Annie’s Headshots

Annie came in yesterday to have some headshots made.  You may remember Annie from her recent role in Zombie Prom.

I did my rough edit yesterday, and from around 400 frames I got it down 275.  From 275 to 175, and now I am just stuck!!!  There are 175 great shots of Annie and my goal is to get it down to 50.  Wish me luck!

This last shot is my favorite from the sitting – this would be my pick!

Thanks Annie!  You did a great job yesterday and have therefore made my job of narrowing down the photos very difficult.

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Brendan’s Headshots

And now… Brendan’s headshots!

Again, impossible to pick.  These are only a few of my favorites!

I really like this last one and I’m not sure why.  It’s more casual that the others, and Brendan’s expression seems to have a story behind it.

Katrina’s Headshots

Katrina (and Brendan…. stay tuned!) came in this weekend to have their headshots made!  The photo above is my absolute favorite from the session.  As usual, however, I am really struggling with editing them down!

It’s so difficult to edit down when you have clients like Katrina -  her skin totally glowed under the light and her hair looked absolutely gorgeous!

So there you have it!  I could have shown like ten more but I will leave it at three for now.

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p.s.  Don’t forget to become a fan of Leah LaRiccia Photography on Facebook!

Andrea’s Headshots

Andrea came into the studio yesterday to get some headshots made.

Andrea is awesome for a number of reasons, the main reason being that she arrived with a book of tear sheets!   Marvelous!!!  She wanted something with a bit more edge than traditional headshots, so I tried my best to give the photos some fashion.

The ads she brought in were largely black and white images that were really gritty and grainy.  Some had dramatic lighting, others were flat but with models with really intense expressions.

Sometimes people ask me why my job takes so much time.  One of the reasons is the editing – editing and retouching does take a ton of time, but editing down the photos can often be the biggest challenge.  I shot a little over 200 frames of Andrea and it is proving impossible to narrow them down.  One of the photographer’s most important jobs is to make something overwhelming – like 200 frames – into something more reasonable for a client to choose from.  I am really struggling with Andrea’s set – there are just too many!   She only blinked once – that is unheard of.

Pssst – don’t forget to become a fan of Leah LaRiccia Photography on Facebook!

Jessie’s Headshots

Late last Tuesday night, I got an email from Jessie’s mother asking if there was any way I could take Jessie’s headshots on Wednesday because… drum roll… Jessie was going to send her photo in to audition for the next Twilight movie!  Luckily I was free (although, if I wasn’t free, I’d probably have dropped everything because how exciting is the possibility of Jessie’s being involved with Twilight?), and we got together to make some photos.

This next one is very Twilight-y and is the photo we all agreed was best to send in for the audition.

Jessie is a natural.  She was amazing!  We tried a few different looks because Twlight-y may not be the best look for every audition (such as auditions for High School Musical, which Jessie is also pursuing).

The next shot is my personal favorite (and Jessie’s too!).

Everyone wish Jessie the best of luck with sending in her headshot!   Because then she can get her dear old photographer Robert Pattinson’s autograph and make her the happiest person ever.   Although, if I can allow myself to get carried away for a minute, maybe what will happen is that Jessie will meet him and he will be so WOWED by her promo shots that he will INSIST that he meet with her photographer to have his photo taken.  And then he will come to the studio and I will totally freak out…  Everyone wish Jessie TONS of luck.

Kam’s Headshot!

In addition to being  a photographer, I work part-time at CDIA (The Center for Digital Imaging Arts, Boston University) as a teaching assistant.  I love my job for many reasons, but the main reason is that I have gotten to know some amazing people!  It’s been wonderful to go through the program with the students, to become friends with them and to watch them bloom as photographers.

Kam is a student in one of my classes.  She is currently working on her slick new website, and mentioned that she needed someone to take her headshot.  Kam is a talented photographer and a great asset to her class, and she’s also got a big and beautiful personality, so of course I wanted to take her photo!

I wanted to capture Kam’s personality in the photos – the photos had to be elegant and sophisticated, but with a funky edge to them.   I decided to try some fun edge lighting to make things dramatic without being over the top!

The best thing about photographing other photographers is that they’ll let you try anything!  The best advice I got in school was from one of my instructors who said “Whenever you do a job, shoot for the client first but then shoot for yourself.”  That way you can build your portfolio with the kind of imagery you’d like to make, and hopefully someday get paid to do what you love!

This final shot is one I took for myself – since Kam has a cute small face, I wanted to try a wide angle  lens to see what would happen.  I love the next shot!  It’s fun yet strong at the same time, and I think Kam’s personality really shines through.  Thanks Kam!

Chris’ Headshot – Part 2

I photographed Chris’ headshot this weekend and was reminded of how much I enjoy working with actors.  Working with people in the arts is great because the portrait or headshot is a collaboration and takes on a life of its own.  I feel very lucky to be involved in the creation of this type of photograph.

Despite the fact that Chris had never posed for a headshot before, he posed like an old pro!  The hardest thing about this job has been trying to decide which proofs to deliver to Chris.  I shot about 400 frames and my first pass through the digital negatives left me with 380 potential proofs.  It’s going to be hard to narrow them down – wish me luck!

Here are two of my many favorites.

Chris’ Headshot – Part 1

I photographed Chris’ headshot this weekend (more later in the week) and started to edit down his photos this morning.

I am posting one photo right now which happens to be the second photo of the session.  I told Chris not to worry about posing because I was just testing the light and white balance, and this is what I snapped.  I adore this moment and its probably my favorite photo from the entire session – my photos always tend to be sort of loud, so I am always thrilled when I can capture a quiet moment like this when the subject isn’t aware of the camera.

Patty’s Promo Shots

I am drowning in photo editing these days, but wanted to post a couple of my favorites from my session this past weekend with Patty. Enjoy!

Rebecca’s Headshot

Rebecca is a professional singer and teacher of voice at the Boston Conservatory. She was referred by Brooke and came into the studio last week to have her headshot made.

Rebecca was easygoing and patient, and made my job easy when she came to the shoot prepared with her previous headshot and a description of what she liked about it. She also knew which side she preferred and what she wanted from the session!

We tried three different looks and a variety of poses. I got to experiment with the beautiful window light in the studio, and also shot some more traditional portraits using studio lights.

These three photos are among my top picks that I recommended to Rebecca:

The next photo is one that I shot for me – it’s not particularly useful as a headshot, but I thought Rebecca looked gorgeous in this light.

Here’s another one I did for myself – I am so selfish! I couldn’t help myself because I love the attitude in this photo.

This was one of Rebecca’s final selections for her headshot (along with the middle photo from the set of three above):

Thank you, Rebecca, for being so patient and for being such a great and prepared subject. I hope you had a good time and that you enjoy your headshots!!!