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? 

SMILE! (or not...) Givin' us your best shot

HALLIE EPHRON: When I started writing fiction, I was fortunate enough to have published writers in the family. Their basic advice: Take yourself seriously because if you don't, no one else will.

1. Make yourself an office where nothing else happens but you write (I made a "KEEP OUT" sign that I stick on the inside) 

2. Invest in the right equipment - computer, backup drives, Wi-Fi, printer (FAX machine and separate phone line used to be on this list) 

3. Make time to write - every day set aside a few ours for nothing else but writing 

4. WHEN (not IF) you sell your book, hire a pro to take a great photo of you for the jacket copy

So when I sold my first book, I started asking around for a professional photographer. I struck gold with Lynn Wayne. She takes photos of actors and media celebs and she had a studio in a scary warehouse building in what has since become a trendy Boston neighborhood. (I set a scene in one of my books there!)

The first question she asked was what did I want people to think when they looked at my picture, and my answer: This is someone I'd like to have coffee with.

She brought in a professional makeup person who made me look glam but not too glam, and took hundreds (it seemed like) of pictures of me. And what she taught me to do is to feel the "smile" -- so not just my mouth but my whole body feels like it's smiling -- to make a great picture.

Since that first session I've gone back several times. 


So who gives you your best shot? And what's your answer to the question: What do you want people to think when they look at your picture?

LUCY BURDETTE: what a good question and good advice! It's a kind of acting--which I have no natural talent for:).

I've had both amateur and professional photos taken. The one on our Jungle Red banner by Ruthanna Terreri is one of my favorites. We took hundreds of photos and it was starting to rain. She knew I wanted one headshot like an advice columnist would run, so she had me lean on the trunk of her car. I think I was too tired to be stiff at that point!

There were plenty of others that didn't turn out well, but this one for my golf mysteries I will always love. A friend was taking the photos out on the golf course--the golf course superintendent was there too. We had so much fun and I think it showed. That's what I wanted people to think--I'm in for a fun ride with this book and this author.

And I love my new Key West photo too. It was taken by Carol Tedesco in the Key West cemetery. I wish I'd been thinking of something:), but she did a good job finally getting me to relax and look friendly.


DEBORAH CROMBIE: Hallie, I love that--"Someone you'd want to have coffee with." Or in my case, tea.

My photos are taken by my friend Steve Ullathorne, who is a professional London photographer who specializes in media celebs and comedians. The one we used on the most recent book jacket was Steve's favorite from that photo shoot--I was very chuffed when he used it in one of his exhibitions.

That photo shoot was done in his studio, but we did one more recently in a recording studio in Crystal Palace and I love those more casual shots. For both those shoots I've had my make-up done by MAC in London, and my hair by Toni & Guy, so I am as glam in those pics as I will ever be.

The only problem is, I need new photos, and Steve is...in London!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I cannot begin to tell you how much I loathe photo shoots. I worry about them from the moment I hear they are going to happen until the moment they are over. And after, too. As a result, it is really difficult to get a good photo, because I am SO nervous.

I love these old Channel 7 promo pix--I think I had just won something, so I may have been thinking "HA! I am GOOD!" and these are the expressions that ensued. Soon after,  because the universe works the way it does, the news director told me he hated my curly hair, and it's been straight ever since. So much for those photos.  (Do you see how too-big that jacket is? Whoa.)


I am a big Lynn Wayne fan, too. and you can see the different attitude makes. The tilty smiley one I think is the best photo of me ever, and I will use it til I'm 100. And the other the most confident.  I love them both. 

What was I thinking? Each time--"I am SO lucky!" What do I want people to think? Hmm.  Look at Lee ChIld's and Sandra Brown's photos. Tough. And glam. And smart.

RHYS BOWEN: It's funny, but I was just talking about this topic with my agent. She told me I needed new head shots and I said that new ones couldn't look any better than the old at this stage of my life! But then again I don't want to be one of those authors who use the thirty year old head shot until they turn eighty. And fans come to bookstores, stare at you and say "Is that the same person."  I think my photo should represent me, and at this stage ME has a few wrinkles and sags.

Soooo... do I get a new glam headshot or not? Difficult question.
The ones I have used most recently have been amateur shots, taken by my husband and friend Robin Burcell. I like them because they are natural. I want people to look at my picture and think "She looks approachable. I'd like to meet her."

JULIA SPENCER FLEMING: Rhys, I think that's smart. The last thing anyone wants is to look (much) better in the picture than in real life...haven't we all had the experience where you've seen someone's picture, then met him or her in real life, and thought, Who did you think you were kidding, bub? When I was a kid, my mother told me makeup should enhance a woman's features, not obscure them, and in the same vein, you want your picture to reflect the best you, not the Photoshopped you.  












That being said, when I got my last head shot back, The Boy told me, "It looks like you, Mom, but without the wrinkles." I can't recall the photographer's name; he was hired by my publisher, who also got in an amazing make-up artist who did a bang up job and taught me a few techniques for the  - ahem - older face. However, the license on that has expired and I'm going to need a new picture for the next book.

It's hard for photographers to get a bead on the right image for my books - Hank wears a leather jacket and it looks perfect for "Boston reporter," and Lucy relaxes in front of the ocean or a Key West sign and you know what sort of book you're going to get from her, but what can I do? Put on a clerical collar? Stand in front of an altar? Ugh. Any suggestions are welcome! 

HALLIE: Julia, just get a photographer who makes the real you come through! You're gorgeous!

Well, I confess, when I pick up a new book I go RIGHT to the author photo. Do you do that, too? And does what you see influence your opinion of the book? Be honest now...