In business, have you ever received an inquiry that made you think a bit before responding?
When I received an email from a local recording artist asking about booking one of my Headshot Sessions for a potential album cover, I thought…. “This could be fun…
...or the complete opposite of fun." My brain began to recall some unfortunate experiences with other album cover shoots that didn't produce mutually satisfied parties.
"How to proceed?" I wondered, as Risk-Aversion Julie replayed past problems and compared them to viewpoints from Optimistic Julie Who Embraces Opportunities.
Now, a micro-business advantage is that you actually DO get to think about how to proceed. So I separated the voices in my gray matter, set them aside and got clear on what the potential customer was asking.
John Styron is a musician and also an opinion writer for the Joplin Globe. We had not previously met, and my hesitation before responding to him came from working with emerging musicians/vocalists in the past and facing challenges. Creating and choosing album cover art is a different ballgame than choosing a personal headshot, or purchasing an 8”x10” photograph to give grandma. A recurring problem I’ve had is that the customer loves how they look in a certain image, but it doesn’t work for the album cover ratio or completely changes in appeal once necessary album text is added (in other words- it was not a great choice for an album cover, but the customer liked how they looked 🤷). The next big problem: they can’t decide which one to put on the cover, many times because of soliciting other opinions from family members or perhaps there's a professional opinion of a graphic designer that will be handling the final cover artwork.
Because of misunderstandings and lack of clarification in previous instances, I have better ideas on handling the process, moving forward. The first is that I request clearer information on the client’s vision, and I only create images that fit the stated vision. If a client doesn’t have a confident vision, I’m happy to supply one because I love creative freedom! However, if we're just creating images for the album cover, I'll only create 1:1 ratio images because it's a waste of everyone's time to create images that you can't use.
Regarding the multiple-opinions-producing-no-clear-decision challenge, I now find out who the primary decision makers are up front. They need to be involved in the image creation.
With all this in mind, I emailed John back to let him know the process: the Session Fee covers our time together, and images are purchased separately. To keep things efficient, decisions are made at the appointment (or via Google Meet if a designer or collaborator needs to weigh in). No images leave the studio without being purchased, so all decision makers need to be present at decision time. Some clients prefer to buy every image I create (currently 125/each) just so they don’t have to decide —others are willing to take the time to select them right away and cross it off their list. Whether at the studio or through a virtual meeting, we view them together in full resolution so clients can pick what fits their needs. John already had a few clear ideas and was the primary decision maker, so my concerns were thankfully relieved up front. At this point, I began to get excited- this was leaning towards the "fun" category!
I did have one other small concern. Like a musician, I have my own artistic style and abilities—so before I even picked up a camera, I wanted to make sure I could meet his expectations. This is hard- because many people will say, "I trust you- you're the professional!" But I believe art is somewhat subjective and it's important for me to match or exceed what people are imagining in their mind's eye (even though they often don't/won't/can't communicate what that is). I theorize they're wanting me to bring an idea to life, and then they can vote yes or no, once they see it. As a creator, this had the potential to freeze me in the past. What if we go to all that work and they hate the direction I went with the images? But as a consumer, I have found myself also wanting a visionary to dream up something for me (a meal, perhaps! Or an experience at a hotel that I didn't even know how to verbalize) I'm thrilled when I find something that is exactly what I wanted. Because of my own experiences, I'm at a point now in my creative career where I see it as my job to create a range of options for you to look over. If you could bring it to life on your own, you wouldn't want to hire me, correct?
This blog post is turning into a long form article! Let me keep the ball rolling before you click away to watch Reels. My point here- I knew nothing about John. I didn't know what he would like when it came to pictures of himself for album art- and album art is a deeply personal project with layers of complexity. How do you crawl inside the head of someone you've never met?
I decided to ask him about his early musical influences, because I theorize the album art you grow up with shapes your visual tastes. He also sent me a link to listen to his music to get a feel for the mood. Both of these helped me greatly. Combined with his ideas and suggestions, I started to get ideas for pictures that I suspected he would like. This is why I do it, people! I love making you happy!
I prepped backgrounds and lighting in advance, even creating some hand-drawn mock artwork to make sure my photos fit the album cover ratio. But I also left some wiggle room for spontaneity— just to see what happened. It ended up being a fun, efficient Session and John was an easy, relaxing subject to work with. My friend Robyn from Everywhere & Nowhere Photography was there job shadowing- here are a few pictures she took behind-the-scenes as we worked.
A few days after the Session, John returned to view and choose the images. He selected a variety of portraits: one for his album cover, a few different options for liner notes and publicity, and another headshot with character for his newspaper column.
The best part? He happily left with his images right away, ready to use however he liked. All my portraits come with an unlimited release—whether for music, writing, or any other project that moves your work forward. For busy professionals like John, I'm trying explain that I offer more than just photos. I want you to experience an efficient, satisfying process and end up with images that serve your goals. That way you can get back out there, doing the work that you love. Enjoy some highlights from John's session, below.