Headshot

So you’re here for the headshots?

I am commissioned pretty frequently for employee headshots and when I see staff being herded towards me, shuffling unwillingly, staring at their feet, I sometimes wonder if they got an email ‘be there Wednesday 10:30, we’ve hired a guy for headshots’ and then they googled ‘headshot’.

Just to be clear here – this won’t hurt at all. In fact you will get a portrait to be used on your company’s website and social platforms, a memorable image which allows people who you are about to meet or do business with see who they are talking to. This is important because people do business with people. Here are two diametrically opposed examples to help me explain:

• Did you ever try to call a phone company’s broadband support? ‘We are experiencing heavy volumes of calls, you can get help online (no I can’t, that’s why I’m calling broadband support) – Select from the following 86 options – Thank you for holding, your business is important to us.’
• Now imagine calling your local plumber. “Hi Gary, it’s Stephen Potts, you did a bathroom for me a couple of years ago.” “Oh yes, Stephen, you’re the Belfast photographer, right? I remember you, how can I help?”

Now the cold hard fact is that the plumber phonecall will probably cost you more money but the idea of trying to talk to a faceless phone corporation means that making that first call is a much less attractive proposition – because people like to do business with other people.

During our time together at the headshot session I will make sure that each portrait is in keeping with the company values because the company pays my bill. I will also be sure to get an image that the subject is happy to see online, one which shows the people they are about to do business with a person, with a personality, a real human being. That’s my promise, a positive experience. Turning ‘I hate having my photograph taken’ into ‘That’s a great picture of me, thanks’. It’s actually a pretty good feeling for both of us.