Scott Carter Cooper

The End of a Year

2011-12-31T19:42:00.000-08:00

Thank God 2011 is coming to a close. I'm chalking it up to a lost year. Something tells me that the years are just going to start moving faster.

Photography suffered in favor of writing and job searching. I landed a job with some people I think are amazing, and I got some major interest in The Void Dance, so all productive. But I did manage some shots. I'm finding that I'm attracted to the less planned shots these days. I'm liking the surprises, the less traditionally perfect. I like trying to find the beauty in the imperfections.

I don't really believe too much in New Year's Resolutions, but I'm thinking that I'm ready for a big year. I've kind of earned it. I'm just going to keep following my creative impulses and moving forward. Can any of us do any better?

Doing More With Less

2011-08-20T18:52:00.000-07:00

A number of years ago I worked for a consulting firm. In a lot of ways it was a great gig, but the thing that drove me absolutely ape-shit nuts was that it seemed to be driven by buzzwords and cliches. At the time I could not go into a meeting without someone tossing out the phrase "value added" at least once. It made me insane.

To me, if you're in a relationship of any kind, but especially one in which money is changing hands, it should be a given that the person receiving the cash would instinctively, reflexively want to add value to the transaction. Even the guy at the register taking your five spot for that whipped cafe blah-blah-blah is responsible for adding value to the transaction by being courteous, efficient, and not fucking up the order. And the more dollars that are going into that person's hands, the greater his responsibility to find ways of adding value to the transaction. So, to be sitting in a room full of people who earned salaries far greater than the coffee guy on the corner all having revelatory orgasms over the value added concept was more than I could stand. I made a year and a few weeks, but then I was done.

I'm reading a book for my new job, "Delivering Happiness." It's the story of Zappos, the Internet sensation that built a business from nothing to a billion dollar empire in the matter of a few short years. It's an easy read, and I'm enjoying it.

I just finished the section on Zappos's core values. For the uninitiated, "core values" is a term usually tossed between a company's marketing and HR departments that indicates someone thought of a list of ethical priorities and wrote them down. "This is what we stand for!" The list is printed on the web site, some recruiting materials, and flashed in front of some potential investors, and promptly forgotten the minute someone changes the subject to sales, the bottom line, or lunch.

Zappos, however is unique in that it apparently practices what it preaches, and aligns its business practices, including hiring, with its core values. In providing examples of this, an employee wrote a story of how she did more with less. She had begun working with Zappos as a temporary employee shortly before the holiday season. It was her first Christmas away from home and family, and she had no money. Her Christmas feast consisted of two yams that she somehow managed to bake and flavor with freeze-dried marshmallows she picked out of a package of instant cocoa mix. She describes the instance has one of her happiest memories.

Over the years I've worked in various companies and theatre groups who have talked about doing more with less. For me it always translated in working harder for the same results you would achieve with greater resources. Today, however, I finally got the meaning of that phrase. It's not about stretching every dollar beyond it's elasticity. Doing more with less means infusing the resources you have with greater significance. It means taking care with your resources, not necessarily being miserly, but being respectful and creative with those resources. It means that the resources you have don't necessarily have to stretch further or last longer. It means that they have to mean more. The utilization of those resources have to be more deliberate, and that we must have a greater appreciation an respect for the results achieved.

Doing more with less is something I think everyone should consider.

Simplicity

2011-08-13T07:58:00.000-07:00

I admit that I have a problem. I'm not satisfied unless things are complicated. And starting with my photography, the fussier the better for me. It took me a couple of years to realize that more isn't necessarily better.

Last week I did several shoots, and started with a classic beauty shoot. Laura, the model needed an editorial make-up shoot for her portfolio and I was happy to help her out. The make-up was all about vivid colors, but we needed a pop. I have miles of swatches, so we wrapped her in these an shot against a black background and white background.

There is a fair amount of post in this shot, but I'm very happy with it because unless I told you, you would never know.

This could easily turn out to be one of my favorite shots of the summer.

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2011-07-26T18:00:00.000-07:00

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Where It All Began

2011-07-16T16:51:00.000-07:00

Let we forget how all this madness started, I thought it appropriate to post my latest headshot, just to demonstrate, 1) I'm still plugging along at the photography, 2) I might actually be getting kind of good at this, if I do say so myself.

It's been five years ago now that I was sitting in a cafe and trying to imagine what the next step on my life might be. At that time I was working on my masters degree in writing and working in a sports marketing firm that was struggling. No one at the firm was happy, and it was clear that the clock was ticking. As luck would have it, the firm lasted for another long, painful year. More than once I got angry at myself because I had taken a job for the money, and one that did not allow me to pursue my passions. So, knowing that at some point the end would come, I sat down with a list of dream jobs, one of which was photographer. I also had playwright, neurosurgeon, and astronaut on the list. Playwright was a given, but I just felt like I couldn't let life pass me by without also taking a stab at photography.

When the end of the marketing firm finally did come, I was fortunate enough to receive a nice little severance package. So I went to the Barnes and Noble in Evanston, sat down in their photography section and picked out the most comprehensive book on photography I could find. Pennies were precious, and the book I found cost fifty dollars, but I decided that it was a crucial investment. I told myself that if, when I had finished the book, I was still interested in photography, I would then allow myself to purchase a decent (but affordable!) digital camera. Before I'd finished the end of the book, I knew this was not a waste of my time and within a week I had purchased my first Olympus.

Teaching myself about photography and lighting kept me sane while I was unemployed. While I actually enjoy looking for a job (I know, I'm strange), the steady stream of rejection can really take its toll. Seeing the incremental improvement in my work, was all the validation I needed to tell me that even though there were people who couldn't see what a fantastic employee I might be, I could see that I was smart and talented. (You have to tell yourself these things to keep from taking a sniper rifle to the top of the nearest tower.)

At any rate, I'm quite proud of these achievements. It's all self taught, which makes it all the sweeter.

And an attractive model doesn't hurt.

Busy

2011-07-12T12:35:00.000-07:00

Looking for a full-time job is a full-time job. And there are some good ones out there. There are also some frightening ones. To date, by far, my favorite is the job interview I had two weeks ago.

I was called by an up-and-coming company that is expanding and needs an assistant for the CEO. I spent about fifteen minutes on the phone with their HR person and agreed to come in for an interview. When I arrived, I was asked to wait in the reception area, which is located right outside their main conference room. Their conference room has the thinnest walls known to man, so for twenty minutes I sat and listened to another interview. They were interviewing another candidate for the job I was to be interviewed for. In the conversation I actually heard things like, "All of our employees are about thirty years old, and we're looking for someone who will fit in with that group," and "Sometimes I need to wear a tie and sometimes I don't."

It was clear that this was a job that was probably a little beneath my skill level, but since I was there there was no reason not to go through with the interview. That is until I heard them offer the candidate the job. Since she didn't immediately accept, but asked to have a couple days to think about it, I'm assuming the HR person decided that she should go through with my interview.

My interview lasted about ten minutes. Ten of the longest minutes of my life. But I was fine. And when I got home I sent a little thank you note.

And then I sat down and blogged about it, for all the world to read.

Saturday Safari

2011-06-04T14:56:00.000-07:00

The past several months have been all about computer work. Refining retouching techniques, writing, designing marketing materials. And more so the last two weeks with the news that my job will be coming to an end soon. Resumes and cover letters do not write themselves. I am pleased to report, on that front at least, this past week has been a very good week. I don't want to jinx anything, but let's just say that I'm happy with my progress.

So much so that has been virtually no time to send out resumes. I have a list of twenty five that I need to get out this weekend. But it also felt like I haven't seen the light of day in ages, so I decided to let the resumes wait and to take the old camera out for a spin.

My favorite place in the city is Michigan Avenue. I find it both invigorating and relaxing. It just feels like life with an exclamation point. So, I went to sit at the pumping station and snap shots of whatever happened past. I love this shot for the color.

Note to self: there is more to life than work. Especially when there are red hats to take pictures of!

Analytics

2011-05-27T19:13:00.000-07:00

So I am sending out resumes like a mad man.

A week ago it was announced that my company will be relocating the corporate headquarters to California. They offered to take me along, but I'm a Midwestern boy at heart. I'm just not done in Chicago.

So I'm sending out resumes.

I have always enjoyed looking for a new job. I love getting that first phone call. It's validation. I love hearing about how someone sees my skills benefiting their organizations. Because I have never been about building a career and more about collecting experiences, I have a very interesting resume. There aren't many like it. In essence, I've done everything.

But with a job search there is also an element of anticipation that can be exhausting. With the ability to do a lot of different things comes the blessing/curse that my resume almost fits a lot of jobs, but doesn't exactly fit many. It takes a smart, creative hiring manager to look at my resume and see the benefits. Sadly, there aren't a lot of smart hiring managers out there. That's OK. I've worked for not-smart managers before. It's not fun.

Still, the anticipation can be brutal. But now, at least there is something of a gauge that gives me an indication of how my resumes might be received. Something more than the ringing of the phone.

Several weeks ago I launched my new website, with a brand new URL. The only way someone is going to find it is if I've told them about it, or if they do a search for my entire name. When I launched it, I also attached some analytics tags to it. Now I can see how much activity my site is receiving and where it's coming from. Watching the increase in activity is telling me that my resume is being actively reviewed. And the amount of time spent on the site gives me an indication as to how much interest a single visitor might have.

But I already knew that my resume was being positively received. In a week, I received five calls. That feels really good. It means that I have the luxury to be selective. I like that. But I also like knowing that even if someone isn't calling, they were interested enough to take a look at the website. Even more excited if they've stopped by the blog!

If you're a potential employer reading this: Pick up the phone! I'd love to talk to you.

Progress

2011-05-16T04:31:00.000-07:00

I find that the more I know how to do, the more I want to do.

This shot is the first of the series. The idea was to mock up a Calvin Klein campaign, making $200 look like $30,000. Or how ever much is spent on a Calvin Klein campaign. In the imagining of this project, I was thinking that Calvin Klein was desperately tired of the black and white, model in a pair of briefs against a gray background and begged me (in my fantasy there are tears) to come up with something fresh.

It was cold at the lake. And the t-shirts would not cooperate and kept falling over the waistbands. This is an image that would definitely have to rely on text. Still, the color of the waistbands pop and draw the focus in the image.

The trick was getting a decent shot of the two models in the same frame. Ultimately this shot is pieced together from four different frames: the base, an addition on the left side of the frame, a change in the blond model's head position, and a recreation of the blue waistband.

Then there are a few other editing tricks that I'll leave to you to find. I can't give everything away.

A couple of years ago, when I did a shoot at the same location, I wouldn't have been able to do any of the things that I did in this shot. I had no clue and could barely press the button on the camera. Now, I know what I need, what I can afford, and where I can compensate with computer skills.

Professionalism

2011-05-08T07:12:00.000-07:00

How many models does it take to have a successful photo shoot? Three. That's why you book five and thank God when two show up.

For the last few months all of my professional development has been focused on the digital side -- especially editing. That means things like the actual taking of pictures -- not to mention writing -- have all fallen by the wayside. As a result, a few weeks ago I felt like my portfolio was woefully outdated and in need of fresh material. Plus, in January I'd purchased a new strobe and hadn't even used it.

So, I trotted over to Model Mayhem and posted a notice. Developing a photo portfolio on a budget is a challenge. Trying to make two hundred dollars look like a thirty thousand dollar campaign isn't easy, and I won't pretend that I come even close. That said, for this project I felt like I needed to devote the budget to the talent and not the equipment.

I received about a dozen responses, but nothing that I was looking for. Great guys, I'm sure, but not underwear model material. Why male underwear models? Inexpensive wardrobe, no hair or make-up. So I sent out personal invitations. I was surprised at the number of models who actually responded and were interested. That was a good sign.

But, male models tend to be less reliable. I wanted three models. In my experience when booking multiple models, about half show up. It doesn't seem to matter whether there is pay involved or not. Last year I did a shoot and I wanted six models. I booked fifteen. Five showed up on time and the sixth arrived an hour late. Since I was paying these guys with copies of the photos, I incorporated the sixth into the mix. I was happy with the shoot.

This time around I was paying. Not a lot, but I was organized and knew that I could knock the photos out quickly. I figured my budget could handle five models if all showed up, but planned on three.

I got two on time. And fortunately they were the two with the strongest portfolios. We knocked the shots out and I'm very pleased with their work.

Now to be fair, the third did show up. An hour late. Since all of the group shots were done, I sent him away. Number four sent me an e-mail at midnight the night before the shoot saying he didn't realize how far he'd have to travel and wouldn't make it.

Number five? Nothing.

So, in the grand scheme of things, it actually worked out pretty well. Although I got fewer than half, at least four responded in some way. Usually half just disappear. Progress.

Fortunately it seems that professionalism and talent go hand in hand.

One Flea Spare

2011-04-23T18:13:00.000-07:00

Have you seen One Flea Spare yet? It's a must see at The Greenhouse.

Re-titled

2011-04-16T11:41:00.000-07:00

So, we're evolving away from the Archetype Images theme. As my interests and skills grow, I think it's important that I follow the industry standard and use my name as a brand. I'm not thrilled about it, but it does seem to be the only way to establish myself as an artistic entity. So, I've retitled the blog. Now I just have to figure out how to link the blog to the new website.

I still have a lot of faith in the archetype concept. I think that ultimately that's what every visual artist is working toward -- capturing an archetype image. Still, such toney conceptual thinking isn't putting much coin into my pocket. Time to step up my game.

Constraints

2011-04-12T12:22:00.001-07:00

I'm finding that working with constraints can be liberating. Certain decisions are simply out of the question, requiring more patience and creativity. Some of the best art is the product of constraints.

I Am Not An Artist

2011-03-30T05:19:00.000-07:00

The past few weeks have been dedicated to expanding my Photoshop knowledge. To that end I've been studying several different books to beef up my abilities. Much, much to learn. Above is an assignment out of one of those books that took me about a week to complete. A real artist probably could have done it in an hour. Still, I got a lot out of the exercise. I am now on the third text that exceeds five hundred pages. I'm on page forty to be precise. And the clock is ticking loudly on the second play that I promised to have drafted by Memorial Day.

What's a camera?

Elizabeth Taylor

2011-03-24T02:27:00.000-07:00

I've never been one to publicly mourn the passing of a celebrity. That said, Elizabeth Taylor died yesterday and attention must be paid.

I can't say that I held her in much regard as an actress. She was all right, but no Davis or Hepburn, or even Monroe. With the exception of Virginia Woolf I always found her performances a little too self aware. My favorite performance is as Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Without a doubt a flawed performance, but still strong and she more than holds her own with Newman and Ives.

Her beauty is remarkable, but there have been others and will be more. Noting a woman because of her looks is demeaning. Elizabeth Taylor was so much more.

Elizabeth Taylor embodies power and strength. The Elizabeth Taylor story is one of incredible success. A product of the Hollywood studio system, she managed to bridge the gap from glamorous indentured servant to media tycoon. In a way that Marilyn Monroe never did, Elizabeth Taylor harnessed the energy of the public's desire for her and turned it into immeasurable power. She did it at a time that was less permissive in general and downright oppressive for women. Several times during her life she tried to sublimate her power in favor of conforming to societal norms for women, and always with disastrous results. But in her fifties she embraced, harnessed, and used her power, first by exploding her corporate presence and then directing her energies into philanthropy. And she did it as a lady. Without her there could be no Madonna or Hillary Rodham Clinton. Or Sarah Palin.

Elizabeth Taylor's strength is best told in the story of AIDS. In the 1980's, when no one -- no one -- was addressing the issue, Elizabeth Taylor stood up and dared to speak its name. She went before Congress and demanded funds for research, and when she found the official world response lacking she forged ahead and raised the funds for research herself. Long before there were red ribbons and walkathons and bikeathons, there was Elizabeth Taylor.

But on an even subtler level Elizabeth Taylor blazed the way for the general public to accepting the LGBT community. When Rock Hudson announced that he had AIDS, the real shock to American culture wasn't that he was sick and dying. It was that he was gay. Elizabeth Taylor didn't publicly embrace her friend in a demonstration of acceptance of his sexuality. By embracing her friend in response to his ailment, she helped the world set aside its petty labelizing and showed the world what was truly important. Love.

Elizabeth Taylor led by example in so many, many ways. We didn't just lose a celebrity, or an icon. We lost a great American.

Investment

2011-03-02T18:45:00.000-08:00

So the past month has been all about studying Photoshop. Exhausting. But much, much progress. And a new light! My first strobe, with a second on the way. The one I want is oh-so expensive, but is the workhorse that I read I need. Or I could go with a less expensive model and scrape by. Nope! I'm buying the good piece of equipment. Even if I have to wait a few more weeks to make it happen. Major investment, but in the end so worth it.

And this weekend, regardless of the weather, I will be making my first photo safari of the year. It's time to get my butt in gear and expand that portfolio. It seems like for every photo I put in, I pull out two. The eye is developing faster than the output.

And my play is languishing! But it's in there, just waiting for me to sit down and get to work.

Why are there only twenty-four hours in a day?

Growth and Evolution

2011-02-05T06:41:00.000-08:00

I'm not a writer. I'm not a photographer. I'm a portfolio updater.

Rejection

2011-02-01T07:32:00.000-08:00

My play received its first rejection. In a way that was kind of comforting. Rejection is part of the process, and it might mean the end of the road for this project at this location, in the overall scheme of things it means that I'm still participating. I got a standard electronic rejection instead of silence! Although it was from a super-major theatre in New York where I had less than a one percent chance of even being read, let alone produced, there was still a bit of a sting to the form e-mail telling me that they were not interested. It may have even been automatically generated without anyone so much as opening my submission.

Still, it's tangible proof that I'm participating -- and that feels good.

Salvage

2011-01-23T07:05:00.000-08:00

I am cyclical. By that I mean that I immerse myself in something until I have absorbed as much as I can possibly hold...and then I'm done for a while. It's true with just about everything in my life, from writing to photography to pizza. Can't get enough...and then I'm done.

The photo above was taken in a period when I should have stopped. What you see is not what came out of the camera. I was uninspired. The lighting was uninspired. The model was uninspired. It was snowing outside and the only thing I really wanted to do was curl up on the couch and watch endless episodes of "Law & Order." Still, I felt like I needed to get some work done, so I hired a model and came up with an idea that simply did not pan out.

Still, I didn't destroy the files. I new that there was something there, and that in time I'd figure it out. Never say never is my motto.

And in the past year I've been studying magazines. In particular Vogue and Vanity Fair. I'm on a five-year mission to shoot the cover of Vanity Fair, and I have about three years and nine months left. That clock ticks louder every day. And it was in response to that clock that I hired a model and hung a backdrop. And then buried myself in other photographers' work for about a year.

I can't remember the layout, but it was in Vogue, and the image was similar to the above. Suddenly it became clear to me that photography did not need to be crisp and clean all the time. That sometimes, focus can and should be manipulated.

And I've decided that is a great philosophy to apply to life. Some things need examination and reflection. And some do not. And sometimes you just need to put things in a drawer and let them mature.

The more I look at this photo, the more I love it. It represents more to me than a model in a bad white jacket. It demonstrates much, much more to me than that.

It's all about focus. And timing. And patience.

The Return of the AWOL Photographer

2011-01-20T03:51:00.000-08:00

Oh, gentle reader, how you must feel neglected. And rightfully so. But do not think that just because I've been neglectful of you that I've been ignoring my crafts. Not true! Much has been going on!

Above, you see a headshot for Lars. Lars, along with a group of actors from Norway, came to study theatre in Chicago. The long and the short of their visit is that they each fell in love with Chicago and the theatre scene. And before they returned to Norway for the holidays and then to Berlin for more study, they contacted me to do their headshots. These were my kind of actors.

Of course the industry is quite a bit different in Norway than it is in the United States. Still these brash young actors weren't afraid to try something different in the way of headshots. Because we were in Chicago, we did the classic natural light mugshot that is required, but we also were able to do something that was representative of who each actor is an artist. Lars wanted something that was suitable for his music career as well.

A bit extreme? Perhaps. But for those actors who are wanting to work for experimental storefront theatre in Chicago, which headshot is going to get the director to flip it over and give the resume a look? This, or the natural light mugshot?

Submissions

2010-10-04T03:42:00.001-07:00

I've been sending my stuff out for a while. Short stories, photos. Back in the day, as they say, I'd send out headshots and resumes. It's part of the gig.

But, back in the day, my stuff went into the mailbox on Monday and by Wednesday I'd be huddled by the phone waiting for the offers to come in. By the following Monday I'd be contemplating an MBA and wondering if I wouldn't be better off moving back to Des Moines. Sometimes silence is more brutal than rejection. At least with a rejection, there's an acknowledgement.

It's like auditioning. You can spend weeks putting together a repertoire of audition pieces, honing them down to ninety seconds and developing a matrix of combinations so that no matter what the audition situation you're prepared, and then spend months wondering why you're not being called back.

Then I went into human resources and spent weeks sifting through resumes and realized, more often than not, nine times out of ten, silence has nothing to do with the resume and everything to do with the target. If the target is very specific, the resume has to be too. If the target is very specific, then the headshot has to be as well. If the target is very specific, then the script/short story/novel must be as well.

Generalities will get you sent to the 'no' pile. But if your resume/headshot/script/short story/novel doesn't hit the target, it's not because it's not good. It's not because it's not specific. It just simply does not hit the mark. They wanted steak and you're offering sushi. Next.

It took a long time to figure this out, but when I was an actor my job wasn't to be a star. My job wasn't even to work in a small, non-Equity storefront production of Hamlet to be seen by six people. My job was to audition. That was the work. And over the years I found enjoyment and satisfaction in simply auditioning. The preparation and the two minutes I had in front of casting staff was the sum total of the work. And I learned to love it.

I'd like to tell you that once I released all expectations of the audition I was cast more frequently. I wasn't. But I was less frustrated. I enjoyed being an actor more.

Now that I'm submitting my writing, it's the same thing. The job is the creation. The job is keeping organized and sending my stuff out. That is the work. The rest is whipped cream on the sundae. And pay is the cherry on top.

Of course, I can't deny that the goal was, is, and always will be not getting the cherry on top of the sundae, but landing in the bowl where that cherry came from. But that's a whole other post.

The Reading

2010-09-25T16:07:00.001-07:00

It has been at least a decade since I've attended a play reading. And today a group of actors got together to read a play. A play that I had written.

Oftentimes I have emotions that I don't know I'm having, but I usually have a sense that something is going on when I can't sleep. Last night I couldn't sleep. I drifted off sometime around five in the morning and tossed and turned until nearly eight. Then I got up and raced around the house, trying to get ready for everyone who was arriving. Arriving to read my play.

I have been working on this script off and on for the better part of a year. Sometimes getting nothing more than three or four lines of dialogue down at a time. The bulk of the work happened over the summer, in July and August. In the middle of August I began to feel my energy wane and I knew I needed a deadline. I set a reading date and began to think of actors I wanted to read to me.

I was lucky. With only one exception, I got the initial actors I asked to read. And in the one case where I was turned down, the actor had been given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that nothing could interrupt, and my second choice wasn't really settling for a second choice at all. She was just someone different, who did a brilliant job handling some of the most difficult material in the script. But having the six actors agree to read these roles crystallized things for me. One character made a radical transformation -- for the better -- simply because I had a face for the character. And having six very talented and smart actors agreeing to read my script really required me to turn out my best effort. I've written a number of small pieces, but this is the first time I've written something that I really feel proud of. There is almost nothing of my personal story in this play, and yet hearing it today I could suddenly see myself all over it.

As the cast began to read, I was nervous. It took every ounce of control I had not to ask them to stop, thank them for coming and tear up each copy of the script. I heard very little of the first two pages because I kept thinking to myself, "Who do you think you are? You have no business telling a story." Then practicality kicked in and I began to time the script. I had to trust that the actors could carry it.

The first ten pages, which probably accounts for the first fifteen minutes, I decided were terrible as they were being read. It wasn't the actors' fault. They had brittle dialogue in an overly dramatic story. It creaked with exposition. I could hear clunker lines that didn't fit. There were phrases that were painfully over-written and the first half is riddled with redundancies.

And then one of the actors read a line, and it was right. There was emotion connected to it. And not just an actor indicating an emotion that she felt should be part of the line. It was the bud of an actual emotion. And suddenly actors who had never met before today connected and I could see the relationship. And they laughed. The actors laughed where I intended laughs and found laughs that I didn't know were there.

And when we finished, I fed them. And then we spent more than an hour talking about the play. And I listened. I asked a few questions. I'm grateful that I didn't have to explain too much, but these smart, talented actors confirmed my own opinions on a lot of points, pointed out a couple of crucial areas that need attention, and they talked like actors. I loved it.

Today was one of the best days of the year, and I have to thank Julia Maish, Nina O'Keefe, Sally Eames, Chad Ramsey, Shaun Baer, and Nat Swift for working for the price of a taco and providing me the input I needed to finish this play. I wish I had the opportunity to work with these actors to put this play up on the stage. It can never happen. Lives and professional obligations simply will never allow me to work with this collection of actors on this script, but I am incredibly grateful that I got to work with them for an afternoon. Incredibly grateful.

The finish line isn't nearly as far away as I feared it might be, and not as close as I'd like. But now I am ready for the hard work. And because of today I now feel like I have the right to tell this story.

The Creative Process

2010-09-18T07:57:00.001-07:00

Right now, it's all about the words for me. Except for paying gigs, I haven't touched my camera in weeks, but I find I'm not thinking in images right now. I'm thinking in words and concepts. I'm hoping that one cycle informs the other. I think that it will.

The Void Dance is resting right now. The latest draft was finished about two weeks ago and I have eight copies printed, ready for the reading next Saturday. I have sworn not to touch it until I hear it. I'm very lucky that I have six very smart, talented actors coming over to read this script to me. They've had electronic copies for about two weeks and I've not heard a word from any of them. I'm hoping that doesn't mean they're all trying to figure out graceful ways to back out. Or that they've taken one look at the script and then immediately went blind from the horror I've perpetrated on the page. It probably just means that none of them have read it yet.

But if all goes well, there won't be too much revision to the structure of the play and if there is anything major that needs to be done, it's simply style and word choice. I know there are two major chunks that I want to take a particular look at once the reading is over.

So far one person has read it and provided sparse, stoic feedback. "Good play. Strong characters." And she identified one of the sections I also feel needs attention. But she's insanely busy and I'm taking the fact that she started it, finished it, and was able to provide four words of comment as a good thing. I hope it's a good thing. I want this script to be better than good.

So, to distract myself I've started on another script. Eleven characters. While it is in no way biographical, details from my past are informing how it's flowing. Void had a very clear structure even before I started writing. This one...not so much. I'm sort of feeling very Kaufman and Hart, but I don't think that a modern, three-hour comedy will sell today. Still keeping the Chicago non-Equity theatre in mind, so for me it's critical that all eleven characters are compelling and dynamic so that good actors will want to play them. Technical requirements to a minimum. Focus on the text and the actor -- the cheapest commodities in Chicago Theatre.

But I can begin to feel the pull back to the camera. I have two projects cued up, and I'd like to get them both shot, if not edited, before the end of November. The end of November feels both a life time and twenty minutes away.

OK. Back to work.

Update

2010-08-27T04:52:00.000-07:00

Don't you hate people who neglect their blogs? I mean, what's the point of getting all emotionally invested in a blog only to have the writer blissfully ignore you? Doesn't the writer understand that you have needs?

Well, here's the deal: For the past few months I've been wearing my playwrighting hat, almost to the exclusion of everything else. I'm like that four-year-old who will only wear his Elmo t-shirt. Only the Elmo t-shirt. I WANT MY ELMO T-SHIRT!!! Only right now it's with my play.

I don't dare share any real details about the play at this point because it's at the stage where I'm beginning to ask myself what right I have to ever think I have the intellect or authority to create a play. Who am I to take up the work of Williams and Shakespeare?

But then when I either slip out (or into, depending on your point of view) madness and get back to work.

It seems to be going well. There is never a question of what needs to be done, and always a question of how to do it. But all of the characters have been named, which is an epic event for me because that means they can finally start to take ownership of the play. I can tell you that there are six characters. Three of them have made radical transformations since the beginning of this process, which I think is good. The story has been fully told - all of the dramatic beats are in place, and now I'm working backwards to make sure that the high points for each of the characters is in place and to make sure there is a logic to the flow. Then the next step is to go through the text as each character and make sure there is an inner logic for each. For me the final step will be to polish the language, because right now all of the characters sound like me. That's the part the frightens me the most because of the six characters, only two have distinct voices right now. And the character I believe to be the most difficult to play is also proving to be the most difficult to write.

Oh, and just between us -- as a little reward for your attentiveness and loyalty -- I'll announce the title here.

The Void Dance.

But that's all you get. That will have to hold you until after the first reading, which with any luck I'll have in September.

But until that time, I'm not likely to take off my playwrighting Elmo t-shirt and put on my photographer equivalent.

More Inspiration

2010-07-06T11:17:00.000-07:00

The other day I got on my bike and rode along the lake. It could not have been more perfect. I had a chicken lunch in my backpack and my old camera with me. Recently I read about an exercise of limiting yourself to thirty-six frames when shooting. With digital cameras, it is no longer necessary to take time framing a shot. You can just snap away and hope for the best. I want to be better than that.

This shot is in no way a great work of art. Still, this girl is inspiring. In spite of all of the obvious challenges she faces, the least of which is a broken arm, she was out on the court waiting for a pick up game. Eventually a couple of kids came along. While they wouldn't play an actual game with her, they did shoot hoops. And she held her own against them.

I don't know who she is, but I love her. An inspiration.

Consistency

2010-06-24T03:51:00.001-07:00

No matter what new projects I take on, either as a photographer or a writer, at heart I am still an actor. Every now and then I miss different aspects of acting. Toward the end of my career I loved auditioning. I loved the preparation. I loved the hunt for new projects. I loved the competitive aspect of the audition. And I loved landing a role.

I liked rehearsals, if I was working with good actors and directors.

I hated tech week.

And I came to dread performances.

I hated tech weeks in non-Equity theatre because I found that many designers did their designing during tech week. I hated standing around on stage while a sound designer bumped up the level of a cue half a notch...and then down a notch...then up a notch. It drove me insane while lighting designers hung lights and strung cable while flipping through a script trying to decide the placement and length of a fade.

But my biggest problem while acting in non-Equity theatre was the unreliability of other actors. And in my career I developed a sense for who would be be successful and who wouldn't simply by the level of preparation and commitment. I have yet to flip on a television and see an actor I've known and worked with and wonder how that person got where he or she was. They aren't always the most talented. They aren't always the nicest. But without exception they were the most reliable.

By reliable I mean more than just being able to count on them to show up knowing their lines. More than just their ability to take direction. I mean that they were consistent. They stuck to their agenda. They knew who they were, where they fit in the business, where they intended to go and they relentlessly worked on their careers. For them, it was a lifelong commitment, damn the results or consequences.

I don't know if it's still relevant, but when I was acting Michael Shurtleff's Audition was required reading. I first read it in high school and read it cover to cover twice in one week end. I practically memorized that book. In it he has a chapter that I can quote here. "Consistency is the death of good acting."

While I won't argue that statement as it pertains to a performance on stage, it is not a rule by which to build a career. A consistent professional -- actor, writer, or photographer -- is a working actor, writer, or photographer.

After the Fall

2010-05-31T06:22:00.000-07:00

I have never been an Arthur Miller fan. There. I've put the admission into print and probably branded myself as an illiterate rube.

In my junior year in high school, I had secretly made the decision I was going to be a star on Broadway. I knew my parents would never approve, so I tried to be as discrete about the decision as possible. Of course being in virtually every play that held an audition within a thirty mile radius of our home might not qualify as discrete to some, but I liked to think of it as living on the edge.

In preparation for impending stardom, I joined the Fireside Theatre. In the days before the Internet, the only exposure a young boy stranded in the cornfields of Iowa had to "real" theatre was the Sunday New York Times and the Fireside Theatre. Fireside Theatre was a magical oasis of culture, book club that allowed you to join for a penny and provided you with an introductory selection of plays, with the agreement to buy five or six at the regular price the next couple years. I thought I was pretty slick. My five selections were all five thick anthologies. For one penny, I managed to purchase forty classic plays. One of these anthologies being the best works of Arthur Miller. That summer I consumed Miller, Williams, O'Neill, Shakespeare, Shaw, the collected theatrical works of Agatha Christie, and a collection of the great American musicals. Only God knew when I would be summoned to play one of those great roles in a Broadway production on a moment's notice, and I had to be ready.

Williams and Shaw became passions. The musicals were fun. Shakespeare a struggle, and Williams and O'Neill a duty. (The less said about Christie, the better.) I felt like I got The Crucible, if not exactly appreciated it, but the rest of Miller left me cold. There weren't really any playable parts for a seventeen-year-old boy as I couldn't throw a football to save my life. I did a production of The Crucible in college, and felt that my time in Miller's world had been served. Years later I saw a production of All My Sons at the Raven Theatre and because of that brilliant production, deemed the script worthy. But I read After the Fall at age seventeen. I didn't get it, and didn't want to. "Slop," was my insightful summation. And I never looked back.

And then Eclipse added it to their season. Sigh. Last week I reluctantly sat down to slog my way through the script. I don't like to take pictures of scripts I don't know because I want to be able to add value to the process. And even though I was certain I'd much rather be pulling out my own molars, I felt a responsibility to at least be able to say I had looked at the script.

Then something very unexpected happened. Miller began to speak to me. Man to man. His story meant something to a middle-aged man that it couldn't possibly to a teenaged boy. And when Miller began to speak, I began to listen. And as I listened, the remnants of my actor instincts kicked in and I became intrigued by how to play the roles. By the end, I almost felt a yearning to give Miller another try.

The shoot was Saturday. Nothing specific had been planned, but I knew I'd have Quentin, Maggie, Louise, and Holga. However, when I walked into the room and met the actors playing the roles, the image came to me immediately. I knew instantly what I wanted to do, if not exactly how to execute it.

I shot Quentin holding each of the three women separately. Steve Scott, the director, had suggested individual marital portraits of the three couples. While doing three individual portraits would have been easy, I wanted a single image that summed up Quentin's relationships. Nat Swift, who plays Quentin, had a difficult time because he needed to hold the same pose for each woman. The acting and the relationship had to be defined by the poses of the women. I wanted some sort of blending of the images, but wasn't sure how to achieve it without making it look cheesy. The amount of distance between each of the women and Quentin was one of the keys. The difficulty was giving each woman her own space, and yet making the relationship with Quentin seem believable. As with the play, Maggie was the most difficult. She is a victim, and the ultimate victim for me is Faye Wray in King Kong. I asked Nora to strike that pose. It was not an easy pose for her to hold. The image I ended up using blended the body from one shot, the arm from another, and her face from a third.

Once the Maggie shot was done, the others were easy. Louise is pushing away from Quentin and Holga is his equal and accepts him as he is.

The real difficulty came in putting them together in some meaningful way, and the key for me was Nat's eye line. The base photo was Quentin holding Maggie. I had to piece the other two women into it. There was a lot of resizing and rotating the images so that they all looked like they might be originating from the same waist, even though the actresses hadn't posed that way. Had I been thinking, I might have had an easier time if I'd used a tripod. That way my perspective would have been constant and resizing and adjusting perspective for Helga and Louise wouldn't have been so difficult. It took about three hours to get all of the actresses into something of a believable perspective, and then to line their eyes up so that it would look like Quentin could be looking at any one of the three.

Once the photo was done, I was not happy. It looked like a Photoshop mess, even though I intellectually understood what was going on in the picture, it didn't resonate. The images were too realistic. Turning it into a graphic representation was embarrassingly easy. Anyone with a modicum of Photoshop skill will look at it and sneer. I had wanted something very Warhol. But if there is one thing I've learned over the years, it's when to stop. The texture is right. So, it wasn't a complex process. It's effective.

In the end, the image isn't what I had originally expected. But it may be better. Much like Miller's work, it speaks to me in an unexpected way and I'm surprised at how satisfying it really is. It may just be possible that Miller taught me more than I realize.

Blue

2010-05-16T14:47:00.000-07:00

Sometimes my weekend photo safaris don't take me any further than my own dining room.

Congratulations Millie and Chuck

2010-05-06T04:29:00.000-07:00

Millicent Hurley and Chuck Spencer, the off-Loop Lunt and Fontanne were each nominated for Jeffs this morning. Here seen in pre-production shots for The Autumn Garden at Eclipse Theatre.

There aren't two more deserving artists!

Different

2010-05-01T01:58:00.000-07:00

In the age of digital photography it just makes sense to take a new approach to marketing yourself as an actor.

Yes, you need the natural-light shot so that your agent feels like she has a marketable product to sell. Although I'd argue it's less about "capturing your essence" or even having a headshot "that just looks like you," and more about having a familiar product to sell -- but that's a completely different discussion.

Still, there are times when it may be in your best interest to have a marketing image that is unexpected. One that is going to stand out after a long day of auditions.

Scenario One: A casting director is looking for a Macbeth. She goes to her files with the specs for what the producer has requested. Dark. Ominous. Hint of fragility. And what does she have to work with? Five thousand toothsome grins. Now, of course she's a professional, knows her talent pool and can pour through those files and pull the twenty photos and resumes she thinks are most appropriate. But what if you're the perfect Macbeth and the casting director has never met you? She sees your toothsome grin, and if you get pulled from the file, when she has to narrow those twenty photos down to the five she wants to call in for an audition, do you think she's going to choose the toothsome grin she knows, or the one she doesn't?

Scenario Two: You go to a casting call for an up-and-coming company that is doing an edgy production of Macbeth. They are having two or three days of open calls, at the end of which they're going to invite selected actors to a call back. If your audition is on day one, are you so confident that by the end of day three your brilliant audition is going to be remembered clearly? How are you helping that director remember you if you went in with your toothsome, one-shot-suits-all-occasions headshot?

Scenario Three: Everybody and his cat has a website, a visual medium. Why would you waste anyone's time with just the same toothsome grin in three versions. "Here I am smiling at the camera while wearing a green shirt. Here I am smiling at the camera in a red shirt. And here I am NOT smiling and wearing a black shirt. Hire me."

A couple of years ago Jennifer Aniston turned forty years old. Yet, still an attractive vital woman she had semi-nude photos of herself published to remind the industry and the movie-going public that she was still a player in the girlfriend archetype and romantic comedy genre. Doesn't your career deserve the same attention to detail and creativity in marketing that Jennifer Aniston's does?

In the end you have to use the marketing tools that you feel most accurately represents your artistic approach and professional comitment. But it's in your best interest to consider adding an unexpected image to your marketing toolkit to give you an edge in your quest to play Macbeth, and to level the playing field against an actress who is willing to strip to get the part you want.

It's Tuli-tuli-tuli-tuli-Tulip Time!

2010-04-25T17:31:00.000-07:00

I am a geek. I love tulips. Across the street from my home there is a Frank Lloyd Wright house, and the front yard is a field of tulips. Every year I have promised myself that I would go over there and take a ton of pictures, and every year I miss the season.

This year, I made it. And wouldn't you know that my favorite shot from the entire session is the one with the tulip that isn't part of the field! It's there, but I was drawn to that single yellow tulip, like it had escaped.

For me, the season is all down hill from here.

Promotions

2010-04-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

The mailing is an essential part of any professional artist's routine, and building the mailing list is nearly a full-time job.

I launched my Facebook account with an eye toward marketing myself as an artist. I'm rethinking that approach slightly. It's too intimate, too personal and I find that I'm a little annoyed by people who incessantly post invitations to their shows. Once is fine. Twice if it's a long run. But two or three times daily? Relax!

But it's just so easy. And it's free. There's no discussion when it comes to pointing out that most professional artists struggle to make ends meet. For the actor/singer/photographer/writer, free is good.

But the new electronic modes of communication and promotion do not in any way cancel out the value of a good, old-fashioned mailing. In fact, I think they enhance it. A postcard contains the same information, but is less intrusive than a blaring Facebook announcement or an e-mail blast. Because electronic announcements and promotions are so easy, they must be used sparingly. And because there's a cost involved with a postcard, they have a gravitas that an e-mail blast doesn't. True, your postcard or letter might have a shelf life of fifteen seconds -- the amount of time it takes to remove it from the stack of incoming mail and toss it into the trash. It may never be seen by the 'important' person, but it stands a better chance of generating a response than does an e-mail trapped in spam filter or a Facebook announcement that is so ubiquitous that it is rendered invisible.

Mailings are simply part of the cost of doing business in the arts. Just like headshots, paint, guitar picks, and paper. Factor it into your business budget. And remember the old marketing adage: Half of your marketing dollars are wasted. The problem is, you don't know which half.

Productivity

2010-04-02T09:16:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to lie. This winter has been a tough one. There has been so much I've wanted to accomplish...and much of it simply did not happen. I'm working on a collection of essays, a collection of short stories, and building my photo portfolio. Somewhere in March I hit a wall and everything came screeching to a halt.

But yesterday, at the end of the day and completely exhausted, I decided that enough was enough and the time had come to start back up. So, I went back to where I get my best inspiration: Michigan Avenue.

I love Michigan Avenue. When I first moved to Chicago I was completely intimidated by it. All of the bustle and chic boutiques were a million lightyears from where I started. The hustle is just invigorating. I can always find something envigorating.

Still, in all of the energy, it's great to find a breath of stillness and that's what this shot is for me. After weeks of not touching my camera to do work for me, I found this simple brick wall at the end of the day and was entranced. I love the texture, the pattern and the way the light falls. I love the lines in the background and the color. It just felt like the perfect expression of where I am right now.

I'm finding that as an artist, the challenge for me is to maintain focus. I have so many things I want to achieve and I feel the progress being made in all directions. But I'm also aware of the danger of spreading myself too thin and wonder just how successful I could be if I focused on simply one thing. Still, a single focus has never, ever been who I am.

Aaargh!

Resurrection Blues -- Eclipse Theatre -- Production

2010-03-28T03:54:00.000-07:00

The first show I did in college was The Crucible. I had wanted to play Reverend Paris, and somehow managed to get the role. It was a gorgeous set, I had an incredible costume, and from what I remember it was a fine production -- although I don't recall myself as being especially outstanding.

But for me, Arther Miller has always been a touch didactic. I recognize that his masterwork, Death of a Salesman is brilliant, and I have loved All My Sons ever since I saw the Raven Theatre production. But his other works have sort of struck me as Shaw without the charm, or perhaps flabby Ayn Rand. I've always walked away from Miller acutely aware that he WANTS TO TEACH ME SOMETHING, and when confronted with that attitude I'm not always the most willing of students.

Resurrection Blues begins to make up for that. For one thing, it's a comedy. Not necessarily expected from Miller. And as always, expect Eclipse to unearth a forgotten gem from a master. I sat thru a run of the second act to prepare for the shoot and was surprised -- delighted even -- that this script actually had playable intentions for the actors. Or perhaps these actors are just better than I was when I had to play Miller. Froth it ain't, but it's light and the lesson is sold softly. That's probably has at least as much to do with Nat's direction as it does with Miller's writing.

If you you're a Miller skeptic like me, you're going to want to check out this show and give Miller a chance to change your mind. I may have to go back and re-read The Crucible now.

Do What You Love

2010-03-21T04:47:00.000-07:00

See this video. NOW!

When Bad Projects Happen to Good Artists

2010-03-14T05:39:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I had a shoot where everything went wrong. I was striving for an effect that required equipment I do not have but trying anyway with the equipment I had. To say that the results were disasterous would be an understatement. The results would have given small children life-scarring nightmares. I was so disgusted with myself -- because I should have known better -- that I put the camera away, and for the first time since picking it up began seriously questioning what I was doing.

I wasn't worried that I would give up photography forever. Although I haven't been seriously practicing photography my whole life, I have been an artist and have hung around artists my whole life. Crises of faith happen, and the chief benefit of age is recognizing them, not panic about the panic, and let the crises pass. It always does. And at the end, I have found, my passion (and usually my skill) is stronger. The truly scary thing is that these phases don't come with a prescribed expiration date, so while you're in it you begin to wonder if it will ever end. It does. Sometimes it takes a day. Sometimes it takes a month.

If, however, it extends beyond a month the only thing to do is to get back up on the horse, ignore the panic and pretend it doesn't exist. Start over. Start from the beginning. Be patient with yourself and do what you know.

The passion does return.

The Key to Success

2010-02-27T05:02:00.000-08:00

I hate failure. It hurts. It happens more often than I would like.

In the early days of my acting career each audition was not just a referendum on the quality of my talent, but an evaluation of my soul. I dreaded auditions almost as much as I was thrilled by them. What I really feared was a job interview. Landing the gig that would pay my bills while I waited to become a star was more terrifying. I felt like I had no marketable skills -- and in truth I had almost none.

Less than a year out of college I found myself with a nice sparkling prospective career -- and no income. In those days, the job source was the Chicago Reader and if you needed a job, you also needed to figure out where the reader was being delivered first and snap one up as soon as possible. It came out on Thursday, and Friday was locked in pounding the pavement. Then late on Friday the Sunday Tribune came out and Saturday was mapped out planning the Monday assault. I interviewed for anything and everything for about six gruelling weeks. At the same time I had to find a new apartment and had very, very limited funds with which to achieve that feat.

Somewhere around week four, I became numb to the fear of interviewing. I recognized that it was still there, but it didn't slow me down. In week five I started getting a lot of calls for follow-up interviews, and in week six I was offered three part-time jobs. I took two of them, and in turn each one of those turned into full-time jobs, one of which sustained me and my acting career for almost ten years.

When I went into the serious job market and began climbing the corporate ladder, I again took the approach that I would interview for everything. Then I landed a job interviewing job applicants. I started out being terrified of the interview, and I ended up being the interviewer -- and a damn good one, if I do say so myself.

Not all of those interviews were successful. As an applicant, I've probably interviewed for nearly a hundred jobs. I've probably done as many interviews as I've done auditions. And not all of those were successful either. I have absolute horror stories about auditions. Auditions that crippled me in some way. But I carried on. I only stopped auditioning when the entire theatrical experience bored me. And I kept auditioning long after I should have stopped because I wanted to make sure I was stopping for the right reason, and that I wasn't just giving up.

In that evaluation process, I decided that failure is a relative term and that I did not accept failure. There are set backs. There are disappointments. But there is only failure if I allow there to be failure. Even now, as a photographer, with all the best intentions and preparations, I experience set backs that could be termed failures -- if I let them.

I know this sounds all Rah! Rah! But the truth is it ain't over til it's over. I've watched artists with mediocre talents at best rise to unimaginable heights simply because they refused to define a set back or disappointment as failure. They refused to set a drop-dead date that will define the success of their achievements. That doesn't mean they didn't have goals. It means that if the results fell short of expectations within the time frame prescribed the goal was re-evaluated, progress was analyzed, and a new goal calibrated.

Calibration is the key to success. Stamina is the key to success. Flexibility is the key to success.

Inspiration

2010-02-12T04:21:00.000-08:00

I've been working pretty hard on my portfolio -- expanding my range and trying new things. And from time to time I submit my work to an online community for comment and critique. The comments, almost without exception are brutal. BRUTAL.

At first the comments were crushing. I worked so hard and saw so much progress in the work that I submitted. I would have to walk away from my computer, watch a movie, clean the bathroom, and make a stab at curing cancer before I could go back and review the comments. Things like, "you have no business behind the camera" and "did you use a cell phone?" would seep through my eyeballs and ricochet around in my brain for hours. Then I would try to break the comments down into usable bites. I'd literally copy and paste the comments and go sentence by sentence, deleting everything that seemed to be written out some sort of deep personal trauma and keeping that which actually was a valid technical critique.

Then I would look at the commenter's work and compare it to mine; not in a qualitative way necessarily, but in more in an attempt to understand they're perspective. Once I did that, sometimes I agreed with their assessment and sometimes I did not. But I always felt like I learned something.

Then I would pick up a Vanity Fair, or a Vogue and apply the same critiques to those shots. It was horrifying and disappointing. Many, many of the photos in those publications and almost all others would not meet the specifications laid out in that online community. Not to put too fine a point on it, but some of the work of some of the world's top fashion photographers, in some of the world's top fashion magazines, is crap!

And at the end of my analytic cycle, what I would come away with was deep depression and disappointment. There would be variations on a theme, but I would be trapped in a recurring loop of a "You suck!"

Until I remembered my career as an actor...

Without naming names, I have seen many actors who were weak on stage, who were personally difficult, who were sloppy and lazy at their craft, go on to very distinguished careers. I mean, award-winning careers. I mean multi-million dollar pay days. And I personally know actors who are brilliant, who can be depended upon to give gut-wrenching, nuanced performances that make the audience weep, laugh, and reflect upon the meaning of life -- and all while trying to drown out the rattle of the Red Line. Some of these actors' annual salaries don't even reach the minimum poverty line. If you're in the theatre, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

I have spent years trying to figure out why that is. Dismissing it simply as luck is too easy. After a decade of analysis, I'm convinced there is no such thing as luck. What the people who are achieving notoriety and riches have that my less financially secure artist friends do not is tenacity, confidence, and stamina. They're still crappy actors -- and one or two of them actually know it -- but they didn't let lack of quality stand in their way. They took every opportunity and turned it to their advantage. Some of them took criticism and grew from it. Some of them -- and I'm sorry to say, the most successful of them -- didn't give a rat's ass about what most of the world thought of them or their work.

From this realization I draw an immense amount of comfort and inspiration. Now I can look at my own work with a critical eye and appreciate what's good in it. Is my work flawless? Absolutely not. But those flaws are not going to stop me. And they won't always be there. The real work is to learn from those flaws.

It's all about stamina and staying the course. The destination is an afterthought.

Resurrection Blues -- Eclipse Theatre

2010-02-08T05:24:00.000-08:00

Directed by Artistic Director Nathaniel Swift

March 25 - May 9, 2010

The Greenhouse Theatre

2257 N. Lincoln Ave. -- Chicago

Goals

2010-01-31T04:55:00.000-08:00

I believe that goals are essential to a happy life. The problem with goals, however, is that while focused on the end result you can oftentimes miss the journey.

And what's doubly difficult for me is impatience. For me, almost all progress is too little progress. I know where I'm going, and I get frustrated with the fact that I'm not there yet. This was a terminal flaw in my acting career. I would set a goal on Monday, and by Wednesday begin to get frustrated because I wasn't making "significant" progress toward that goal. By that I mean that on Monday, I would decide that I would win an Oscar and by Wednesday wonder why Stephen Spielberg hadn't called. By Friday, I wouldn't be fit to live with.

What I didn't realize is that progress doesn't come in a smooth consistent stream. Progress comes in fits and starts. It can move at a glacial pace, and then jump ahead at lightning speed. The trick, of course, is to be ready for that lightning jump. Having the skills in place to support that rapid growth is essential. And sometimes it's necessary to slow progress so that your personal infrastructure can catch up.

This week I made two major leaps in progress. By the smiling fates of the gods, I lucked into a brand new camera! It's dazzling in it's wonder. I could not wait to do my first session with my new Olympus E3. I did, and the photos are beyond my expectations in quality. Then I sat down to edit samples for the client, only to discover that my new camera requires a major upgrade in my computer software. A huge investment that I was/am not prepared to make at this time. So it's back to my old, trusty camera for the time being.

However, the above photo was taken with the old camera and edited with the old software. And here's where the lightning jump is the most gratifying. This is the type of work I've been shooting for for the past three years. I could not have done this shot a year ago. Not even six months ago. I'm thrilled.

Six months ago I set a goal of shooting the Vanity Fair cover within the next five years. Maybe I'll get the call on Wednesday!

Working

2010-01-28T03:51:00.000-08:00

With the new year, and avalanche of projects has come crashing down around me. In a good way! Right now, it's all about the mailing.

I've set some pretty lofty goals for the next four years and five months. (The goals were set with a five-year term a couple months ago.) I'm not necessarily comfortable publishing them at this point because they're very ambitious and they take a lot of leg work to get off the ground. But a key component to these goals is to send out mailings. There is the agonizing over which samples to print into postcards, the endless mailing list maintenance, the creation of the pithy little notes...daunting.

And fun. When I was an actor, I realized that I enjoyed the audition more than the rehearsal and the rehearsal more than performance. And a root canal more than tech. Of course I want international acclaim, wealth beyond my wildest dreams, and a front-row seat at the Academy Awards. Who doesn't? But it's not the result that is the real goal. It's finding the journey that you want to take that is the real goal.

As 2010 really gets underway, I'm finding that I only have time for one serious artistic shoot a month. Headshot work, my writing, and the routine of day-to-day living are taking up the rest of my time. But the January project has already been shot, and progress on the editing is coming along very nicely. I'm on schedule.

The other thing that I like about photography is that I'm able to call up the first frame I ever shot and compare it to the latest frame I've edited. One of my many flaws is that I tend to be hypercritical of myself and my work (sometimes almost paralyzingly so), but I know I've made progress when I look at my latest job and say, "Damn. That's good."

No matter what your journey, I hope your year is starting off as well as mine. Drop me a line! Share your success!

Andi Earles -- Winner

2010-01-17T05:19:00.000-08:00

For the third year in a row, an Archetype Images session was the grand prize for the Saint Sebastian Monologue Match Up. This time around, the winner was Andi Earles, breaking the cardinal rule of auditioning -- she won with a piece that she wrote. This is a young woman that is about to break. Keep your eyes open for her!

A Whole New Year!

2010-01-07T19:00:00.001-08:00

And here is my beach on Christmas Day.

There has been so much going on, and virtually no time to sit down and write about it all. Up this week: my first nude shoot!

Oy!

Merry Christmas, bitches.

2009-12-13T13:43:00.000-08:00

Remember Summer?

2009-11-23T04:12:00.000-08:00

When did it become November? In my head it's still June. Well, if I was going to be completely honest, in my head it's still June of 1988, but that's a whole different issue.

Last May I took on my first big fashion shoot. I cast six models knowing that not all of them would show. I got three. If I had to settle for less than what I wanted, I was thrilled to have the three I got. They could not have been more perfect.

If you can remember back to May, you might recall that we had exactly forty-eight minutes of sunshine the entire month. I booked my models three weeks in advance. The theme was an Abercrombie & Fitch ad, but done in color and to look something like an old snapshot from the late '50's or early '60's. We were scheduled to begin at 3:00 and it rained most of the day. I'm sure the weather had something to do with the three no-shows. I toyed with the idea of rescheduling, but held my breath and decided it was best to soldier on.

The first model showed at 2:00 and I spent an hour entertaining him with chit-chat. Small talk isn't really my thing. I have limited brain capacity and when I'm working, I'm all about the task at hand. This means that I have a set chit-chat patter, which I usually mete out strategically during a shoot to distract the model, to cover while I need to set up a light, or what have you. By the time the second model arrived, I'd exhausted every conceivable topic. By the time the third model arrived I felt like I had recited my entire life story, complete with accompanying ballet dream sequence.

I was not hopeful. The sky was gray. My mood was gray. The models were nervous.

But then, just as we reached the beach, the clouds broke. We started the shoot slow with the three of them sitting on a bench. The first third of any shoot is almost worthless. It takes some time for even the most seasoned model to warm up. But even the first few frames had usable shots.

I worked all three of them for nearly three hours. They ran. They jumped. The hugged. They kissed. One of them ran into the lake, carefully avoiding the floating chunks of ice. Then the last few frames I devoted to the girl. The sun was starting to sink. All four of us were exhausted. I sat down in the sand and just sort of pointed my camera in her general direction. This was the result.

And then it started to rain again.

Democracy

2009-10-14T17:41:00.000-07:00

There are times when it seems like the heavens smile on you. This picture is one of those times.

I was again lucky enough to be asked to do the publicty shots for Eclipse Theatre. It's for Romulus Linney's Democracy. A comedy set in the late 1880's, I was sort of dreading this shoot. I wanted to do something that looked like it belonged on my grandmother's wall and when I described my idea to Nat, he seemed reserved in his enthusiasm. I think it had less to do with my idea for the picture and more because I said that it would take some time to get it right. Because everyone is very busy, these shoots are always done on a tight schedule. So, Nat said, "We'll see."

The shoot was set for the plant conservatory place in Lincoln Park. I'd only been there once before, and to be honest I preferred to shoot outside. But it was blessed cold on Sunday morning. We arrived at the conservatory just as it opened and the security person told us we could shoot as long as we didn't block traffic or use any props.

We tried several different things, but they all came out looking flat. The conservatory was filling and getting any kind of shot was becoming increasingly difficult. That's when I saw a patch of light. I pointed to it and Rebecca found it. With almost no coaching Jon and Rebecca found the pose and I clicked. It took less than a minute. With the exception of removing a little sign, this is pretty much how the shot came out of the camera. I couldn't be more pleased. It's exactly what I wanted.

It' Match-Up Time

2009-10-01T02:58:00.001-07:00

For the third year in a row, I'm proud to be a supporter of the Seventeenth Annual Saint Sebastian Monologue Match Up. Last year an Archetype Images session was the prize for the People's Choice Award an Rina Sobel was the lucky, lucky young lady who won!

If you haven't done the Match-Up, even as just a spectator you really should. Actors have so few opportunities to see how other actors handle a monologue in a pressure setting. An audition class is not the same thing at all! If you're watching, you get to see what works and what doesn't. And if you're participating, you get to go into a relatively high-pressure situation that is also very supportive. Everyone there that evening is there for one thing -- to see good monologues.

The event is Monday, November 2 at 7:00 and there are only 40 competitive slots. Sign up now!

Mike

2009-09-26T03:26:00.000-07:00

Mike Caden Ross came to me for portfolio shots. He's based out of Austin, but needed to refresh his portfolio before he goes to Milan and Paris. He wanted tear-sheet worthy shots that looked like they were from a Banana Republic Shoot.

I love models who are this clear on their goals.

My Favorite Meal

2009-09-06T06:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I decided to do a photo safari, and as everyone knows you can't go hunting without a good meal to start your day. Lately, I love nothing more than a bagel with chive cream cheese and lox from the corner cafe, Charmer's.

The plan for the safari was really much more ambitious than I was ultimately able to carry out. I thought I would walk from Milennium Park to Rogers Park and take pictures along the way. I managed about half that before nearly collapsing. Still, it was an amazing day and over the course of the next few weeks I'll share shots from the journey.

But the thing that I rediscovered is just what an amazing city Chicago really, truly is. As I walked up Michigan Avenue, I came across street performers and great art. This city is literally teeming with culture. If you haven't done it lately, go out and see the city the way a tourist sees it. It's magnificent.

Congratulations Archetype Alums!

2009-08-28T04:42:00.001-07:00

Congratulations Larry Neumann, Jr. and Laura E. Taylor on your Jeff nominations!

I've known Larry for years. I saw his Oedipus. He was a flawless Iago. The man doesn't work enough. Or to put a finer point on it, he works plenty. He doesn't get paid enough. PAY HIM MORE! HE'S WORTH IT.

If there's a film or TV show that comes to Chicago, if the casting people haven't considered Larry for a role, it's probably not worth doing.

Laura was one of the first people I shot. I've met very few actors who had such a laser focus about her career. She know exactly where her niche in the industry is. This is only beginning of great things for her.

Archetype Discount Cards

2009-08-16T05:04:00.000-07:00

Discount tickets are being sent to agents this week! Look in their offices for a postcard with Krissy's picture and redeem it for a $50 discount on your next photo shoot! If you don't find the card in your agent's office, ask. They're all getting them.

A Testimonial from the Field

2009-08-08T04:03:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, your clients say it best:

Good morning Scott, Thanks for the update and your new site. I noticed that a friend of mine (Joette Waters) is one of the photos you have online. I was at an audition at Columbia last fall and happened to have the same shirt that I wore when you did my photo and a photo student stopped and recognized me from your web site. Also one day I was on the red line and photographer said that he thought he had seen me on a web site but could net remember where and we discovered that it was a photo that you took. I am still working with students mainly from Columbia and Art Institute on film and photo projects. It is really interesting what ideas they can come up with and being part of it with them. Thanks Jerry Heller

Proving my point that a headshot is not about "capturing an essence." A headshot is your visual branding. It's the image that you want people to carry with them.

Jerry is a part-time actor who is happy doing small films. His archetype is "Grandpa." That's how he wants casting directors to think of him: a warm, loving grandpa. The distinctive shirt, done in a bright color serves as the memory key. Now, when Jerry walks through the door, even if the casting director doesn't remember exactly how, she feels like she knows Jerry. By making the casting director comfortable with him, Jerry's work in the audition is more than half done.

Six Degrees of Separation

2009-07-29T16:43:00.000-07:00

I have always found the interactions between sub-cultures and the dominant American culture to be fascinating. (Can you tell I've been to grad school?) Not just racial tensions, but I love the interplay between a dominant culture and a sub-culture. If you're ever in need for a good dramatic ploy, the world will never tire of the old men vs. women trope. The story is always more successful when the less powerful culture is able to demonstrate a superiority over the dominant culture.

So, for me, Six Degrees of Separation is fascinating on so many levels. Of course there is the dynamics of the race interactions, but Guare takes the script deeper and introduces class, gender, sex, age, religion and mixes them all into one wonderful script that leaves the audience with something to contemplate while entertaining at the same time.

The current production by the Eclipse Theatre is crystalline in it's precision in depicting the conflict and intermingling of these various subsets of the American culture. Each topic is going to ripe for generations and Chicago audiences cannot be too exposed to an examination of these issues, nor challenged to strenuously to examine their own relationships to the issues in Guare's script.

If you consider yourself to be a thinking Chicago theatre goer, you simply cannot miss this production.

Directed by Steve Scott and featuring Eclipse ensemble members Stephen Dale and Rebecca Prescott, with guest artists Laura Coover, Brandon Ford, Sasha Gioppo, Michael Gonring, Zach Gray, Nick Horst, Howie Johnson, Eric Leonard, Joe Mack, Guy Massey, John Milewski, Michael Pogue, Drew Schad and Karen Yates.

We're Back!

2009-07-23T18:09:00.001-07:00

Is there anything worse than a neglected blog? No. But all I can say in my defense is that it has been one terribly exciting few months.

Big news that will unfurl in the coming weeks, but the last few months have been all about portfolio expansion. Models, models everywhere. Doing test shots for a big agent, (who has to remain nameless) and big business expansion plans.

All very, very exciting!

So check back in the coming weeks and watch the work as it unfolds!

Beyond the Brick Wall II

2009-01-11T04:54:00.000-08:00

Once again it's time to see if we can take the next step in pushing the envelope in actors' headshots.

As part of an annual project, I work with several actors who are willing to work on creating marketing images that go beyond the brick wall headshot. Agents and casting directors say that as an actor you need a headshot that "looks like you." I believe that, at the very best, is only part of the story because if all they needed was a headshot that looked like you, all headshots would be mug shots. Actors would be stood up against a wall that had marking indicating height, there would be bright, flourescent light, no make up, and the shot would consist of a front and profile. I'd love to see an actor walk into an agent's office with something like that.

The fact is, the minute an actor decides between wearing a green shirt versus wearing a blue shirt for his headshot, he's making a decision that communicating with the viewer. The Archetype Images Headshot project is all about identifying the rhetorical choices that an actor makes and making a conscious decision on how to use those choices to communicate who the actor is, what type of work she's seeking, and the quality of the work she will deliver once cast.

For this project I've identified four actors. Yesterday I met with two of them, Franette Liebow and Dan Howard. Our conversation focused on headshots for theatrical work. While both actors want work that will pay the bills -- and then some. And we know how much stage work pays in Chicago, we also focused how we could communicate to agents about the types of roles and the segments of the industry where they felt they were the most marketable. It was a fascinating discussion and in the coming weeks you should see the images here and on the Archetype Images website.

Why am I passionate about this?

I truly am passionate about this because I feel that there is a lack of support for actors to feel empowered in the entertainment industry. Much of the support that is available is on the artistic aspect, with audition coaches, acting classes, and the like. On the rare occasion that there is something that focuses on the "business of acting," the information is couched in terms that underscore the subservient position of the actor. "Professional Survival," and such tell the actor that it's a jungle out there, and the odds are against him.

And that's absolutely true. With more than a hundred actors vying for one small role, there is probably not a more competitive industry. Yet accepting a passive role within the industry is NOT the way be successful. As an actor, it's YOUR career. Take charge of it.

Of course, it's very easy to get discouraged. There is an overwhelming amount of rejection as an actor, and it's difficult not to take that rejection personally. But it's not. It NEVER is personal. Not EVER. Even if an actor has a prior relationship with a director or producer and that relationship turned sour, the fact is professionals hire professionals who they think will make them money. Now, it doesn't hurt to have your boss like you, but at the end of the day that is a very small component of how a professional makes her decision.

Every actor needs to come to each audition, each meeting, with the knowledge that they have a commodity -- their skill, their talent, their training -- that is a valuable asset. That asset may not fit every job, but an actor has to present that asset, that commodity, in such a way that the director or producer can see the value. Does a picture "that looks like you," smiling and standing against a brick wall convey any value? Does it say anything about you except that you can smile? And in a stack of one hundred pictures, doesn't it make sense to try to communicate something beyond what a good person you are?

Part of the discussion yesterday focused on a famous Chicago actor I've worked with in the past. He will remain nameless here because he's not getting very good press at the moment. He has a reputation for being difficult, and the reputation is deserved. Still, twenty years ago that actor knew where is career was going. He knew when it would peak. He knew what he had to offer the market and he marketed those skills and talents. Today he's very, very successful.

But Franette pointed out that he's also not very well liked, and with his current run of bad press he has no one coming to his defense. She contended, and rightly so, that being arrogant and cocky and pushy may be a formula for success, but that it was no way to live a professional life.

I responded with there is a difference between being a confident professional, aware of your skills and how those skills work within the industry, and being arrogant and cocky. It just so happens that my famous actor friend is arrogant and cocky, he knows it, and that's what he marketed. And while he's exceedingly unpleasant to be around and I can't think of a single person who would switch places with him on a personal level, on a professional level I also can't think of a single actor who doesn't envy his career and his success.

His success did not come from being arrogant and cocky. It came from knowing he was arrogant and cocky, knowing what roles he could utilize those aspects of his character, and marketing those skills.

It's a formula that will work for any actor, and it's a formula that empowers the actor and makes her a driver in the creation of her career and a business partner with the people who hire her for a job. What's more it gives her a perspective to see that the rejection she faces is not personal. It's professional.

But above all that, I contend that a headshot that has a rhetorical purpose beyond just "capturing your essence," or showing that you can "play" in front of a camera is of infinite more value than a headshot taken in natural light against a brick wall. And in the coming weeks I intend to prove that here.

Happy New Year

2009-01-04T16:55:00.000-08:00

Isn't the start of a new year exciting? There are certain milestones throughout the year where I feel as if I officially get a second wind, and January 1 is definitely one of them.

Over the holidays I did a lot of planning and there are some exciting things coming for Archetype Images, including our first exhibition, more weddings, and the annual headshot project. Details on all of those and more will be coming in the next few weeks.

In the meantime, have you kept your new year resolution? Is that agent mailing ready to go? Have you started reading that list of plays, looking for new audition material? Is that closet cleaned? Then what are you doing reading this blog?!?

Happy Holidays

2008-12-05T17:53:00.000-08:00

Archetype Images is on holiday hiatus. See you after January 1.

Cut to the Quick

2008-11-21T15:51:00.000-08:00

I'm in my second season of doing publicity shots for The Side Project. And the work that they do is an excellent example of the reasons that so many people do theatre in Chicago. There's no money in it. The personal sacrifices are enormous. Still, every now and then there is the opportunity to be part of something very special.

Cut to the Quick is a series of three collections of short plays. I haven't seen even one of them yet, only been invited to sit in some preliminary rehearsals and take pictures. This is unusual for my process because I'm very thorough in my preparation, usually reading the play and attending a run before doing the shoot. But this time around, Adam wanted something a little rougher, so we agreed that I was to capture moments and images that any actor might recognize as a rehearsal.

And what any actor will tell you is that the performances are great, especially when a production is working, but that the really transcendent moments happen in a bare room during a rehearsal. It's the moment when the text seems to melt away and the actor becomes the character for the first time that the real theater artists live for. The story comes to life, not in a figurative way, but literally, and there is nothing else in the world but that moment. People become actors for many reasons, but all of the acclaim, all of the money, everything else that comes with monumental success for an actor pales by comparison to the simple moment when the story comes to life.

As dollars become more scarce, everyone is becoming more selective with their entertainment budgets. Put live theater at the top of your lists. And not just the big-bang theatres. The real magic, the stuff that will stir your soul, is happening in the small theatres.

The Autumn Garden

2008-11-14T03:11:00.000-08:00

Nathaniel Swift directs The Autumn Garden, opens this weekend at the Victory Gardens Greenhouse, and this is a theatrical opportunity that cannot -- CANNOT -- be missed.

Nearly every professional actor started out in a high-school drama department. And those drama departments tended to do large, complex scripts written in the thirties and forties because there were a lot of roles for the kids to play and the family closet provided plenty of costumes. I know that as an actor, I cut my teeth on those scripts.

But in the 1950's the political and economic climate began to change for the American theatre. Musicals began to generate more box-office revenue, and dramas started to shrink. By the 1970's and 80's, two- or three-character plays done on a black-box set were the norm, and in the Chicago store-front theatre, it was/is almost physically (not to mention financially) impossible to mount a script with more than four characters and two costume changes. Throughout the 1980's and 90's, whether from budgetary restrictions or artistic tastes, the scripts that I worked on in high school, and the playwrights who created them, were regarded as passe. At least by me, if no one else.

And still today, Tracy Letts notwithstanding, large, complex dramas aren't common on the Chicago stage. Even Shakespeare gets paired down to accommodate the 10x6 dressing rooms, and fifty-seat house. Therefore it's a real treat to see The Autumn Garden. Trite, but true, they simply don't make them like this anymore. In preparing for my shoot with Eclipse, I read the script twice and watched a late run thru. I've edited maybe twenty pictures from the two shoots, and even as I cropped the last shot, a new detail about the play sprang to mind and I was in awe all over again. And my friends, I'm not easily awed.

This play is not a theatrical hors d'oeurves. Going to see this production is a full, Mame-Dennis theatrical banquet. You won't realize just what you're missing from the theatre until you see this show. Magic!

Directed by Nathaniel Swift. Cast: Julie Daley, Seven Fedoruk, Dawn Alden, Stephen Dale, Geraldine Dulex, John Fenner Mays, Nora Fiffer, Judith Hoppe, Millicent Hurley, Raymond Jacquet, Julie Partyka, Chuck Spencer

Barrymore

2008-10-30T15:59:00.000-07:00

Several years ago I had the great fortune of working at Circle Theatre on an original script that was loosely based upon the friendship that founded that little company. In that cast of four, was Michael Pacas. The production would probably best be described as an unappreciated gem. The cast delivered a fine performance, if I do say so myself.

Since that time Michael has gone on to work with just about every non-Equity company in the city. Now he's mounting a one-man show as a showcase to spring himself into the larger houses and get special notice from the area agents.

Michael is an actor after my own heart. I LOVE that moxy and drive. And it's that dedication and guts that produce results.

Barrymore will only be running a short time, but if you want to see the essence of Chicago theatre, if you want to see what it's really all about, you cannot miss this production!

Barrymore

Presented and Performed by Michael Pacas

with Scott Sumerak

November 3 & 5 - 19, 2008

Sunday thru Wednesday

8:00 pm.

The West Stage at

The Raven Theatre Complex

6157 N. Clark Street

Ray T. Ready

2008-10-17T00:56:00.001-07:00

The exciting thing about working with actors is that nothing is really ever predictable. It takes a certain strength of character to be able to accept that and I admire the actors who can embrace the adventure of a life in the theatre. It's not an easy one, but with the right mindset it is rewarding.

Case in point is Ray Ready. Ray came to me for his headshots fresh from college. He was doing his first show in Chicago and needed new headshots. He had been using an artistic shot with some leaves superimposed over it. It was a beautiful picture, and it had helped him land the show he was doing, but he rightly felt that the picture he'd been using wasn't going to get him much further.

As with all actors I work with, my first question is about career goals. Ray wanted a life on the stage. Film would be acceptable, but he really wanted the great roles. Because it's my best frame of reference, particularly with male actors, I asked him which Shakespearean role he wanted to play. He was a little stumped, because he felt like he wasn't really old enough to play the great comedic roles, but that's sort of where he saw himself. Then we hit on Puck, and the picture began to take shape. Ray is a perfect Puck: impish, with just a hint of danger. So we came up with this shot that communicated his angular body.

It was weeks after the shoot and sending the proofs to Ray before I heard from him. I had begin to think he was somehow disappointed with the pictures. That was not the case. Somehow he'd found himself in London, and was getting work as an actor there. In his e-mail to me, he gave me a list of the shots he needed and asked me to translate them to black and white as well as color. The Brits are still doing black and white. The above shot is now making the audition rounds in London.

Archetype Images is now officially international!

The Wedding Show

2008-10-11T11:06:00.000-07:00

I've always been fascinated by weddings. There's a surreal quality to them where everyone involved seems to pretend as if they are someone they're not. Or maybe a better way to put it is that everyone involved agrees to be the best version of themselves for the day. It's no wonder people want elaborate wedding photo packages to commemorate the event.

Recently I attended my first wedding show, which was geared toward the Chicago bride. I was an observer, not a participant, and I attended with a female friend of mine. We posed as a happy couple to get a sense of what an actual Chicago bride and her groom might experience at one of these events and to try to find affordable wedding packages.

The pressure was incredible. From the very beginning the message sent to a bride is that your day must be PERFECT!!, with the implied message being that if your day isn't PERFECT!! then you have failed in some way. There were a lot of expected vendors at this event -- bakers, DJs, florists, and photographers, all beaming at me and my friend, all dying for us to sign contracts that will lock in a date and guarantee their rates, which were anything but affordable.

Of course I knew weddings are expensive. And I even had an inkling of how expensive, but what I wasn't prepared for was just how difficult it would be to find a top-quality wedding photographer in Chicago who provides great value. Now, to be fair this was my first show and I plan to attend a few more before I sign myself up.

I've been studying weddings in general and Chicago brides in particular for months now. I think I have at least a fair understanding of the industry. For instance, I can tell which is a dress for the upcoming season and which is from two seasons ago. I'm a retired actor. I can spot the difference between costume-quality and real quality from across the footlights of a runway, and I can tell you that the dresses I saw were of inferior, yet were going for top dollar. I've worked in restaurants for years. I know a cake mix and one made from scratch. I know quality, and in terms of Chicago wedding packages, I wasn't seeing it.

One of the reasons Archetype Images has been slow in entering the wedding market is because I wanted to develop my own style. Just as with headshots, there are thousands of photographers doing the work, but I don't want my work to look like everyone else's. Yet, going from one photography booth to another, I could not see much difference in quality of work. The larger studios displayed a wide array of quality, from beginners with consumer cameras, all the way up to gifted photographers with state-of-the-art equipment. But they were all charging for the top line talent. What’s more, there were five booths, and yet we only met one actual photographer. To me that was shocking.

I've done two weddings now, I can tell you that I would not be happy with my work unless I know something about the bride. It's the same way with my headshots and the publicity shots I do. I have to feel a connection to the event in some way. To me, going to a large, impersonal photo studio would be a lot like going to someone new to do your hair for your wedding. Yeah, you might look good, but the day is all about presenting the best version of you, and only someone who has a connection with you can know what that is. It's all about capturing a unique vision of the best version of the people and doing it without pressure. A Chicago bride needs an affordable wedding package that reflects her own sense of style, and that's my goal.

The Autumn Garden

2008-10-04T03:25:00.000-07:00

My first scene in my first acting class was from Lillian Hellman's Watch on the Rhine. I hated the play. Combine that with The Children's Hour, which it seemed every third high-school girl did at drama competitions, and I had almost no use for Hellman. Then I watched Jane Fonda in Julia and I was completely finished with Hellman. Even though she is considered one of America's premiere playwrights, I could not be convinced. America has been wrong before.

Then, about a decade ago, some friends and I were discussing film actors. We were trying to decide who was the greatest film actor of all time and although I'm not sure we fully resolved that riddle, we decided that somewhere near the list of top ten was Bette Davis. We resolved that once a month we get together and watch every Davis film we could get our hands on. On either end of her career there are some real howlers, although Davis is always riveting. But in the middle of her career, particularly from 1939 to about 1951, from Jezebel to All About Eve no one could touch Bette Davis. Man or woman, there was simply not a more fearless actor working in Hollywood. Davis would try anything, and while she wasn't always successful, you could never take your eyes off her.

Late one Saturday evening we sat down to watch The Little Foxes. It had been a long day, and simply stretched out on the floor, ready to drift of to sleep. I was convinced that even the great Bette Davis couldn't keep me awake for Hellman's story and words. I was wrong. Davis is, of course, brilliant. But more important, Davis reintroduced me to Lillian Hellman. From that viewing I realized my mistake. Hellman is a brilliant playwright.

Hellman's brilliance, from an actor's point of view, is that there are no throw-away characters. If there's a character on the stage or the page, he's fully realized. Even the ones who are clearly plot devices are filled with human wants, needs, flaws, and love. Her work gives credence to the old saw that there are no small parts, only small actors.

So, when Nat Swift asked me to do the pre-production shoot for The Autumn Garden I was thrilled. Eclipse Theater is a great group, and I love working with them. The casts that I've shot have always been perfectly constructed. But the real gem of the assignment was having to sit down and re-read The Autumn Garden. I don't like to shoot a play that I'm not familiar with. I need to have an understanding of the characters, the mood, and the moment that we're trying to capture. I like to read the play and if possible see a run. And with The Autumn Garden I fell in love with Hellman all over again.

The story is sort of a 1949 Big Chill (that's a gross reduction - barely adequate) set in an old, Louisiana mansion at the end of a summer. For the pre-production shoot, we used one of the houses that has been surrounded by the DePaul campus. This was the first time that some of the cast members actually met one another, and each and every one of them was clearly over the moon about playing his or her role. The shoot was fun and it's clear to see that this is going to be a crackling production, and one of the more important ones of the current season.

The Autumn Garden opens in November at the Victory Gardens Green House. This is a must-see show, that is rarely produced. Don't miss it!

St. Sebastian Players Monologue Match Up

2008-09-27T05:02:00.000-07:00

Last year I had the great opportunity to be part of the St. Sebastian Player's Monologue Match Up, contributing a complete head shot package to be part of the prize pool. This year I have that honor again.

The St. Sebastian Players have been part of the Chicago theater scene for a long time. When I was starting out, I'd see audition notices for their productions -- great scripts that I would have loved to have done, but the group was characterized as a community theater to me. I was a serious acTOR and focused on doing work that would be taken SERIOUSLY, that would build my CAREER, that would make me a STAR! The St. Sebastian Players, my reasoning went, were probably a cute little group that put together little plays in the basement of a church, but they weren't going to be doing any work that was worthy of me.

As an actor I could be an arrogant, superior, self-involved little prick.

So, I contributed my headshot package and agreed to attend last year's competition not really knowing what to expect. The St. Sebastian Players do, indeed, produce in a church basement. But in my illustrious, glamorous acting career I did productions where we would have killed for the luxury of a church basement. And they only perform for a few performances, but truth be told there are many productions of "serious" theater that should not run any longer.

Even before the contest began, what became immediately clear was that the St. Sebastian Players produce theater for no other reason than because they love it. Unlike my retired theatrical ambitions, they aren't trying to prove anything, they aren't striving to be something they are not. They are a group of dedicated artists who love theater and produce scripts that they know their audiences will enjoy. At the end of the day the purpose of theater isn't any grander than that.

I was shocked at how well attended the event was. There were thirty competitors and probably a hundred spectators. The judges represented some of the best and brightest theatrical groups in the city. The talent that presented their monologues represented a wide range of experience, but it was clear that each and everyone of them brought their A game. Years ago there used to be a non-Equity general audition and I had the responsibility of attending for one of the theaters I worked with. The lack of preparation that was tossed up on that stage, for professional consideration, was shocking. And like me, many of those actors would never deign to do a "community theater" production in a church basement. Steven Speilberg would never happen to stop by and discover them there! (And be truthful, you know actors with that attitude.)

Such attitudes are not in evidence at the Monologue Match Up. Any director would tell you that if they could have a general audition with the quality of talent and preparation that is seen at the St. Sebastian Players, they'd feel like they had died and gone to heaven.

On October 27, the competition begins for the sixteenth time and I promise that for any actor it is once of the most artistically inspiring events of the entire theatrical season. The St. Sebastian Players Monologue Match Up is an event that really should not be missed by anyone who considers him or herself a true artist or a real professional. It gives an actor of any experience level the rare opportunity to see how other actors handle monologues in a situation not at all unlike a general audition, and it gives them a taste of what it is like to be an auditor. It's not like an audition class. Here the stakes are real. There's no nuturing teacher to hold your hand. Like a real audition, you're competing, but here you get to watch the competition. Such experience is invaluable to every actor.

Plus, it's just plain fun.

There are a limited number of competition slots, so you should contact The St. Sebastian Players immediately to secure your place in the competition. And if all goes well, you and I may be working together very soon to create the perfect marketing image to springboard your career to the next level.

Jo* and Nicole

2008-09-19T15:14:00.001-07:00

Early in the summer I made the decision to begin expanding my business into the wedding market. The wedding photo is an interesting genre, with a whole host of expectations and high-water marks that a photographer is expected to hit. You only get one shot at some of these pictures. In a lot of ways it's like going into a Broadway show as an understudy. You've studied and practiced, and maybe done other shows, but going on as an understudy on Broadway is a whole other animal. You may have never even met the actor who is playing your lover and suddenly you have to convince a thousand people that the man standing opposite you is someone you can't live without. He's going to give you line readings you don't know, his blocking is going to be different from what the stage manager told you -- and he's always going to be right and you're always wrong. And you'll have to go through all of that with a smile on your face.

That's also the life of a wedding photographer.

And not unlike acting, you kind of have to have had a lead role to get a lead role. And make no mistake, the bride maybe getting all the accolades, and taking the final bow, but the photographer is the star of the show at a wedding. It's all about getting the good picture and doing it in such a way that the wedding party and guests aren't even aware.

I spent most of the summer reading book after book on how to prepare for a wedding. I studied countless wedding websites. I talked to recent brides and future brides. I practiced finding interesting angles and working in different light settings. But it was all academic until I had a real wedding to shoot. To get a wedding, you have to have shot a wedding.

So, I sent out the word in my network and almost immediately I heard from a friend, who had a friend, who was getting married. They already had a photographer, but they were interested in having a second. They couldn't pay me, but would I be interested in the experience?

Does a bride wear white?

So, I e-mailed one of the brides and we arranged to meet. Jo* and Nicole are the coolest people I've ever met. I've heard stories about high-strung brides, and with two of them I was a little nervous, but they were very casual. Jo* is a professional stage manager, so we immediately were able to speak the same language. Nicole is a midwife and birthing coach and faces much more stressful situations than a wedding on a daily basis. Of the three of us, I was the nervous one. I can only hope I always work with brides who are as accommodating as Jo* and Nicole.

Basically, they already had the wedding and the wedding shots planned. The first photographer was already engaged. But the guest list had grown and they thought it might not be a bad idea to have a second photographer. The first photographer would do all of the wedding party shots, and I could basically shoot whatever I thought looked interesting.

Who could ask for a better first wedding?

The day was gorgeous. The ceremony took place on a small country acreage under some spreading oak trees and next to a pond. The light was gorgeous and so were both brides. The ceremony and reception were flawless. Lots of family and lots and lots of love. I was able to snap away and make all the mistakes I wanted. It was an invaluable experience. A sampling of some of the non-mistakes is on display at the Archetype website.

Then, this week we got together so that I could give them the disc with the pictures and so I could do a formal portrait. When Nicole and Jo* arrived at the end of a long work day, they had lost none of that newlywed glow, and were as accommodating as could be while I adjusted lights and tried different poses. Studio portraits are second nature to me, and I'm really happy with this one. I like to try to get at least one shot that is timeless and I feel like we did it with this one.

I was so lucky to have Jo* and Nicole for my first wedding couple and the experience prepared me for my second wedding...

Happy Anniversary to Me!

2008-09-11T03:38:00.001-07:00

A year ago I sat down with three books and began to try to figure out how to put together a photography business. I had spent the previous month wrestling with the Adobe Creative Suite, teaching myself how to build a website.

And as I was putting this business together on a very limited budget, I was trying to come up with ways to promote Archetype Images that were creative, dynamic, and free.

And one year and one day ago the Archetype Images Blog was born.

This past year has been more successful than I could have imagined. Not only has the quality of work improved immeasurably -- I'd be horrified to show the first headshots I took -- but I feel like I've grown as an artist in many unexpected ways.

If you've been following this blog, you may have noticed that I tend to use the plural pronoun in describing the Archetype events. That's not because there's an enormous Archetype Images staff. Right now, it's just me. But I purposely use the pronoun because I feel like I'm building a community. When I get behind a camera and start taking pictures of people, I feel a bond. I develop a genuine interest in the people I shoot and that's why I periodically send out update requests. I really do want to keep in touch and stay abreast of how careers progress.

And as I expand into the wedding industry, I don't just want to be the "wedding photographer," but I want to be part of the big events in my clients' lives. On one level it's about creating unique, artistic expressions, and on another it's about capturing the emotion of the moment.

I've worked with some amazing people in the past year, and I'm expecting to do some incredible, amazing work in the coming year. Happy Anniversary to me, and to all Archetype Alums.

Congratulations Joseph Jeff Nominees

2008-09-07T05:01:00.000-07:00

Production – Play – Large
Around the World in 80 Days, Lookingglass Theatre Company
As You Like It, Writers' Theatre
The Comedy of Errors, Chicago Shakespeare Theater
The Crucible, Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Passion Play: a cycle in three parts, Goodman Theatre
Superior Donuts, Steppenwolf Theatre Company
The Trip to Bountiful, Goodman Theatre

Production - Play – Midsize
Cadillac, Chicago Dramatists
Defiance, Next Theatre Company
Juno and the Paycock, The Artistic Home
The Philadelphia Story, Remy Bumppo Theatre Company
Requiem for a Heavyweight, Shattered Globe Theatre
A Steady Rain, Chicago Dramatists
W;t, The Gift Theatre

Production – Musical – Large
Carousel, Court Theatre and Long Wharf Theatre
La Cage aux Folles, Theatre at the Center
Les Misérables, Marriott Theatre
Passion, Chicago Shakespeare Theater
The Producers, Marriott Theatre
Sweet Charity, Drury Lane Oakbrook

Production – Musical – Midsize
The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Bailiwick Repertory Theatre
Nine, Porchlight Music Theatre Chicago

Production - Revue
Ain't Misbehavin', Goodman Theatre
Campaign Supernova! or How Many Democrats Does It Take to Lose an Election?, The Second City e.t.c.
Ella, Northlight Theatre
The Mistress Cycle, Apple Tree Theatre

Ensemble – sponsored by Actors' Equity Association
Altar Boyz, Alter Boyz Chicago, LLC
Around the World in 80 Days, Lookingglass Theatre Company
Because They Have No Words, Piven Theatre
Campaign Supernova! or How Many Democrats Does It Take to Lose an Election?, The Second City e.t.c.
Funk It Up About Nothin', Chicago Shakespeare Theater
Les Misérables, Marriott Theatre
Nine, Porchlight Music Theatre Chicago
Sounds So Good Makes You Wanna Holler (Old School vs. New School), Black Ensemble Theater

New Work
Yussef El Guindi, Our Enemies: Lively Scenes of Love and Combat, Silk Road Theatre Project
Keith Huff, A Steady Rain, Chicago Dramatists
Bill Jepsen, Cadillac, Chicago Dramatists
Joel Drake Johnson, Four Places, Victory Gardens Theater
Tracy Letts, Superior Donuts, Steppenwolf Theatre Company
GQ and JQ, Funk It Up About Nothin', Chicago Shakespeare Theater
Eric Rosen, Wedding Play, About Face Theatre

New Adaptation
Laura Eason, Around the World in 80 Days, Lookingglass Theatre Company
Ron West, The Comedy of Errors, Chicago Shakespeare Theater

Director - Play
William Brown, As You Like It, Writers' Theatre
Lou Contey, Requiem for a Heavyweight, Shattered Globe Theatre
Barbara Gaines, The Comedy of Errors, Chicago Shakespeare Theater
Mark E. Lococo, The Miser, Northlight Theatre
PJ Paparelli, Speech & Debate, American Theater Company
Edward Sobel, Cadillac, Chicago Dramatists
Russ Tutterow, A Steady Rain, Chicago Dramatists

Director - Musical
Jim Corti, Meet Me In St. Louis, Drury Lane Oakbrook
Jim Corti, Sweet Charity, Drury Lane Oakbrook
Gary Griffin, Passion, Chicago Shakespeare Theater
Dominic Missimi, Les Misérables, Marriott Theatre
Charles Newell, Carousel, Court Theatre and Long Wharf Theatre
Marc Robin, The Producers, Marriott Theatre

Director - Revue
Stafford Arima, Alter Boyz, Altar Boyz Chicago, LLC
Jim Carlson, No Country for Old White Men, The Second City
Kurt Johns, The Mistress Cycle, Apple Tree Theatre
Rob Ruggiero, Ella, Northlight Theatre
Chuck Smith, Ain't Misbehavin', Goodman Theatre

Actor in a Principal Role - Play
Jon Michael Hill, Superior Donuts, Steppenwolf Theatre Company
D. J. Howard, Driving Miss Daisy, First Folio Shakespeare Festival
John Judd, Shining City, Goodman Theatre
Nick Sandys, Much Ado About Nothing, First Folio Shakespeare Festival
Randy Steinmeyer, A Steady Rain, Chicago Dramatists
Sean Sullivan, Requiem for a Heavyweight, Shattered Globe Theatre

Actor in a Principal Role - Musical
Larry Adams, Phantom, Theatre at the Center
Guy Adkins, The Producers, Marriott Theatre
John Cudia, Les Misérables, Marriott Theatre
Ross Lehman, The Producers, Marriott Theatre
Jeff Parker, Nine, Porchlight Music Theatre Chicago

Actress in a Principal Role- Play
Karen Aldridge, The Cook, Goodman Theatre
Shannon Cochran, The Lion in Winter, Writers' Theatre
Mary Beth Fisher, The Little Dog Laughed, About Face Theatre
Alexandra Main, W;t, The Gift Theatre
Lois Smith, The Trip to Bountiful, Goodman Theatre
Mary Ann Thebus, Four Places, Victory Gardens Theater

Actress in a Principal Role - Musical
Ana Gasteyer, Passion, Chicago Shakespeare Theater
Heidi Kettenring, Little Women, Marriott Theatre
Johanna McKenzie Miller, Phantom, Theatre at the Center
Summer Naomi Smart, Sweet Charity, Drury Lane Oakbrook
Kathy Voytko, Passion, Chicago Shakespeare Theater

Solo Performance
Bradley Armacost, C. S. Lewis on Stage, Provision Theater Company
Thomas J. Cox, Nelson Algren: For Keeps and a Single Day, Lookingglass Theatre Company and the Museum of Contemporary Art
Judith Ivey, The Lady With All The Answers, Northlight Theatre
Michael Joseph Mitchell, Underneath the Lintel, City Lit Theater in association with BoarsHead Theater and CRM Productions, Inc.
Nilaja Sun, No Child... Lookingglass Theatre Company

Actor in a Supporting Role - Play
Joe Dempsey, Wedding Play, About Face Theatre
Kevin Douglas, Around the World in 80 Days, Lookingglass Theatre Company
Kevin McKillip, Jeeves Intervenes, First Folio Shakespeare Theatre
Rob Riley, Cadillac, Chicago Dramatists
Brian Sills, Cymbeline, Chicago Shakespeare Theater
Mark Ulrich, Juno and the Paycock, The Artistic Home
Larry Yando, As You Like It, Writers' Theatre

Actor in a Supporting Role - Musical
Richard Todd Adams, Les Misérables, Marriott Theatre
Brandon Dahlquist, Knute Rockne All-American, Theatre at the Center
Rob Lindley, Carousel, Court Theatre and Long Wharf Theatre
Michael Aaron Lindner, The Producers, Marriott Theatre
Stephen Schellhardt, Little Women, Marriott Theatre

Actress in a Supporting Role - Play
Lesley Bevan, Othello, Chicago Shakespeare Theater
Hallie Foote, The Trip to Bountiful, Goodman Theatre
Ora Jones, Carter's Way, Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Polly Noonan, Passion Play: a cycle in three parts, Goodman Theatre
Jacqueline Williams, The Miser, Northlight Theatre

Actress in a Supporting Role - Musical
Marilynn Bogetich, Phantom, Theatre at the Center
Cory Goodrich, Hello, Dolly!, Theatre at the Center
Jessie Mueller, Carousel, Court Theatre and Long Wharf Theatre
Alene Robertson, The Full Monty, Marriott Theatre
Kathy Voytko, Les Misérables, Marriott Theatre

Actor in a Revue
John Steven Crowley, Ain't Misbehavin', Goodman Theatre
Brian Crum, Alter Boyz, Altar Boyz Chicago, LLC
James Rank, The American Dream Songbook, Next Theatre Company

Actress in a Revue
E. Faye Butler, Ain't Misbehavin', Goodman Theatre
E. Faye Butler, Ella, Northlight Theatre
Laura Grey, Campaign Supernova! or How Many Democrats Does It Take to Lose an Election?, The Second City e.t.c.
Angela Ingersoll, The Mistress Cycle, Apple Tree Theatre
Amber Ruffin, No Country for Old White Men, The Second City

Scenic Design - Large
Brian Sidney Bembridge, The Goodbye Girl, Drury Lane Oakbrook
Brian Sidney Bembridge, Meet Me In St. Louis, Drury Lane Oakbrook
E. David Cosier, The Trip to Bountiful, Goodman Theatre
Allen Moyer, Passion Play: a cycle in three parts, Goodman Theatre
Keith Pitts, The Defiant Muse, Victory Gardens Theater

Scenic Design - Midsize
Kevin Depinet, Cadillac, Chicago Dramatists
Kevin Hagan, Suddenly, Last Summer, Shattered Globe Theatre
Kevin Hagan, Requiem for a Heavyweight, Shattered Globe Theatre
Chelsea Meyers, Juno and the Paycock, The Artistic Home
Jacqueline & Richard Penrod, The Philadelphia Story, Remy Bumppo Theatre Company

Costume Design - Large
Nikki Delhomme, La Cage aux Folles, Theatre at the Center
Ana Kuzmanic, The Comedy of Errors, Chicago Shakespeare Theater
Nancy Missimi, The Producers, Marriott Theatre
Nancy Missimi, Les Misérables, Marriott Theatre
Tatjana Radisic, Meet Me in St. Louis, Drury Lane Oakbrook

Costume Design - Midsize
Karen Kawa, Fatboy, A Red Orchid Theatre
Rachel Laritz, The Philadelphia Story, Remy Bumppo Theatre Company
Elsa Hiltner, Driving Miss Daisy, First Folio Shakespeare Festival
Cybele Moon, Suddenly, Last Summer, Shattered Globe Theatre
Bill Morey, Nine, Porchlight Music Theatre Chicago

Sound Design - Large
Cecil Averett, Passion Play: a cycle in three parts, Goodman Theatre
Barry G. Funderburg, Carter's Way, Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Andrew Hansen, As You Like It, Writers' Theatre
Joshua Horvath, Around the World in 80 Days, Lookingglass Theatre Company
Andre Pluess, The Turn of the Screw, Writers' Theatre

Sound Design - Midsize
Jack Arky, Because They Have No Words, Piven Theatre
Andre Pluess, Much Ado About Nothing, First Folio Shakespeare Festival
Miles Polaski, White People, The Gift Theatre
Mike Tutaj, Requiem for a Heavyweight, Shattered Globe Theatre
Mike Tutaj, Suddenly, Last Summer, Shattered Globe Theatre

Lighting Design - Large
Lee Keenan, Around the World in 80 Days, Lookingglass Theatre Company
Jesse Klug, Sweet Charity, Drury Lane Oakbrook
J. R. Lederle, The Turn of the Screw, Writers' Theatre
Philip S. Rosenberg, Cymbeline, Chicago Shakespeare Theater
Diane Ferry Williams, Les Misérables, Marriott Theatre

Lighting Design - Midsize
Christopher Ash, Wedding Play, About Face Theatre
Mike Durst, Requiem for a Heavyweight, Shattered Globe Theatre
John Horan, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Bailiwick Repertory Theatre
John Horan, W;t, The Gift Theatre
J. R. Lederle, Fiction, Remy Bumppo Theatre Company

Choreography
David H. Bell, Knute Rockne All-American, Theatre at the Center
Christopher Gattelli, Alter Boyz, Altar Boyz Chicago, LLC
Mitzi Hamilton, Sweet Charity, Drury Lane Oakbrook
Rudy Hogenmiller, La Cage aux Folles, Theatre at the Center
Marc Robin, The Producers, Marriott Theatre

Original Incidental Music
Andrew Hansen, As You Like It, Writers' Theatre
Alaric Jans & Lindsay Jones, Cymbeline, Chicago Shakespeare Theater
Darrell Leonard, Carter's Way, Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Kevin O'Donnell, Around the World in 80 Days, Lookingglass Theatre Company
David Pavkovic, Nelson Algren: For Keeps and A Single Day, Lookingglass Theatre Company and the Museum of Contemporary Art

Fight Choreography
Kevin Asselin, As You Like It, Writers' Theatre
Robin McFarquhar, Cymbeline, Chicago Shakespeare Theater
Nick Sandys, The Defiant Muse, Victory Gardens Theater
Nick Sandys, Requiem for a Heavyweight, Shattered Globe Theatre

Musical Direction
Rob Berman, Passion, Chicago Shakespeare Theater
George Caldwell, Ella, Northlight Theatre
Eugene Dizon, Nine, Porchlight Music Theatre Chicago
Brad Haak, Les Misérables, Marriott Theatre
Doug Peck, Carousel, Court Theatre and Long Wharf Theatre
Jimmy Tillman, Sounds So Good Makes You Wanna Holler (Old School vs. New School), Black Ensemble Theater

Artistic Specializations
Rupert Bohle, Passion Play: a cycle in three parts, Goodman Theatre
Marty Higginbotham & Bobby Richards, Speech & Debate, American Theater Company
John Musial, Nelson Algren: For Keeps and A Single Day, Lookingglass Theatre Company and the Museum of Contemporary Art
Mike Tutaj, I Do! I Do!, American Theater Company
Mike Tutaj, Our Enemies: Lively Scenes of Love and Combat, Silk Road Theatre Project

...and we're back...

2008-09-01T09:47:00.000-07:00

How is it possible that August disappeared so quickly? Although we still have weeks of great weather -- usually the best of the entire year -- I've always felt like when August is done, so is summer.

And with fall, no matter how long it's been since I've sat in a classroom, I always feel like it's time to start getting ready for school. Or revamping audition materials. For me, September 1 has always felt like the real New Year's Day.

And what's more, I've been doing headshots for a full year now! I can hardly believe it. I've worked with some the best and brightest talent in Chicago and we've generated some incredible, fresh images that have landed people work. From the off-Loop, non-Equity theatre scene, to independent films, to modeling agencies, and soon even in London actors and theater companies will be using Archetype Images to tell the entertainment industry who they are.

And for me, this summer has been one of the greatest learning experiences. I've been expanding my skills and started working in the wedding industry. If you thought a tech week was tough, try juggling a couple of weddings and then get back to me.

But the building of the wedding portfolio has begun. I have three scenarios in the can, so to speak, and two more planned. Wedding photos are an entirely different genre from marketing images, but there are definitely some common themes. It's all about telling a story and using all of the components of a still image to convey that story, including color, composition, light and subject. It's a fascinating area and in the coming weeks I look forward to sharing some incredible images I've taken as well as revamping the website to include my wedding packages.

20080-2009 is going to be a great year!

How Are They Doing?

2008-07-26T07:18:00.001-07:00

As we head into our August vacation, I thought it was a great opportunity to catch up with some Archetype Alums and see what they've been up to, and what they have planned for the upcoming season.

Joette Waters recently shot a short film that is under consideration for inclusion in the Democratic National Convention. You can see Joette here. And if you go to the website, your vote may help it get shown!

Jay Johnson used the proofs of this shot -- not even a finished headshot -- and landed a role in an independent film with 9:23 Films entitled Chicago Heights.

This is a great example of targeting your headshots. With Jay's military background we wanted to target the tough cop archetype. The specificity of this shot was interesting, yet univeral enough to get him called for a sexually conflicted minister. When Jay wrote and told me about the film he said, "I did want to let you know that I cut out a proof and sent it as a headshot for an audition, the one with the vest and the sleeves pushed up, for a "reverand" role...and I GOT IT! Man, you've got the magic eye, that's for sure."

Mary Anne Bowman, who just finished a run at the Theater Building in one of four one-acts entitled 4Play received unsolicited praise for her headshot: "One of them said almost exactly what you have on your archetype blog -- that the picture really shows who I am as a person and that the eyes are very striking. You really do have a good eye. Virtually everyone in the business (actors, directors and the like) have been the most impressed with the green shirt shot."

Dominic Bogart, who is one of the ensemble members of the Chicago company for Jersey Boys was promoted to covering the four leads. He's currently auditioning around Chicago and it looks like he intends to make it his home.

Next season at The Side Project will include a fall one-act festival (three productions in rep, running from November 16 thru December 21,) with a similar slot set for April. Adam Webster, artistic director, is spreading his wings and currently has a production of Glengarry Glen Ross running with RedTwist. And opening September 27, he is directing a production of Dracula for Theatre-Hikes out at Moron Arboretum.

Also currently running and receiving rave reviews is Eclipse Theatre's Plaza Suite at the Victory Garden's Greenhouse. Next up is Lillian Hellman's The Autumn Garden, directed by artistic director, Nat Swift.

Kate Teichman is perhaps one of the hardest working actors in Chicago. She's currently playing Daniel Day Lewis in the Prop Theater's production of Daniel Day Lewis and the Big Potatoes. Opening at the end of October will be her own production of The Maids at the Acme Art Works space, 2215 W. North Ave.

Lizzie Lovelady is assistant stage managing Iolanthe for Light Opera Works, and will begin her first professional directing assignment as assistant director on Love Person with Sandy Shiner at Victory Gardens.

And last, but certainly not least...

Ryan Salzwedel has also been very busy, shooting a short film, The Getaway Job, the hidden camera show Entrapment, and a lead role for an Animal Planet production. In August he'll shoot the feature Little Fur. 2009 will be big for Ryan. He's making the move to the East coast! You can read Ryan's blog here.

OK. That's it for us. See you in September!

Plaza Suite

2008-07-19T04:22:00.000-07:00

Perhaps, in the serious-minded, off-Loop theatre community there is no more provocative two words than "Neil Simon." You don't do Neil Simon. His plays are worthy pieces of Theatre. They're froth. "High-school kids knock this stuff out of the park."

Several years ago, while I had disengaged from the theater scene and was clawing my way up the corporate ladder, I heard there was a company who was devoting an entire season to Neil Simon. I thought the idea was genius. High-school kids and amateur community theater groups do indeed knock this stuff out of the park. Having been a part of a community theater as a teen, I can tell you that his plays were cash cows that kept more than one group afloat. Audiences love his work.

Which is truly a testament quality, not mediocrity. This summer there is a chance to see one of Simon's most popular plays, Plaza Suite, and the genius of the playwright and of Eclipse Theatre just rolls across the stage. Simon's texts are delicately structured. The dialogue is constructed perfectly so that the audience can laugh and still not miss a syllable. The saying goes, "Death is easy, Comedy is hard." Well writing comedy is harder. His plays are like spun sugar castles. They taste good to the uneducated palate, but to the connoisseur the artistry of the dialogue construction is reason to love Simon. There is no playwright, Shakespeare included, who consistently delivers comic delight.

Eclipse offers an all-star cast in this delightful production of Plaza Suite, running now at the the Victory Gardens Greenhouse through Labor Day. Directed by Steve Scott, this cast includes Ted Hoerl, Nora Fiffer, Nathaniel Swift, Jon Steinhagen, JP Pierson, Cheri Chenoweth, CeCe Klinger, and Frances Wilkerson. Even if you're a theatre snob -- or especially if you're a theatre snob -- you should not miss this production.

Ken Puttbach Designs

2008-07-14T03:29:00.001-07:00

Last December, during one of the worst ice storms in Chicago's history, I went to Loyola to shoot the set up for a fundraising, Christmas party at Loyola University. It was a relatively small affair for three hundred of Loyola's most ardent supporters that was designed by Ken Puttbach Designs. Ken and his staff spent two days transforming a meeting room into a old English Christmas wonderland.

Now, in all fair disclosure, not only is Ken a brilliant party designer, he's also a friend of mine. That said...he's a brilliant designer. And he's busy. So, if you're in the need of party or bridal designs, call him now and book. Especially for the holidays. because Ken's schedule fills up quickly. Check out the Archetype website for contact information.

By Popular Demand...

2008-07-06T09:10:00.000-07:00

...coming soon...Wedding Photo Services

Vacation

2008-07-01T04:32:00.000-07:00

A much-earned, and well-deserved vacation for Archetype Images: the entire month of August. Book your September sessions now.

Jay Johnson

2008-06-28T03:43:00.000-07:00

Specificity really is the key to a successful headshot, just as it is in acting.

Jay and I met to discuss his career goals. Recently retired from the military, Jay is working on his masters degree and focusing on his first love, acting. When I asked him what types of roles he saw himself playing, he said, "professor." This was a great jumping off point for our photo session.

We talked about what visually communicated "professor," and quickly discarded tweed jacket and pipe as being to on-the-nose. Still, we wanted casting directors to get a sense that Jay was intelligent and warm. We settled on a background of books and an apple as a prop.

In creating a specific shot, we came up with one that is also universal. Jay is warm and inviting and any casting director looking for a professor is going to stop and seriously consider this picture. But because there's a universal appeal in the pose and smile, Jay is going to be considered for 'young dad,' 'good boyfriend,' and 'stand-up guy.' By being specific in the intention in the picture, we've created a shot that stops a viewer who is flipping through a stack of resumes and will consider him for a number of different types of roles.

Check out the Archetype website to see another example from Jay's shoot.

Plaza Suite

2008-06-21T17:00:00.000-07:00

Long, long ago, my first job was at the Drake Hotel as the night bellman. It was a very glamorous job and I met many celebrities and made lots and lots of money. Then a landed in my first show and gave the job up, but I've always remembered it fondly.

So, it was very strange to be asked to go back to the Drake to do the pre-production publicity shots for the upcoming Eclipse Theatre's production of Plaza Suite that opens on July 17th at the Victory Gardens Greenhouse. The shoot was done in one of the larger suites in the hotel, one I'd been in many times and one that had not changed. For this occasion it was standing in for the Plaza, circa 1968. It was perfect.

I had a great time with this shoot. It took a couple of hours as we waited for various actors to arrive, and at the end there was a bottle of champagne. Hopefully, as the opening comes closer you'll see all of the selected shots in the media, but this picture has particular meaning for me. It's like looking through a prism in time and seeing a fragmented version of my former self.

The Eclipse company is filled with some really great people and it's my honor to have been asked to take these pictures. I've seen the designs, read the script, and met the actors. This will be a wonderful production, just the thing for a summer outing. Don't miss it

Congratulations Non-Equity Jeff Winners

2008-06-10T03:26:00.000-07:00

Production – Play
The Island of Dr. Moreau - Lifeline Theatre

Production - Musical
Jerry Springer - The Opera - Bailiwick Repertory Theatre
1776 - Signal Ensemble Theatre

Ensemble
Machos - Teatro Luna

Director - Play
Greg Kolack - columbinus - Raven Theatre

Director - Musical
Fred Anzevino - Cabaret - Theo Ubique Theatre Company i/a/w Beverle Bloch & Michael James

New Work
Teatro Luna & Coya Paz - Machos - Teatro Luna

New Adaptation
Robert Kauzlaric - The Island of Dr. Moreau - Lifeline Theatre

Actress in a Principal Role - Musical
Elizabeth Lanza - Can-Can - Circle Theatre

Actress in a Principal Role - Play
Vanessa Greenway - The Constant Wife - Griffin Theatre Company

Actor in a Principal Role - Musical
Jeremy Trager - Cabaret - Theo Ubique Theatre Company i/a/w Beverle Bloch & Michael James

Actor in a Principal Role - Play
Sam Wootten - Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde - Bohemian Theatre Ensemble

Actress in a Supporting Role - Musical
Danielle Brothers - Cabaret - Theo Ubique Theatre Co. i/a/w Beverle Bloch & Michael James

Actress in a Supporting Role - Play
Kathleen Ruhl - Dolly West's Kitchen - TimeLine Theatre Company

Actor in a Supporting Role - Musical
Jeremy Rill - Jerry Springer - The Opera - Bailiwick Repertory Theatre

Actor in a Supporting Role - Play
Hans Fleischmann - In a Dark Dark House - Profiles Theatre
Ron Wells - A Prayer for My Daughter - Mary-Arrchie Theatre Co.

Scenic Design
Michael Menendian & Leif Olsen - The Night of the Iguana - Raven Theatre

Costume Design
Elizabeth Shaffer - An Ideal Husband - Circle Theatre

Lighting Design
Kevin D. Gawley - The Island of Dr. Moreau - Lifeline Theatre

Sound Design
Stephen Ptacek - Faster - the side project

Choreography
Brenda Didier - The Life - Bohemian Theatre Ensemble

Original Incidental Music
Victoria DeIorio - The Island of Dr. Moreau - Lifeline Theatre
Gregor Mortis & Mikhail Fiksel - A Lie of the Mind - Strawdog Theatre Company
Kevin O'Donnell - The Nutcracker - The House Theatre of Chicago

Music Direction
Joshua Stephen Kartes - Cabaret - Theo Ubique Theatre Co i/a/w Beverle Bloch & Michael James

Mask Design
Kimberly G. Morris - The Island of Dr. Moreau - Lifeline Theatre

Multiple Marketing Images

2008-06-05T18:21:00.000-07:00

One of the founding principles for Archetype Images is to work with Chicago professionals who are serious about their profession, who take responsibility for their professionalism instead of relying on "talent," and "luck" alone to bring them success. Many lose sight of the fact that as an actor or musician or director, they are offering a service in a very tough business. And in marketing themselves, they frequently misunderstand the typical agent and photographer advice to get headshots that "show who you are." What is left out of that statement is "who you are within a specific context." It is up to the professional to define the context in which he wants to be seen, or in other words to target his marketing efforts so that the people who are interested in buying his services know exactly what services he offers.

Dominic Bogart is a passionate actor. Rarely have I worked with an actor who understood better that he works within an industry, and yet has found a way to embrace the artistry of that industry. Currently appearing in Jersey Boys, Dominic loves...loves ... what he does. But if the truth were told, he really wants a shot at working on darker material. Like many actors, Hamlet is his dream role. During our shoot he told me that he could be prepared to go on in the role in less than two weeks. He's the perfect Hamlet type. He has the perfect energy for the role. Yet, if you read his resume, you'd assume that his focus is national musical tours. He's played Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar, and Mark in Rent. So, how does he get from the company of Jersey Boys to a paying gig as Hamlet?

Well, his first step is to help the people who hire Hamlets to see him as that character. Standing alone, each of these shots is a great picture of Dominic, but they may be a little too specific to use as a stand-alone headshot. Most agents would tell him to reshoot and get rid of the shadows. They don't do anything to enhance his current brand as a reliable, commercial actor with a strong resume in musical theater and independent film. That, however, does not mean that these shots can't or shouldn't be used. One example might be to use these shots as a border on a website, that features his resume with his national tour and independent film credits. With a very specific style, these shots enhance Dominic's brand as a serious actor, a casting director can see a dimension that perhaps his current resume may not indicate.

A website is something that a serious actor should start giving some serious consideration to. In the very, very near future an actor without a website is going to be looked upon as unfortunate; just as an actor without a headshot is viewed today. And an actor who goes into a photoshoot just wanting a headshot that shows "who he is" will really be missing an opportunity to define his brand and expand his market presence. Instead of asking for a "commercial" and a "dramatic" headshot, actors should be asking for headshots that target specific roles, precise segments of the entertainment industry, and taking advantage of the growing influence of digital media for marketing themselves.

Check out the Archetype Images website to see the other images from Dominic's shoot that define him commercial and leading man roles.

Barrel of Monkeys

2008-05-30T05:33:00.000-07:00

Are there any deeper, darker, more terrifying words in the English language than 'children's theater?'

Last winter I was contacted about taking publicity shots for The Barrel of Monkeys. Trying to keep an open mind, I asked if I could see a show first. Performing at the ungodly hour of one o'clock, I trucked down to the Neofuturarium to catch the matinee. The Barrel of Monkeys show is a collection of skits written by children and performed...for children. When I arrived at the theater, it was packed with kids ranging in age from three to ten and their parents. Many were repeat visitors and all of them, including the parents, seemed giddy with excitement.

The material covers a wide variety of topics, from a skit on how to make friends to a production number proclaiming the virtues of jelly. Where the actors found all that energy on a blustery Saturday afternoon still mystifies me, but the performance was crisp and the overall approach was respectful of the material. There is nothing more tiresome than a bunch of adult actors condescending to kids -- or worse, trying to be a kid. But this troupe assumes that their audience is smart and speaks directly to the kids in their own language. "Jelly is good," had many kids in the audience nodding at that sage observation. The audience would erupt into laughter at punch lines that completely stumped me, but there was no denying that the kids loved the show, and as a result I loved it too.

The Monkeys travel around and perform at different venues, so a trip to their website is the best way to find out how to catch a performance. And even if you don't have kids, their shows can be enjoyed on a variety of adult levels. Go. Enjoy. Jelly Rules!

Kristine Kavanaugh

2008-05-23T16:57:00.000-07:00

When I met with Krissy to plan her headshots, we focused on her career goals. Where most actors answer the question, "What kind of roles do you want to play?" with the answer, "I just want to work;" Krissy was laser precise. She's developing her improvisation skills with an eye toward a starring role in a sitcom. To that end, she's written a one-woman show, Am I Crazy, or Just Highly Evolved.

This is the focus that improves Krissy's chances for success.

As we went further into the discussion, we talked about what the sitcom might look like. She sees herself in a blue-collar, working-class story not unlike Roseanne. However, it's also clear that she's much lighter in spirit and while talking to her I was continually reminded of Goldie Hawn. Though there is absolutely no resemblance between the two actors, Krissy was struck by that comparison. With a sitcom in view and informed by Goldie Hawn as a model, Krissy and I discussed how we might visually convey that. We talked about props and poses. Everything that would say, "blue-collar Goldie Hawn." The image above is the result.

Actors are often told that casting directors just want to see them. Nothing could be further from the truth. Casting directors want to see the characters they are casting. The chances are much greater that a casting director is looking for a "blue-collar Goldie Hawn," than they are a "Kristine Kavanaugh." They want to believe that the picture they hold in their hands is of an actor who possesses that indefinable quality that will make the role their casting memorable. By being specific in what Krissy is saying, this picture catches the viewer's attention. On her way to that sitcom, this picture will also get Krissy considered for a lot of other work. Check out some of the other shots from the shoot at ArchetypeImages.com.

Working Archetype -- Mary Anne Bowman

2008-05-23T07:38:00.000-07:00

Have you ever seen Mary Anne Bowman act? It's a velvet visceral experience. She is a dynamo that is ready to break free at any moment and the enjoyment is in seeing how and when.

Mary Anne is working to corner the niche market of the Great Roles in the English-speaking canon, and that includes translations. When we discussed her headshots, she told me that she loved doing screwball comedy, but it was the tragic roles that really interested her. And, not willing to be pigeonholed, she wants the great roles, regardles of gender. Currently she's gunning for the role off MacBeth. While I have my reservations about a woman pulling of such a masculine role, if ever there was a woman who could do it, it's Mary Anne. And I will definitely be in the front row cheering her on.

Soon, Mary Anne will appears in 4Play at The Theatre Building, running June 5 thru 29.

Targeted Communication

2008-05-15T18:23:00.000-07:00

At the end of the day, the headshot doesn't get you the job. It doesn't get you the audition. It gets the casting director to turn the picture over to read the resume. Then if the director has any interest, if the credits reflect similar roles to the one she's casting or if there's something that catches her eye, she flips it back over to the picture and says, "Is this guy my Hamlet?" If the picture does its job, it lands your resume in the "Yes" pile and you get a call.

Or, the headshot serves as a visual reminder of your audition. It has to look like you, but it should also evoke your personal style, perhaps characterize the monologue. If your headshot looks like everyone else's, I can tell you from experience, that after about the tenth monologue, all actors start to blend together. Your monologue was selected to show you off to your best advantage. It was carefully prepared. Shouldn't your headshot have more preparation than standing next to an open window on a sunny day?

A good headhsot is a well-thought-out part of an overall strategy that targets specific segments of the entertainment market, be that genres, such as film, musical theater, television, industrials, etc; or types of roles, such as epic, tragic, light comic. A good headshot does more than just "capture your essence," (whatever that means) or shows what you look like. And in spite of what photographers tell you, the photo shoot is more than "fun." It's work, and it's your job to work with the photographer to make it look effortless. Just like rehearsal, a good shoot is focused. And the focus is on communicating to your audience who you are within the context of the industry.

The most successful actors know what their professional goals are. Yet, ask an actor what type of work he wants, and most will hesitate in giving an answer. Either he's embarrassed or afraid or doesn't know. But that ambiguity shows, not only in his answer but his headshot.

It shows.

The Archetype Images mission is to work with professionals to help them create a marketing image that speaks to their targeted market segments. Beginning with the consultation, the discussion is all about where you see your career going and how we can visually communicate that to the weary casting director who has seen three hundred pictures of smiling actors backed against a brick wall and shot in natural light, beaming their essence.

Jennifer Buhrow

2008-05-07T04:43:00.000-07:00

There are just somethings that entertainment and marketing professionals have to deal with that members of the other professions do not. Imagine this scenario:

A young, smart, highly qualified female lawyer walks into a recruiter's office to discuss a potential position with a firm. It's a good-paying job and the lawyer has a resume that demonstrates she is a perfect candidate. The recruiter is also a woman with an impressive list of accomplishments and clients.

The lawyer sits down in the office. The recruiter says to her, "You didn't get the job. You're not sexy enough."

If this scenario played out in the corporate world, the lawyer would become incredibly wealthy as a result of this conversation. Hiring bias based on sexuality is illegal...in every industry except the entertainment industry. And if you're an actress, it's likely an everyday occurence.

Let's set aside the absurdity of the statement, and let's also ignore the fact that sexiness is in the eye of the beholder. The fact is that beautiful young actresses and models (and to a much lesser degree, actors) are held responsible for measuring up to an arbitrary, ever-changing standard of beauty.

In the recent Archetype project seeking actresses to create edgier headshots, I chose Jen for the "musical theater ingenue" archetype. Jen has some experience with some of the smaller area dinner theaters, but would really like to break into the world of Marriott and Drury Lane. Jen is a full-time actress and model, and much of that is as a professional spokesperson. In a recent conversation an agent who only sent her on assignments sporadically told Jen that she didn't get the jobs because her pictures weren't sexy enough.

This is exactly the type of situation that Archetype Images is dedicated to addressing. So, not only did we create an image targeted at musical theater (see website), we actively discussed creating a "sexy businesswoman" shot. This discussion was incredibly interesting, and we talked about women in corporate America, and the essence of their power and strength and how those combine with sexuality. As we began the shoot, our shots tended more toward the sexy and less toward the businesswoman. But as both Jen and I relaxed with the concept and got to know each other, we were able to combine the two concepts.

Ultimately, for the purposes of this project, I chose the shot above. In it, Jen is engaged in a conversation. The partner in this scene, the camera, is saying something very interesting, perhaps enlightening, and it is inspiring some new thoughts for Jen. This activity is exactly what turns a good headshot into a great marketing image. And it's this activity that actually helps put Jen in the sexy businesswoman category.

Working Archetypes

2008-04-30T16:54:00.000-07:00

Chicago playwright, Laura Jacqmin received the second annual Wendy Wasserstein Prize. The $25,000 award is given to a female playwright who has yet to receive national attention for her work. Last fall Archetype Images did publicity shots for the world premiere of the Side Project production of her play Butt Nekkid. Soon, Jacqmin's play 10 Virgins will be produced at the Chicago Dramatists Workshop.

Beau (Nick) Nelson recently shot the lead in a regional commercial, has done several small independent films, and in July will be going to Los Angeles with his agent to seek West-Coast representation.

Lizzie Lovelady is currently stage managing the Oil Lamp Theater production of Twelve Angry Jurors, and is making tremendous strides to establishing her directing career, with a too-soon-to-announce project with a major theater in the offing. She is also feverishly pursuing her first major career goal, working with the Neo-Futurists.

Kate Teichman is currently running in two one acts produced by the Curious Theater Branch in The Other Side of the Elephant festival, in June will start teaching improv with The Mudlark Theater, and will be opening her independent production of The Maids this fall.

Brian Coleman recently participated in the Northwestern University Acting Showcase in New York City. Northwestern selects exceptional graduating seniors to introduce to the New York theater community.

Erica Danielle

2008-04-25T06:34:00.000-07:00

Success in the entertainment and marketing fields is all -- ALL -- about focus. With the increase in technology, marketing strategies are all about sharply defining your market and crafting your message for that market.

Here is where Archetype Images believes that most actors and models make a misstep. For very real financial reasons, they tend to choose one image that appears to have the best chance of opening the door to work. By trying to 'be all things to all people' most headshots really end up being rather generic. If you ever have the opportunity to sit down and look at a stack of headshots, you'll find that after about ten they all begin to blur together. So imagine being headshot number six-hundred-and-fifty-eight out of a thousand? That picture had better have something going for it besides you, because all nine-hundred-and-ninety-nine other pictures are of cute brunettes, just like you. And if that picture doesn't speak to a casting director so that she flips it over to read the resume, and call you in for an audition or a meeting, isn't it just a waste of money?

This is the fundamental issue that Archetype Images was created to address, and to that end we ran an ad looking for three adventurous actresses and/or models to try and expand the definition of a 'good headshot' in general, and increase the style options for Chicago talent in particular.

First up is Erica Danielle. Erica started out as a children's model and has progressed to fashion shoots and works regularly as a petite runway model. In our discussions, we were able to help Erica define three specific niche markets that she was most interested in. The shot above is her Mommy shot.

Every actress between the ages of twenty and fifty needs to have a Mommy shot. For unknown talent, that's where a big chunk of money is, especially for commercials and print. Now, ask yourself: does that shot of me up against a brick wall say "Mommy?" If so, I don't want to know about your childhood.

We took Erica to the park. With kids running around and the swings and slides, the setting communicated Mommy to the viewer, so all Erica has to do is be herself.

The other two markets for Erica are fashion and as a business spokesperson. Visit the Archetype Images website and compare all three shots. In all three composition, color, and context do the work to focus the image and communicate to a specific market, giving Erica's headshot in the middle of a stack of one thousand shots a better chance of standing out.

Beyond the Brick Wall

2008-04-19T03:42:00.000-07:00

I became passionate about acting when I was in high school. At that time, the acting heroes were Meryl Streep, Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino. There were others, of course, but there was a devotion to 'the craft,' that reached back through Stella Adler, Sanford Meisner and Lee Strasberg all the way to Stanislavski. All of these people (with the possible exception of Stanislavski -- damn the communists!) became quite famous and wealthy, but the fame and wealth were the byproduct of their real work, which was to tell stories. Today that devotion seems to have been commercialized. Mischa Barton instead of Meryl Streep.

While in high school, I became passionate about all things theatrical. Being poor, and living in the cornfields of Iowa, long before the Internet, I lived for the Sunday New York Times at the local library. The Tony Awards broadcast was like a drop of rain on a desert. The local college hosted a "How to Break Into Show Business" Seminar, and I was front row, pen and paper in hand. I memorized the Shurtleff book.

I also studied headshots. Headshots at that time were transitioning from glamor to gritty. Soft-focus lenses gave way to brick backgrounds. In New York and Los Angeles the trends have moved into different directions, but in Chicago, the brick wall and slavish devotion to natural light still holds sway. There is nothing wrong with that style, but Archetype Images was born to offer an alternative.

Recently I ran an ad looking for three professionals who were willing to work with me to develop some test shots. I was looking for three types: "soccer mom," "musical-theater ingenue," and "character actress." I received approximately seventy responses, and choosing just three was difficult. Ultimately, I chose resumes that reflected something of an improvisation background. Pictured above are Krissy, Jen, and Erica.

Last weekend the four of us met to talk about their specific career goals and to toss around ideas for shots that went beyond the brick wall. Casting directors tell actors that the headshot should look like them. Photographers tell actors that the headshots "capture their essence." Well, how many women do you know who hang out in alleys or vacant lofts?

Archetype Images are about using all of the elements of a photograph to communicate who you are as a professional. Color. Composition. Lighting. Setting. These are all things that Krissy, Jen, Erica and I are going to experiment with over the coming weeks. The process will be documented here, and the final products will be posted on the Archetype website. All four of us are very excited about this project, so stay tuned!

Carlo Corbellini

2008-04-12T04:36:00.000-07:00

Carlo Corbellini is quite a remarkable young man. Originally from Rome and a recent Northwestern graduate with bachelor degrees in industrial engineering and economics, Carlo has also decided to expand upon a third talent: acting.

While talent is an essential element to the success of any actor, it's Carlo's focus that will earn him success. Focusing almost exclusively on film work, Carlo has already identified his major niche as the "threat" in a story. He feels that his blue eyes are one of his most distinguishing features and wants any headshot to draw attention to them.

By strategically placing the shadow in this shot and limiting the color palette to blue, brown, and black, we were able to draw attention to Carlo's eyes and create an aura of danger. This is an excellent example of a headshot using all of the elements of composition to communicate into which archetype the actor fits. Of course, because this shot is so specific Carlo also needs a shadow-free commercial shot. This shot (seen on the Archetype website) really captures Carlo's sweet nature. In it Carlo is "the best friend." As any character actor knows, the wider range that he can display to an agent, the more work he will receive.

In the next few months Carlo plans to move to Los Angeles. With these pictures, which combine popular elements of current trends from the L.A., New York, and Chicago markets, he can set up shop anywhere in the country -- or the world -- with a fresh look and garner attention immediately. We're proud to have Carlo be one of the Archetype signature faces.

On My Parents' One Hundredth Wedding Anniversary

2008-04-06T17:13:00.000-07:00

Jesse Weaver's On My Parents' One Hundredth Wedding Anniversary is the final offering of The Side Project's 2007-2008 season, and it is the perfect ending. If you've followed the entire season, it has gone from almost documentary realism and progressed through absurd theater, and finally begins to touch on expressionistic theater.

Years ago I had the opportunity to see the Dublin Theater's production of Waiting for Godot. If ever there was a play that begged to be cut, it is Godot, and if ever there was a production that took itself too seriously, it was that one. So, I approach conceptual theatre warily. The key is to make it appear effortless. While many abstract theater pieces carry a lot of weight and speak to universal themes, if the piece is too reverential it becomes didactic, and if it's too clownish the meaning is lost.

Luckily this production has Matt Hawkins at the helm. With his flawless cast, including Mickey Crocker, Jessica Hudson and Michael E Smith, Hawkins makes a highly stylized, conceptual piece of art that appears effortless and tossed off. And it's just plain fun. But I can tell you that from the tech I went to to plan the publicity shots, there is nothing -- NOTHING -- tossed off in this production. Every detail on the stage has been carefully considered. While one viewing of this play will be satisfying and entertaining, there are many layers and baroque details, all of them essential, that an audience member can explore on multiple viewings.

If you haven't seen a production at The Side Project, you really are missing out on some of the most exciting theater in Chicago, and possibly the country. It won't be long before this little company begins to receive the critical and box-office attention it deserves, and you'll want to be part of the growing crowd who can say, "I saw them when..."

All promotional images are available in the Promo section of the Archetype Images website.

Survey Says...

2008-03-28T19:23:00.000-07:00

Several weeks ago I sent out a brief survey to all of the people on my e-mail list, asking a few basic questions. Since Archetype Images is all about helping performing professionals and small businesses to target their marketing images, I wanted to determine the best places to focus my own marketing efforts. Of the nearly five-hundred people on my list, approximately ten percent responded. This is, of course, a wildly unscientific survey. To date, most of my marketing efforts have been focused on Craig's List, PerformInk, and direct mailings, so, it's not entirely surprising to find that the people on my mailing list would also favor those sources for finding work.

Much of the results were expected. I knew that most of my clients and potential clients are in the Chicago area, but I was surprised at the number of responses I received from New York and Los Angeles. I also had a fair number of responses from cities such as Detroit and Milwaukee.

Of the fifty-three responses, thirty-five said they found work on Craig's List, twenty-eight referred to PerformInk. Twelve mentioned Model Mayhem, and eight are listed with TalentHunter. One person mentioned the League of Chicago Theaters website.

Fifteen people were affiliated with actors' unions, and twelve of those were only with AFTRA. Eight were with Actor's Equity, and nine were SAG. The remaining are non-union.

Only fifteen identified themselves as actor/models. Eleven are exclusively models, and the remainder consider themselves only to be actors.

Most clients are listed with multiple agencies, with the most popular being Charlie's Talent, BMG, and Encore.

However, the most surprising responses came to the question about which agencies were viewed as the most helpful. Of course, actors and models tended to find the agencies that represented them to be the most helpful, but eight percent of the people who responded took the opportunity to express disappointment with Chicago agents in general. There was no agent or agency that was singled out. Rather, there was a consistent expression of frustration at the lack of professionalism and a low sense of business ethics.

Of course, that has been the lament of Chicago agents about the Chicago acting community for more than twenty years. Almost every Chicago agent will tell you that the Chicago talent pool has the reputation of being somewhat provincial, that the talent in Chicago does not take the business seriously. It was surprising to learn that perception is reciprocal in some quarters.

So, thank goodness for Archetype Images! Our mission is raise the level of professionalism within Chicago's talent community. I've been quite fortunate over the last few weeks to work with some astonishing talent. And it is our goal to help these dedicated professionals refine their approach to the industry by creating topnotch, emblematic marketing images that at once distinguish the artist from the crowd, and communicate who that person is artistically and professionally.

I want to extend my thanks to everyone who participated in my impromptu survey. With the coming of spring comes a renewed sense of commitment. Let's work together to raise the level of our art and our business!

Candles to the Sun

2008-03-21T04:23:00.000-07:00

A dear friend once said to me, "I'll take mediocre Tennessee Williams over the best of just about anyone else." I couldn't agree more. I don't think there are many who would argue the statement that Tennessee Williams is the greatest American playwright, and could easily fall within the category of the top five playwrights working in English. And of all playwrights, there are few who capture the dynamics between the male and female, from the female point of view, better than Williams.

So, keeping all of that in mind, you can imagine how excited I was to be asked if I'd be interested in shooting Candles to the Sun. Candles is Williams's recognized first full-length play. While it's not a masterpiece of stage literature, it is a pretty darn good script. In it you can already see Williams's recurring themes. In some ways it's like watching adolescent versions all of his greatest characters beginning to work themselves out, to stretch and introduce themselves to the world.

As I usually do with production shoots, I ask to sit in on a run thru before doing the actual shoot. I want to be able to make relatively informed suggestions for shots and I want to understand how the actors are relating to the space. The Eclipse cast was working in the Strawdog rehearsal space and I arrived a minute late. The huge cast was milling around, and I was afraid they had been waiting for me, so I tucked myself in an out-of-the-way corner and opened my notebook.

For an actor there is one terrifying point when the stage manager stands up and says, "Tonight if you call for line, you're going to have to figure it out for yourself. I won't be giving them." This was that rehearsal. However, this can also be the most exciting rehearsal because without the crutch of the script, or the safety net of someone on book, this is the first rehearsal when the characters have a chance to come to life. And for Candles to the Sun, come to life they did. In this cluttered rehearsal room, with only a table and a few chairs, these actors and this playwright made me forget I was watching a rehearsal. I became completely lost in the play and had to remind myself to take notes. It would be grossly unfair to single out one actor for superlatives. They were all that good. The direction is first rate, and the technical support is flawless.

The Eclipse Theatre Company is clearly entering its prime, and this is one production that simply cannot be missed. The shot above is one that was selected by Nat Swift for the press packet. Unfortunately, the press require nice, bright pictures, so I had to edit the final version for publication, but as a photographer I greatly prefer the version above.

See all of the publicity shots at http://www.archetypeimages.com/

Candles to the Wind, written by Tennessee Williams and directed by Steven Fedoruk, features Julie Daley, CeCe Klinger (pictured), Sorin Brouwers, Ariel Brenner, Stephen Dale, Nora Fiffer, Barbara Harris, John Milewski, Nina O'Keefe, JP Pierson, Rebecca Prescott, Kevin Scott, Chuck Spencer, Ross Travis, Josh Venditti, and Bubba Weiler.

Nicholas B. Nelson

2008-03-14T03:24:00.000-07:00

There is just a certain type of professional who commands respect, the type who comes in for a meeting or a job prepared, knows the agenda, the goals and limitations. Quite simply, a professional delivers one-hundred percent every time.

Nick came to me with a very specific need. He's a model, who over the last few months has been actively booking gigs and expanding his portfolio. And like many models, he is starting to transition into acting and needed some strong, all-purpose headshots. I've got to say, for a model based in Madison, Wisconsin, Nick works more steadily than many professionals in Chicago, New York, or Los Angeles. He's everywhere, turning over every rock, answering every audition notice, pounding on agency doors in all three major markets. Nick will not be denied.

We discussed his needs over the phone and had the standard wardrobe discussion. When Nick walked in, he was wearing his entire wardrobe. Dark suit, sweater vest, and interesting shirt, all impeccably tailored and pressed. Our shoot utilized pieces of what he was wearing and we got a wide range of looks. However, at one point he raised his arm and a tag fell out of the sleeve of his shirt. That's when he confessed.

"I spent twelve-hundred dollars for all of my shoots this week, and it's all going back."

Like many actors and models, Nick sometimes has to provide his own wardrobe, and he's found a creative way of doing it. It's a strategy that works for Nick. "If I didn't take all of this stuff back, I'd be broke." Yet, it's important for Nick as a working model and aspiring actor to give a flawless presentation. Even his shoes sparkled, and we didn't even shoot them, but it contributed to his frame of mind as a professional, and was reflected in the over-all presentation.

It's this attention to detail, this relentless energy, this preparation that is what makes Nick an outstanding professional, and what will eventually lead to unparalleled success.

Many agents will tell Nick that this headshot is not going to work because there is too much shadow in it. In point of fact, the shot works BECAUSE of the shadow and the way it falls below his right eye. The shadow frames the eyes and draws the viewer in to Nick. "But casting directors want to see what Nick looks like." Well, first, you can see that Nick is an attractive man in this picture. But what casting directors really want is to be intriqued. They want you to grab their attention. They want to be compelled to flip the picture over and look at the resume. And then they want an energetic, thoughtful professional to deliver the goods. That's Nicholas B. Nelson.

Faster

2008-03-06T16:59:00.000-08:00

Absurd theatre is, perhaps, the most delicate of all the theatrical genres. Absurd scripts are drawn in such broad strokes that the inclination of the director and the actors is to meet the playwright's bravura. But Joanie Shultz gets it right by taking a very delicate approach. Adam Rapp's Faster is a script that doesn't need a lot of gimmickry. The text speaks for itself. Shultz is blessed with a perfect cast in Bryson Engelen, Ryan Heindl, Paul Myers and Bries Vannon. There is not a weak performance, and while some actors have more lines than others, each actor is critical to the balance of this performance, just as each character is critical to the balance of the script. This is one of those shows where you forget you're in a theater.

It has been a long, long time since I've been as excited about a company and its work as I am about The Side Project. Chicago is world-renowned for its theater, and the consistently superb work that is put up by The Side Project is why. In addition to Faster, which opens tomorrow night, the dark-night production of Slipping is going into an extended run before it packs up and crosses the pond for the Dublin Gay Theater Festival in May.

If you want a sure thing for your theater dollar, you owe it to yourself to see these two shows at The Side Project. These shows are examples of why we do theater.

Archetype Light and Dark

2008-03-02T02:09:00.001-08:00

The prevailing wisdom about headshots is the best shot is the one that does not contain a single shadow.

I disagree.

It's not the light that communicates. It is the shadow and its placement, the shadow's color and intensity, that communicate more than anything else.

Joette Waters came to me because she wanted to add some "grandma" shots to her comp card. We talked about her recent auditions and the types of roles she wanted to play and we boiled them down to two archetypes: Good Grandma and Evil Grandma.

These two shots were taken with essentially the same set up. The only real difference is the type of light used and the camera angle, and yet these are very different pictures. The difference is not just in the expression, not just the severity of the light, but in the placement and intensity of the shadows.

It's true that they are also very specific headshots and that Good Grandma is probably going to get Joette more calls. But a complete session with a headshot photographer should not only include that standard, shadow-free shot, but it should also address your specific marketing needs and incorporate all elements of the photograph to communicate who you are as an artist and professional.

Anita Hoffman

2008-02-21T03:28:00.000-08:00

Anita Hoffman has become a regular on the Circle Theatre stage, appearing in their productions of Dear World, Steel Magnolias, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and others, not to mention assisting backstage with elements of various productions. As a smart, talented actor, she is a natural for Circle's smart, tight productions on their very economical stages.

The Mystery of Edwin Drood is one of Anita's favorite musicals, Princess Puffer is her all-time favorite role, and in the current Noble Fool Theatrical's production, she's recreating the Princess for Kevin Bellie for the third time. Anita and Kevin have worked together on several Circle productions, so when he called her to play the Princess again for him, she jumped at the chance. This time around, Anita says, her Princess is darker, but every bit as much fun as she has been in the two other productions she's done.

The great thing about Anita as a performer is the joy that she brings to the stage. She's one of those actors who draws the audience onto the stage with her. Backstage she is universally loved -- as evidenced by her many return trips to Circle.

Catch Anita in Drood running through April 12.

Slipping

2008-02-06T04:32:00.000-08:00

There are several considerations when taking a publicity photo, and the most important is what other shots editors are looking at while looking at the photo for your event. For a play you also need to consider a photo that captures a theme that the audience is likely to connect with. The photo should also contain some tension or some action. Conflict is always good. And as with all of The Side Project productions, this is an intimate, character-driven piece, so it's important that the photo contain a sense of that intimacy. Then finally you need to come down to the basic elements of composition, color, clarity, etc. The object isn't necessarily a "pretty picture," it's a picture that will stand out from a stack of others and be selected. That's exactly the same goal of a good headshot.

As an example, this photo for The Side Project's production of Daniel Talbott's Slipping offers an editor a number of unique features. Conflict, color, composition, all of which work to communicate the theme of the play. It also features the lead actor, Nate Santana. Nate turns in a delicate performance as a teen coping with the pressures of the changes in his family and personal lives, all the while trying to adjust to small-town America. All of the actors (as would be expected from a Side Project project) are outstanding, but the likelihood of the lead actor being mentioned in a review is high, so it's essential that the publicity packet include a clear shot of any actor who might receive special mention.

Slipping, directed by Adam Webster, is running in rep with Philip Dawkin's Perfect at The Side Project. These two are excellent companion pieces that offer more than stereotypical "teens trying to cope in a world gone mad." This is the second set of shows I've done for The Side Project and so far this season the focus has been on powerful young people and the stories about the moments in which those people discover their power. You're not going to find any of these kids in an '80's teen flick. It's been a fascinating collection of original scripts and for anyone who cares anything about live theater, The Side Project should definitely be on your "to-do" list.

Perfect

2008-01-30T19:50:00.000-08:00

Back in the day, one of the things I did was read original scripts submitted to one of the theater companies I worked with. Without putting too fine a point on it, there isn't a more grim job in all of theater. Sitting down with a work that contains someone's absolute best effort, I used to pray that I could make it to the end. I'd say that I was able to finish about ten percent of the scripts. Out of several hundred, I only directed two.

So, I approach premiere productions of original scripts very cautiously. Last week I was invited to watch the run thrus of The Side Project's next two shows running in rep for February. In both cases, within a matter of minutes my concerns were allayed and I was genuinely surprised to find two accomplished pieces receiving insightful and inspiring productions.

First up is Perfect, by Philip Dawkins and directed by Stephen Cone. It begins much like an after-school special, but quickly becomes complex and then becomes astonishing. There are seven characters, some with more stage time than others, but all fully drawn. Each one of them is a character that any actor would be thrilled to play. I can't discuss it beyond this point because that would be giving too much away, and this is a play you want to see with as little foreknowledge as possible. Cone gets some fine performances from a truly great cast. All I can say is, "See it!"

Next is a coming-of-age story called Slipping by Daniel Talbott and directed by Adam Webster. I'll discuss that and post one of the Archetype publicity stills in my next post.

Kate Teichman

2008-01-19T03:25:00.000-08:00

Kate is the first person I've met that could ever be called gamine. When we discussed her headshots, she stressed that her main focus was on theater. While she wasn't really opposed to signing with an agent and making lots of money, she really likes working on experimental or new theater pieces.

So, we decided to really try to express what makes Kate unique as a performer. Her physicality makes her one of the rarest of actresses, giving her a chameleon-like ability to move from delicate, feminine, Audrey-Hepburn roles, to tomboys. In fact she frequently is cast as a teenage boy and is currently working on a two-person project for the Prop Thtr's festival, to be followed with a production of Richard III; while last fall she worked simultaneously on three separate productions, including playing Honey in Virginia Woolf.

There is no doubt Kate will become one of Chicago's staple character actresses and our shoot captured that. Above we used the pose to create an angular composition to communicate an edginess, and a rich color palette to convey the contrasting components of Kate's talents and career goals. Check out our website to see how brighter colors were used for Kate to create a commercial shot.

Kids

2008-01-10T03:09:00.000-08:00

Putting kids into the business is a scary thing, but if done properly one job could be enough to set him or her up for life. A single national commercial can finance a law degree and possibly launch a career and a lifestyle that is beyond your wildest dreams.

Does your child have what it takes? Probably. Most kids have the raw talent and enthusiasm step in front of a camera or an audience and be charming and entertaining. But there is only one way to find out, and that is to do it.

Most agents will accept a simple snapshot to consider a professional kid. But just as with adult performers, you only get one shot to make a first impression. And even for kids, a home snapshot is the hallmark of an amateur.

But professional headshots are expensive, and up until about adolescence, working professional kids should have them done on average about every six months. After adolescence, boys can probably go every year, but girls should reshoot more often until about the age of sixteen. And that's just for acting. Models will need more shots more frequently.

That's why we're doing what we can to make the process as simple and as painless as possible. It's sometimes best to do kids' shoots in pairs, so we're offering a kids' rate (under the age of 12) of $175 for the first child, and $100 for the second child. Typically we'll get the right headshot in fifty frames. The proof sheets will be sent to you, and you can choose up to two finished headshots.

See our website for me details.

UPDATE: The little girl in the second shot (I don't want to publish children's names) just signed her first modeling contract with BMG Models!

New Year -- New You

2008-01-03T04:35:00.001-08:00

There is nothing more frustrating for a director than spending hours watching monologues, setting his heart on one actor, only to lose that actor in a pile of headshots because the picture looked nothing like the actor. Or to spend a year or eighteen months sending your headshots to agents, get the call, only to have the agent be disappointed because they really needed a twenty-five-year-old brunette, and you're a thirty-year-old blond.

Do you think those are exaggerated examples? Not at all! Many actors think that their audition and talent will land the job, but that's only true some of the time. There are many, many casting directors out there who think that if you don't have enough sense to keep your headshots current, you're not really serious about your career. Is that fair? Maybe not, but when the choice comes down to two actors, both of whom are perfect for the role, do you really want the director staring at a five-year-old shot to help him make up his mind?

Two Archetype clients came back to update their looks. The first was Brian Coleman, a Northwestern student who has been selected for their New York showcase. This was Brian's shot: It's a great shot of Brian, and has gotten a lot of attention from Archetype clients. But, in just a few short months Brian's look had changed.

In the second shot, the lighting and color schemes are almost identical, the pose is similar, but the viewer responds to Brian in a very different way. He's more mature and stronger in the second picture. The same person, pictures only taken months apart, yet each picture is going to get Brian very different calls.

The second Archetype client is Mary Anne Bowman. Mary Anne is a brilliant actor, who for the past few years has been focusing on stage combat, working with Babes with Blades. Being a company member meant that she wasn't submitting her headshots to other companies for work. The Babes kept Mary Anne pretty busy.

While she's anything but a typical talent, Mary Anne is very typical when it comes to having her headshots done. She hates doing it, and because she was working with directors who were familiar with her, she didn't feel the need to keep her headshots up to date. Then one day she looked at her headshots and realized that it had been nearly ten years. Yes, the shots were recognizable as her, but they didn't communicate anything about the depth or complexity of the roles she was now able to to undertake with ten years of experience under her belt. In addition, she'd updated her look so she came back to us for a second session.

Before:

After:

It's not about having a headshot that makes you look good, it's about having a headshot that communicates who you are as a person, professional, and artist.

In January, Archetype Images is making it very easy for you to update your marketing materials. The photo session is FREE. You only pay for the shots you like. What could be better than that.

See http://www.archetypeimages.com/ for details.

Cameron Holmes

2007-12-27T05:00:00.000-08:00

As 2007 winds down, it's time to start thinking about ratcheting things up in 2008!

Cameron came to us, first to take advantage of our special, but also because she needed some face shots for her comp card. Cameron is a print model who has been building her portfolio over the last few months, working with fifteen different photographers and booking shoots, primarily for catalogues. Still, most of her shots were high-fashion, concept shots, and she needed something that communicated a range, and yet still let agents, casting directors, and photographers see who she is.

After meeting with Cameron and talking a little bit about her life and career goals, we decided that our shoot would target her pictures toward the youth/college market. We started with a simple college shot and the progressed more toward the glamor shots. The goal was very simple: show Cameron to her best advantage.

But it's also the goal at Archetype to provide you with a shoot that will give you as a performer the most options. Agents say that casting directors want pictures that show you. It's our job to create as many different contexts which give you the opportunity to demonstrate the many different sides of you.

Book Now!

2007-12-14T05:17:00.001-08:00

Our January special is turning out to be very popular! If you're interested you should contact us now to schedule a session.