Heads-up on the headshot: Ellen Kozak on putting oneself out there

HALLIE EPHRON: Today I'm so happy to welcome attorney and author Ellen Kozak who has been a reader and commenter since

way-back-when. We hosted her in 2014, talking about her book (EVERY WRITER'S GUIDE TO COPYRIGHT AND PUBLISHING LAW). She and I bonded as fellow Barnard College alums (this photo is of her, way-back-then)and fans of Star Trek.

Today she's back to talk about what is, for many of us with even a modest public presence, a bit of a nightmare: getting a decent head shot. I've seen more than enough photos of authors standing in front of their garage door, deep shadows under their eyes, faces plastered with a maniacal grin, in a photo credited to their spouse. (As a character in my new book would say, it's like handing out a business card riddled with typos.)

Fortunately I come from a family of writers so I knew the drill. To be taken (and to take yourself) seriously as a writer, I needed 1) an office 2) a fax machine (that's how long ago it was) and 3) a professional head shot. Getting the first two were easy. Eventually I found a fabulous photographer, Lynn Wayne, who hired a makeup person for the shoot and then spent about 2.5 hours taking photos in an industrial loft. Endless photos. I've been back twice more, and I need to go again since I no longer look like my head shot.

Here's a page of the  proofs from one of our early sessions.

Ellen?

ELLEN KOZAK: One of the difficulties of being a writer today is that one has to put oneself OUT THERE, whereas so many of us would rather just sit in a tree with a notebook, like Jo March, or hunker down in a quiet room with our computers, and public be damned. 

Unfortunately, the public, or your publisher, or the conference at which you are speaking, or your Facebook page—all want a head shot. And I am notoriously camera shy—so much so that when I once wrote an article for the Milwaukee Journal on what it was like to have watched the first Superbowl with all the guys in the law school (summary: a radiator pipe burst and the floor flooded, and none of the guys left until the rented TV shorted out), I actually looked up a ten year old photo of me that had been previously published in the paper, did my hair and make-up to look as much like it as I could, and went up to see the editor and tell him, “See, you don’t need a new photo.”

I have learned how to get a decent photo at the DMV by wearing a lot of make-up and hair spray, a rib-knit turtleneck (always a turtleneck, preferably in pink or magenta), and when they say “Look up!” doing so with just my eyes, not my chin.  (Try it; it works!) 

But when I asked Hallie for an opinion on whether I could use my latest passport photo, which I thought was passable, as a headshot, she lectured me about being professional and getting a real photographer to take the picture. 

HALLIE: Ellen sent me the passport photo she's talking about, but I am NOT going to post it. Some day she'll thank me.

ELLEN: I put it off.  On Facebook, I’d been using a photo of my late dog, who died twenty years ago. On LinkedIn, I had no photo.

Well, now I do.

When the State Bar decided to do profiles of several of its 50-year members, I was one of the ones chosen.  And they sent out a photographer, who turned out to be a friend of mine. 

This is the third PR photo shoot that a bar association has financed for me.  The first two—one for the Milwaukee Bar Journal, one for Wisconsin Lawyer—were done to accompany articles I had written for them. This one was for an article about me.  Their interviewer is, like me, a lawyer-journalist and we had a fun discussion, and he actually got most of the information right.  The photo they used was spectacular.  

Hey, guys, this is what 75 looks like—IF you have a great photographer and an entourage.

As for that entourage, I now live in senior citizen housing.  One of my neighbors is a retired hairdresser.  I prevailed upon her to come to the photo session to help beat my frizz into submission.  My sister lives across the street. She came over and draped my designer scarves for me, because I had my glasses off (I can no longer wear contacts) and couldn’t see what I was doing.

I had managed to find the bag of make up that I use for appearances (especially on TV), and layered it on, covering age spots and a fading bruise (did I mention I can’t see without my glasses?).

Yvette (my hairdresser friend) and my sister stayed throughout the photo session, running over with tissues when my eyes began to water from the make up melting into them.  Kevin (the photographer) kept up a steady stream of funny remarks that had me giggling.  I don’t usually like my smile in photos, but these weren’t bad.

Kevin sent a dozen shots in my Gucci scarf for me to look over. How to decide? Were my eyes even? Did my bust look too big?  He sent the rest (in a blue scarf from that same trip to Italy) to the State Bar, whose Communications Director also happens to be a long-time friend (I’ve written a number of articles for her.)  She chose a photo, and the profile went live on July 17.  Among the comments on Facebook: “So that’s what you look like.” 

Well, not most days.  But the public at large doesn’t have to know that.  Book jacket, here I come!

 HALLIE: Nicely done, Ellen! Here's Ellen's previous head shot... Not bad!

And, just a word in support of professional photographers. They know what they're doing. Shop around, Look at their work. It's really not that expensive. You'd only hire a pro to edit your book, right? Consider it an investment. 

So how do you feel about being photographed? Do you run away from the camera? Or check your hair and makeup, and your teeth for spinach, plant your fist under your chin and smile, smile, smile? Any tips for looking your best?