Somebody called me the other day asking if I had the name of a good headshot photographer, for hosts. Naturally, I have a great headshot photographer (Elias McCabe); however, I would hardly say he’s particular to hosts, or even actors, for that matter. I would say he’s a dang good photographer period.
Then, ensued the spirited conversation about what makes a good pix for a host. For my money, a good host pix is one that represents who you are as a person since that’s who they’ll be hiring! On the other hand, a good pix for an actor is one that represents who you are as a person since that’s who they’ll be hiring! We all want the same damn thing, for God’s sake… a good pix!
A picture is simply there to show your face, look, attitude and essence. Assuming the casting director doesn’t know us, we are called-in to audition based on our physical appearance (and resume, of course. But let’s leave that out of the equation, for now.).
Hosts are HIRED based on looks and their particular point of view — while actors are HIRED based looks and how well they portray a character. Right now, we’re talking about having a good pix not actually doing the job of hosting vs acting. Clearly, those are two different skill sets.
All of this yammering boils down to one simply thought: we ALL want the same damn thing — a nice picture of ourselves where we don’t see boogers hanging out of our noses, unruly eyebrow hairs or smudges on our eyeglasses! The nice pix is designed to get us the audition where we get to perform as a host, an actor or even a candlestick maker!
In the infamous words of my husband, Marty Metro, “Good luck and be yourself!”