Free Headshots

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	Topic: Free Headshots
Posted : 25/01/10 / Views : 958 / Replies : 9 /
anonymous	Hey, I know this may be like the Holy Grail but does anyone know anywhere you can have free headshots? Cheers! Laura

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	Reply #1
Posted : 22/01/10
leeravitz 1544 posts last on: 33 min send private reply	I think the clearest answer will be: you'll be lucky! Even the most inexpensive headshot provider is a working photographer of some description, and they all want to make a living! There are certainly cheaper rates delivered by some photographers than others; and a cheap rate is not always indicative of a drop in quality or a lack of experience, particularly because some great photographers offer cheaper packages in the hope of attracting maximum custom, so they feel they can afford to give you, say, £250 worth of shoot for £100 fee, which is always worth seeking out. But looking for a photographer who works for FREE? Your best bet, if you really wish to try and spend no money at all on shots, is to try and track down a photographer who is in the formative stages of their career, and hoping to build a portfolio of work, in order that they can then go on to attract further custom, and appear in 'Contacts', on their website etc. as a serious professional. Because they have not yet set up in business properly, and know that their wares may not, therefore, always be trusted, they can offer the 'you scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours' option of allowing you a free shoot on condition they can use good shots of you for the sake of their own advertising. I have certainly come across this option before, though I don't know any leads specifically - your best bet may be to keep an eye on casting sites, like this one or Shooting People, where photographers of this sort advertise, and try and get in on a shoot for them. There are probably also photography directories of aspiring photographic artists online, and if you search through those, you may find some photographers who are still eager to bring in outside talent for free for the sake of generating portfolio work, although you'll have to a) search around and b) discover people who, however great their photographic talents, don't specialise in headshot work. Certainly, you will not find any photographer in 'Contacts' who doesn't charge, and I wouldn't think any you could source from this site directory wouldn't charge, either - with that said, have you looked through the whole of CCP'S photographer directory to see if anyone is offering to work for free?

Reply #1

Posted : 22/01/10

leeravitz
1544 posts
last on: 33 min
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I think the clearest answer will be: you'll be lucky! Even the most inexpensive headshot provider is a working photographer of some description, and they all want to make a living! There are certainly cheaper rates delivered by some photographers than others; and a cheap rate is not always indicative of a drop in quality or a lack of experience, particularly because some great photographers offer cheaper packages in the hope of attracting maximum custom, so they feel they can afford to give you, say, £250 worth of shoot for £100 fee, which is always worth seeking out. But looking for a photographer who works for FREE?

Your best bet, if you really wish to try and spend no money at all on shots, is to try and track down a photographer who is in the formative stages of their career, and hoping to build a portfolio of work, in order that they can then go on to attract further custom, and appear in 'Contacts', on their website etc. as a serious professional. Because they have not yet set up in business properly, and know that their wares may not, therefore, always be trusted, they can offer the 'you scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours' option of allowing you a free shoot on condition they can use good shots of you for the sake of their own advertising. I have certainly come across this option before, though I don't know any leads specifically - your best bet may be to keep an eye on casting sites, like this one or Shooting People, where photographers of this sort advertise, and try and get in on a shoot for them. There are probably also photography directories of aspiring photographic artists online, and if you search through those, you may find some photographers who are still eager to bring in outside talent for free for the sake of generating portfolio work, although you'll have to a) search around and b) discover people who, however great their photographic talents, don't specialise in headshot work.

Certainly, you will not find any photographer in 'Contacts' who doesn't charge, and I wouldn't think any you could source from this site directory wouldn't charge, either - with that said, have you looked through the whole of CCP'S photographer directory to see if anyone is offering to work for free?

	Reply #2
Posted : 22/01/10
Jonathan.Goodwin 254 posts last on: 23/01/12 send private reply	Laura! You could do worse than contact Graeme Braidwood. Run a Google on him. He is rather good.

	Reply #3
Posted : 22/01/10
Geraldine.Allen 141 posts last on: 07/02/12 send private reply	Maybe get a photographer boyfriend...

	Reply #4
Posted : 22/01/10
Jonathan.Goodwin 254 posts last on: 23/01/12 send private reply	Snap him up, as they say.

	Reply #5
Posted : 23/01/10
helengrady 167 posts last on: 05/02/12 send private reply	When I first put my toes in to the big pond of professional work I contacted photography students at colleges (you could also consider looking at photography evening classes). I found a student who was happy to provide headshots for nothing. He was lovely, but the photographs were not (despite me thinking they were fine at the time). There is a reason why you pay to get good headshots (and I do agree that lower prices don't always mean a lower quality of work, so it makes sense to look around). The job just isn't as easy as it looks. A casting photograph has very specific requirements which less experienced photographers may not understand. Your headshot is so important (perhaps the single most important tool in your marketing toolbox) that you can't really afford to get it wrong - which probably does mean paying to get it right!

Reply #5

Posted : 23/01/10

helengrady
167 posts
last on: 05/02/12
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When I first put my toes in to the big pond of professional work I contacted photography students at colleges (you could also consider looking at photography evening classes). I found a student who was happy to provide headshots for nothing. He was lovely, but the photographs were not (despite me thinking they were fine at the time).

There is a reason why you pay to get good headshots (and I do agree that lower prices don't always mean a lower quality of work, so it makes sense to look around). The job just isn't as easy as it looks. A casting photograph has very specific requirements which less experienced photographers may not understand.

Your headshot is so important (perhaps the single most important tool in your marketing toolbox) that you can't really afford to get it wrong - which probably does mean paying to get it right!

	Reply #6
Posted : 24/01/10
leeravitz 1544 posts last on: 33 min send private reply	What Helen says is, I suspect, true - the risk of working with student photographers is that they will not yet know their trade, and consequently may not be able to produce the sort of headshots that can actually generate you work (with established professionals of years' worth of experience, you may suffer from an opposite syndrome - which is that they have done so many headshot sessions for so many actors over the years that their 'house style' comes out looking a little 'generic' - I personally like a photographer to be a little off-beat in their shot choices - but you will be guaranteed a sense that the photographer knows what they are doing, at least). Having said that, I wasn't necessarily advocating seeking out photography students, so much as aspirant headshot photographers who have yet to establish a portfolio. They will be setting up to take headshots specifically - but may, I grant you, be hard to pin down.

Reply #6

Posted : 24/01/10

leeravitz
1544 posts
last on: 33 min
send private reply

What Helen says is, I suspect, true - the risk of working with student photographers is that they will not yet know their trade, and consequently may not be able to produce the sort of headshots that can actually generate you work (with established professionals of years' worth of experience, you may suffer from an opposite syndrome - which is that they have done so many headshot sessions for so many actors over the years that their 'house style' comes out looking a little 'generic' - I personally like a photographer to be a little off-beat in their shot choices - but you will be guaranteed a sense that the photographer knows what they are doing, at least).

Having said that, I wasn't necessarily advocating seeking out photography students, so much as aspirant headshot photographers who have yet to establish a portfolio. They *will* be setting up to take headshots specifically - but may, I grant you, be hard to pin down.

	Reply #7
Posted : 24/01/10
Fuzz 628 posts last on: 08/02/12 send private reply	In the beginning I tried very hard to take short cuts with the head shot. And to sum it all up, it doesn't work. The headshot is your most powerful tool and most vital investment. 'Did the acting career take off without a proper headshot?' NO. 'Did things change after I got it done professionally?' YOU BET!

	Reply #8
Posted : 24/01/10
Talitha.Lindo 2 posts last on: 08/02/12 send private reply	Yes I do www.modelmayhem.com find an up and coming photographer who you think is good who will be willing to do a TFP or TFCD shoot with you.

	Reply #9
Posted : 25/01/10
anonymous	I really agree with helen and Fuzz and Co on this one. Pay, pay, pay. Painful but worth saving for. As Helen says, it's what gets (or doesn't get) you to a casting.

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