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From his role as a guest faculty member at Superstars Writing Seminars, Kobo Writing Life director Mark Lefebvre interviewed professional photographer Lauren Lang of Jacobin Photography who was on site to help attending authors get a professional author photo head shot.

In the interview Mark and Lauren discuss:

  • Lauren’s start in the industry in journalism and her desire to use a visual medium as her preferred method of telling and sharing stories
  • The desire of capturing a moment in photography and causing an emotional reaction in the viewer/audience
  • Some of the differences between “posed” and more “candid” photography and Lauren’s desire to love people in the midst of emotion, catching them emoting and enjoying themselves in the moment
  • The methods that Lauren uses turning the “inherently unnatural” environment of posed photography into something where the subject doesn’t feel so uncomfortable or self-conscious
  • The importance of being real when Lauren is trying to draw the author and their story out as part of the photo shoot
  • Some of the tricks that an author might use when preparing for a professional photo shoot, including moving beyond the “getting an author head shot is something I have to do” to thinking about this as being something for their fans (even if they’re a beginning author and don’t yet have a fan base)
  • A look at some of the “do not do’s” and “mis-steps” that people make when trying to select a good head-shot, including using a photo that actually looks like you (rather than the way you looked a few decades earlier)
  • What an author should look for when finding a photographer to hire/work with
  • A look at expression in photography from a study from Photofeeler.com

 

laurenlang_headshots_faculty

A sampling of headshots from 2017 Superstars Writing Seminars by Lauren Lang: James A Owen, Todd McCaffrey, Kevin J. Anderson, Mark Leslie Lefebvre

Mark then reflects on the author photo, a projected image, authenticity and how that might all role into a larger picture of author brand.

Links of interest:

Jacobin Photography Website

Lauren’s Blog Article: “Here’s How My Photo Shoots Work

Jacobin Photography on Facebook

Lauren Lang on Instagram

Lauren Lang on Twitter

Photofeeler.com Blog

Superstars Writing Seminars

 

laurenlang_croppedLauren Lang, a Denver metro area based photographer, is a former journalist, videographer, and published photographer who spent seven years as a broadcast journalist, including a three and a half year stint at KUSA, the #1 NBC affiliate in the United States. She then transitioned to video production with F&W Media where she was an instructional video producer and photographer before starting her own company, Jacobin Photography.

 

 

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