I Need a What?

Being in the graphic design field, I had the good fortune to have a pretty cool head shot done by a vendor a few years ago. Pretty cool for a moody artist type. I was younger. Not much grey in the hair. I wasn’t wearing my glasses. It had drama and depth and black. Lots of black. And, it looked like this:

I always loved this shot. It showed the person I always wanted to be as an artist. What it didn’t show, was me. The approachable, funny (I think I am) father, who likes to spend time with his kids and smiles at the drop of a hat. So, when I started discussing publicity photos with my publisher, it was no surprise when she asked, “Are you sure you want to use the photo?”

I got it. It’s not a bad shot. It just isn’t a great shot. I needed something that showed more of my personality. Something with wow, and perhaps jazz hands. OK, maybe not jazz hands, but with the idea of jazz hands. I enlisted some help. I have a friend who is an awesome photographer, and he agreed to take some shots of me. So, I spent the day in New York, having a photographer take pictures of me. It was surreal.

Why? Well, a couple of reasons. When you have a photographer and his assistant follow you around taking pictures of you, you tend to attract attention. As The Wife Person will tell you, I’m pretty good with attention, but this was a lot of attention. Today was 82 degrees and sunny in NYC. There were tourists everywhere. And, apparently, tourists think anyone in NYC who has their own photographer is a celebrity. This makes it difficult to take pictures, as people keep wandering through, trying to figure out who the long haired guy getting his picture taken is.

The second reason it was surreal is because this is the first time it’s really sunk in that I have a book. I mean, I had a photographer taking pictures of me for my book. The more I think about it, the stranger it seems. I understand that this might not seem all that strange to many people, but 10 years ago, I never would have dreamed that I would be here.

And, it’s pretty cool. I am told, that we got some great shots. Until I get a look at the final shots, I can only offer this pic I snapped with my phone. I’m just glad that Steffen is a much better photographer than me. I just hope he can airbrush all that grey out of my hair.