The Writer’s Headshot

Last night I got an email from a magazine editor I’ve been working for. He had a few minor changes to clear with me on an article I wrote, and asked (I’ll admit, not for the first time) that I send a head shot.

My writer head shot is something I’ve been avoiding for a long time, as you can probably tell by the photo I used for my web page. It was intended to be a placeholder, but kind of settled into permanent.

I know I need a good photo of me – for my website, for bylines, for (hopefully someday soon) book covers. I know this. Every professional I’ve spoken to about it says I need a good, professionally taken head shot. I just don’t know where to start.

If my head shot could appear magically before me, I would look interesting, charming, not at all like a boring book worm, and not super made up, just simply stunning, maybe even radiant. And therein lies another problem. I’m six months pregnant. Right now I feel anything but radiant.

It’s not that I don’t like the way I look with this extra weight. In fact, I kind of enjoy how it softens my features a bit, but this is not the “normal” me. If I’m going to spend some cash on a photo that will more or less brand me for the coming few years, I want it to look like the normal me. Then again, that version of me is kind of on hiatus for a while (what with three more months of pregnancy and then the time it will take to get the weight off again).

I guess I should get over the vanity, suck it up and go have a photo taken. It’s well past time.

Anyone know of any good photographers in LA?