Headshot photography – for actors, business executives or even people with social media channels – is simply a must these days. If you have a photograph of yourself online or offline where you have used an iPhone to create a selfie or cropped yourself out of a party photograph and think that's good enough, think again.
In a hyper visual world where you have nanoseconds to make an impression, why lean on the easy, almost lazy options that only produce photographs that are good enough, when you can easily get to great?
In a previous blog post, I introduced you to Dylan Patrick and his Cinematic Headshots. Today, however, I want to talk about Peter Hurley, a New York and Los Angeles based headshot portrait photographer who has stormed into the world and created a very unique niche for himself.
Much like Mark Seliger, Irving Penn, Richard Avedon and Helmut Newton have defined a genre of photography, so has Peter Hurley. His name is synonymous with headshot portrait photography.
Spend any time online and whether it is on Twitter or Facebook, you'll hear about him and his videos – It's all about the Jaw, It's all about the Squinch and Hold Your Sub.
Peter is responsible for leading nearly 9000 headshot photographers around the world through his forum, Headshot Crew. At only about $20 a month, it is a gold mine of information and networking possibilities. Indeed, one of the reasons I was able to so quickly get personally introduced to Peter was because I connected with Bruno Kongawoin first. Bruno is a magnificent photographer based in Perth, Australia.
Peter is also an author, speaker and teacher. His book, The Headshot, is a must-have for all headshot photographers.
Peter Hurley is one very busy guy. He has multiple projects going on. One of most interesting projects is called PsyPhotology. If you believe the interaction between a photographer and a subject is a psychological one, you must check this website out. Peter told me that there is much more coming in 2016 from this project and I am very excited by these new tools that are going to be available for photographers to make even better headshot portraits.
Lastly, if you can't make it to Peter Hurley's Headshot Intensive workshops in either New York or Los Angeles, you can study with him through his DVD's, downloaded from FStoppers. You can buy them here though my links as well – The Art Of The Headshot and Illuminating The Face.
For a limited time you can buy Peter's Pro Board for 30% off using the code – PROBOARD30 and you can buy his book at 15% off the retail price by using the code BOOK15. But given today is Christmas, I am going to wish that I could receive three of these H2PRO Water Ballasts for my light stands.
Now, for the ultimate teaching / learning experience, how would you like to be on the Headshot Crew Cruise? April 24th through May 1st, you can sail from New York to Bermuda, have a great time on board the cruise ship but also learn everything Peter has to teach you about headshot portrait photography.
SHABANG!
