there.

Think about the roles you want to be called in for. Each look should say something different about who you could play. One strong look is enough to start, working actors usually need at least two, and Range gives you five.

For theatrical, earth or muted tones and a structured jacket or layered top that suggests a character without being a costume. For commercial, brighter, cleaner solid colors. Avoid logos and busy patterns, and bring more options than you think you’ll need.

Yes, for the whole session. A familiar face often helps younger actors relax. I just ask that the direction comes from me, so we can keep the session focused.

Express the same day, Slate the next day and Range within 5 days. You pick your favorites during the session and I start retouching right away.

If you’re submitting for a range of roles, yes. Having both opens up more of the roles you can submit for. If you’re focused on one kind of work, one strong look is enough to start.

Very little. Casting directors expect you to look like your headshot when you walk in the room, so I keep it natural: clean skin, good color and minor blemishes, nothing that changes your features.

A headshot session is about how you come across: expression, personality, your brand. A specialty photo has to meet a published specification exactly, so the session is shorter and I shoot to the spec.

I format every photo to the current published requirements for that application. The final decision belongs to the office reviewing it, but a formatting error won’t be the reason it’s rejected.

Yes. Tell me when you book and I’ll add it to your headshot session at a lower price.

Any country, including the US, UK, EU countries and China. Tell me your country when you book, so I shoot to its exact size and background requirements.

Canadian citizenship (IRCC) applications have their own photo requirements, separate from a passport photo. It’s the most common request I get, so book the citizenship session for it.

Booking ahead guarantees your time. These are quick sessions, so if you need one on short notice, call me and ask about a walk-in.

A professional, current photo against a plain background, sized and formatted to the ERAS upload requirements. I shoot and export to that standard, so the file is ready to upload as it is.

Professional business attire, the same standard you’d use for an interview. Solid colors photograph best; skip busy patterns and anything trendy.

The same business day. You’ll get a link to download the final file, sized for ERAS.

Your first reschedule is free, even on the day of your session. Use the link in your confirmation email. The rest of the terms are in the cancellation policy.

Yes. Tell me when you book and I’ll add a second look or a headshot session at a lower price.

I use Spot My Photos. Guests scan a QR code on a card, sign or screen and take one selfie. As I upload photos during the event, Spot My Photos matches each guest to the photos they’re in and sends them by text or email. There’s no app to download, and guests can ask to have their photos deleted at any time.

It depends on whether I’m free that day, not on a set lead time. Three to six weeks out is ideal, since it gives me more time to plan around your event, but if your date is open, shorter notice is fine. Ask me as soon as you have a date.

Yes. Coverage of the keynote and panels plus a booth for attendees is a popular pairing, and the booth is 10% off when you book both.

About 10 by 10 feet per photographer, near a standard power outlet. I handle the setup and breakdown.

Yes. The whole event is one booking and one invoice, and the price per day drops the longer it runs: with one photographer, two full days are $4,200 and four full days are $7,750. The calculator shows every length up to four days. For anything longer, tell me about your event and I’ll quote it.

The booth is built for volume and speed, with quick direction and photos delivered on the spot. Team headshots include more coaching, every photo retouched and a private gallery for each person.

Anywhere within about two hours of Geneva, around 100 miles, with no travel fee: all of Chicagoland, Milwaukee and Northwest Indiana. Farther than that, travel is quoted with your event, and for a larger event up to about 200 miles away, travel matters much less. I’ve done a three-day booking across Milwaukee, Madison and northern Wisconsin.

No. I focus on corporate events, conferences, galas and association events.