Headshot Experience: Collaborating with an Actor/Director & Creating a Shared Vision

The experience of working with another creative on a photographic project can result in better work than either envisioned or could have made alone. The photos I've taken with Rachel Keown Burke were created in a collaborative, supportive, reciprocal and energizing environment and I'm proud of what we made together.

The first opportunity I had to work with Rachel was in January 2018 when she was directing a disturbing drama, Bug, on Stagecrafter's 2nd Stage. Together we planned the shoot with specific shots, themes, color toning, and moods in mind. When I arrived at the shoot, we moved smoothly from one set up to the next, 1,2,3,4,5. It was the first time I ever worked tethered - a cord from my camera immediately showed the resulting photos on my tablet which Rachel was holding as I took the photos. Together, we were able to see what we were getting and tweaked and critiqued in real-time, and left the session knowing we had succeeded. The photo above is from that shoot and depicts the character Agnes in all her broken, frightened, confused loneliness.

A year later, Rachel reached out again for headshots for herself. I have seen her as an actor twice on stage, so I knew there were many expressions I was looking to capture among her compelling range of emotions. Eliciting the depth and breadth of her skill as an actor was my goal. Again, we had a plan to show powerful, centered, fearsome and other expressions. Having such a self-aware actor in front of my lens gave us both so many options to choose from. Her transformation before my eyes was fascinating and thrilling.

Making a photography subject happy with their portrait is top priority. But when the process has been creative, collaborative, and supportive, its magic translates into special photographs.

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