Gillian Humiston

Gillian Humiston is quite the unexpected actress. Before I do a shoot, I generally like to have met the client to get a sense of her needs and to determine how I might be able to address them. However circumstances were such that I wasn't even able to speak with Gillian before the shoot. We set everything up via e-mail. She sent me a copy of the headshot she was using, but my e-mail system compressed it to a dot, so I had almost no idea of what to expect when Gillian arrived.

The first impression of Gillian is just how tiny she is. And how young. She walked in, backpack slung over her shoulder and sort of plopped down on the couch. We talked about roles she's played. A recent graduate from Columbia College, Gillian tended to play teenagers. In order to find some common ground I always ask my clients about classical roles and wasn't at all surprised to find that Gillian has played Ophelia. She said that she's sort of resigned herself to "playing young," but she was really interested in more mature roles.

Then she pulled out the big surprise. Gillian is a certified fight choreographer and a company member with Chicago's ground-breaking troupe, Babes With Blades. She's in their current production of Horror Academy, running through Halloween. In talking with Gillian, we identified three marketing areas. She needed a shot that kept her in the youth market, one that pitched to more mature roles, and one that she could use as part of her introduction as a fight choreographer.

As seems to happen, my favorite shot was taken almost at the end of the shoot. We did it in the evening, but even with the air conditioning blasting it was still warm. Gillian's long hair was making her uncomfortable and while she's a complete professional and was doing an amazing job in front of the camera, her discomfort was starting show on her face. That's when we applied the fan. It was intended just to make Gillian a little more comfortable, but it gave her that romantic, wind-blown look. In addition, after a while it began to dry her eyes, which meant that she began to produce more tears, which generated the dewy-eyes.

Conflict and contradictions is at the heart of good theater, and Gillian is a bundle of wonderful surprises. Check out her work in Horror Academy, and check out ArchetypeImages.com for her other shots.