As of April 1st, 2010, I’ll be closing the studio and going on hiatus from shooting actors in order to work on some personal projects. My last day of shooting will be Friday, March 26th.

If you’re an actor who wants to work with me, this may be your last chance for a while. The next two months are going to fly by, and I’m already booking up like crazy. Get in touch with me now to set up a consultation or a shoot date.

Don’t worry, I’ll still be available to make prints and do retouching, so you’ll still be able to get 8×10s, print masters, and all the other products available through the website with the same 5 to 10 business day turnaround. The site and the order page are staying up, and you’ll always have access to your images.

If you’d like to be notified when I’m back to work or of one-off shoot dates, I highly suggest you subscribe this blog either via email or RSS.

I’ve been so privileged to have been able to meet and work with hundreds and hundreds of talented actors over the past few years. I wish you all the best for 2010.

January is usually a pretty quiet time for the film & TV industry, and I always expect that the month is going to be a dead one for me. Of course by the third week I’m booked up with shoots and meetings and loaded with print orders. Business as usual.

Not surprising, I suppose. January is definitely a time to take a step back and evaluate what you’ve been doing for the past twelve months of your life, and specifically to make some new decisions, start new projects, and make some kind of fresh start. For actors, this is a great time of year to take some anxiety-free downtime and make plans for March and April when the industry starts to come out of its post-holiday hibernation.

A lot happened in 2009. I think we saw the business of acting take its biggest steps away from the traditional structure of casting>agents>actors and features>TV>commercials, and toward something far more remixed. Actors, casting and production are speaking directly for the first time through sites like AACTION and Casting Workbook. TV, a medium that was once completely overshadowed by features, is in the middle of an incredible renaissance. And the web is almost overloaded with viral advertising and comedy projects, both low budget and high.

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Sometimes it seems like video is taking over everything. Newspapers and magazines give way to video podcasts and looping info reels on subway platform LCDs. Static websites become rich media sites. Cellphones become video cameras. Social networking sites become video sharing platforms.

Even my own business - photography - is changing into a strange hybrid of media production jobs. I spend less and less time doing traditional photography, and more and more time producing, directing and editing video projects.

The slate's in the DVD menu! How cool is that?

Actors (and particularly actors agents), as usual, are slow to change, but that doesn’t mean the world around you (the world of production and casting) is too. If video is the new photography, a video demo reel of some kind is the new headshot. I can tell you from experience, having a demo is a must-have if you want to take the next step as a working actor.

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Many of you know that in addition to being a PDN award-winning image maker, I’m also a two time almost-ran novelist, former feature writer for the Toronto Star, failed M.O.W. writer, former actor in terrible cop shows and commercials both national and international, and that I also own a brand new digital production company called Flyweight Films that creates short films for the web, and which has already had some great press like a mention on Time Magazine’s Nerdworld blog.

Well guess what? This year I’m writing, producing and directing a comedic web series called Act Natural, and I’m ready to cast the pilot episode! Woo!

Act Natural is an original, dry comedy series about the surreal world of commercial actors. It follows the lives of three less-than-perfect actors with visions of success but very different viewpoints as they try to make careers for themselves in film & TV.

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I’ve wasted a lot of money advertising this business. I once spent a thousand bucks putting a half page colour ad in the ACTRA newsletter, advertised in student handbooks, and even done seven foot tall graffiti-style pasteups around the city in an effort to get people thinking a little more critically about their headshots.

If you’re a returning client, 10 referrals would mean $150 off the regular session price with the returning client discount

You know what I got for my efforts? Tire kickers, models wanting free portfolio work, and angry skeptics. If I’ve learned one thing from buying advertising it’s that this business is all about referrals.

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Shooting actors for casting is a strange and particular thing to find yourself doing as a photographer. New photographers tend to think it’s one of those throwaway things they’ll do until they get established in fashion or editorial — in fact the term “headshot” has become almost synonymous with any generic, easy-to-produce utility picture, whether the person in it is an actor, a real estate agent, or in business. “You’re a headshot photographer” is basically an insult in the world of professional photography.

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