Your camera takes really nice pictures!
The dreaded 6 words. For every photographer.
Sure, it is nice to have great equipment. I can’t lie about that. I love each of my lenses like a child. Just ask my human children.
But clearly it is not just about the equipment.
Look at the two headshot photos below:
Clearly one was taken by an amateur and the other by a professional. Must be the equipment, right?
What might surprise you is that:
IT IS THE SAME EQUIPMENT.
SAME MODEL.
Hell, it is even the same headshot photographer.
So why are they so different??
This is my ode to education.
Over a year ago, I made the decision to learn as much as I could about digital photography and to start a business. I have loved photography as an art form my whole life and studied extensively in the days of film. But digital was a new beast for me. And it scared me.
And so began my midlife crisis.
That first photo (which at the time I was ridiculously proud of but now makes me cringe) was inspired by my Google search for headshots. My daughter needed headshots so I looked up what they were.
Frankly, I was disappointed by what I saw. Soulless, dull, uninspired heads. (Try it! Google headshots and click on images and tell me you don’t see it!). But then, there was one that jumped out at me.
I clicked it.
This is how I found Peter Hurley.
Peter is now a rock star in the photography world. But at the time, he was just starting on this journey.
A few months later, I looked him up again. I saw he was offering an online course. I hesitated. Thought I couldn’t afford it.
But the thought was keeping me up at night.
Maybe it was time for me to pursue this dream?
So I jumped in and learned everything there was to know about how to create the very best headshots. The rest is history.
Peter Hurley changed my relationship with the camera.
He changed my relationship with my subjects.
And he changed how I looked at myself.
So now, when I look at that after picture, I see the work of a professional headshot photographer.
Thank you Peter.
By Anita Watkins
