April 12, 2021 - Storyteller

The best tip I have for getting your headshot is to take some advice from singers.

Yawn-sigh Technique. For this quick vocal exercise, yawn (take in air) with your mouth closed.
Humming warm–upS.
Vocal Straw Exercise.
Lip buzz Vocal warm–up.
Tongue trill exercise.
Jaw Loosening ExerciseS.
Two-octave pitch glide Warm–Up.
Vocal Sirens Exercise.
Vocal Slides Technique

You see singers stretching their vocal cords. In a way, they are calibrating their voices.

While photographing some actors a few years ago, I thought they wouldn’t love to perform. That was when I was trying to get them to enjoy themselves. I accidentally discovered that after they have been going through different types of characters, the expressions that follow are more relaxed and engaging.

Have fun in your headshot session. Keep the lighting simple and spend all the time getting a variety of expressions.

When an actor comes to me for their headshot, they are a little reluctant at first.

This past Saturday, I set up a studio in the lobby at Riverside Theatre Complex – Columbus State University.

My daughter, Chelle Leary, is a student in the Theatre program at Columbus State University and was helping me. She would help coach some actors by asking them to imitate professors and students in the program. Ronald Walker was getting into the roles once he had some ideas to play with.

After playing with some characters, I would get a few natural moments and then move on to another character. I continued to shoot these so they could later use them for fun with Social Media.

I think the actors love seeing the results of the different characters they created.

I like to think of taking this variety of expressions to calibrate the face. You need to push or stretch beyond the best expression for any mood you are trying to achieve to make the one that is dialed back just a little look natural.