I wrote something on Instagram a while back about how the very mention of the word “headshot” makes me cringe. The word brings to mind those school pictures with two lights in front of a blue backdrop. Don’t get me wrong: I actually love studio lighting and utilize it - just not always in the conventional way. (Enneagram: 4:: individualist). So, when someone requests headshots, my first response is generally, “Please take a look at my website and visit my portfolio.” Once they reply, “Yes, I love your work, I’d love to work with you,” I send them a pdf file that’s probably a little long for some folks (some people love to know exactly what to expect; others want to ‘wing it’). Then, I set up a call to talk. And, the reason for this process is this: as much as I love my work, everyone views photographs differently. I don’t aspire to be Amber Shumake The high volume Dallas Fort Worth area headshot photographer. I want to work with a handful of clients every couple of weeks and create art that’s unique to each individual. I want you to ooze with pride when someone requests that you attach your “headshot.” I suppose I abhor that term because gone are the days when corporate photographs need to be tucked-in and stuffy. Photos of you are the first way in which clients and potential clients connect with your message and “meet” you. You might as well make a great first impression; otherwise, you’re likely turning your dream clients away. 

And, if you’re reading this, I’d imagine you’ve been told something about the way you look that has traumatized you. 

I’m gonna let that previous sentence sink in. I moonlight as a trauma therapist. Perhaps the message that “you’re not photogenic” or “you smile weird” or “your eye is lazy” or “your teeth are ugly” or “you look fat” or “you look sick and too skinny” or “your nose is too pointy” are not capital-T traumas. But, I’ve been providing commercial photographs for small business women in these parts for a few years now (I shirked this work in the beginning of my career because it’s not as easy as photographing a child…that’s for sure), and I’ve worked with exactly one woman who told me she loved how she looked. One. One out of hundreds. You probably read that and thought, “Omg, who was it? How arrogant!” 

For me, it was absolutely refreshing. 

You see, we live in a society that’s poisoned us into believing we should hate how we look - that our sole purpose should be to be smaller in body and…well, power. It took me about 33 years to realize the power piece. Because if I’m counting my carbs every day and making my macros (who am I kidding…I don’t even know what that means) and doing my cardio and practicing yoga and lifting weights and removing all the hair from my body and embarking on my nightly skin care regimen one hour before bed and getting eight hours of sleep and doing all of the other things that society has told me I need to do in the name of beauty, I don’t have time to pursue anything else. Side note: if all of the aforementioned things bring you joy, then - by all means - carry on. Live and let live. For the record, I do some of those things. Some of those things bring me endorphins and strong, stable joints that are capable of carrying a heavy son and photo equipment; some of those things bring me the mental clarity to become quiet enough to hear how I can best serve here. 

So, I feel my work as a photographer who predominantly photographs women is an opportunity to invite you to set all that you’ve been told about how you look aside and instead see yourself from a place of power because it’s in you. You were born with It - we all were. It’s waiting for you to see it and own it and share it with other people who haven’t quite found their power yet. This is a role I don’t take lightly. So, I walk you through every step of the way. And, can I just say that more often than not at the end of the shoot, women say, “Wow, that was fun,” and “I loved spending time with you.” 

Since writing about my disdain for the word “headshots” I receive emails with the subject: headshots? I don’t know what we’re going to call them. But, if you send an email with ‘headshots?’ as the subject, I’m gonna know we’re on the same portrait page. 

Joe T. Garcia’s is one of my absolute favorite places in Fort Worth. I always enjoy working with them to create images that cultivate connection for their social media and the website.

On this evening when I was photographing the margaritas, Tino - the legendary bartender - said, “How long have you been taking photos here?” 

I said, “I think since 2016…what about you?” 

“Since 1979.” Haha.

I can’t walk through those gardens without feeling inspired. I love the family and the history and, of course, the ambiance and food. 

Bear with me if you’ve heard this story before, but I’m asked at least once a day how I got into photography. I’d love to say I got a degree in fine art, but that would be the furthest thing from the truth. The truth is, it was 2008; I was newly divorced. It was one of the darker periods of my life. I was beaten down but trying to create something new from the broken pieces of myself and my life. It seems ironic to me in retrospect, but it was at that time which photography - the same medium I’d loved in my youth - found me, again.   I have a friend who says there are no coincidences, and I think she’s right. Over a decade later, I’m forgetting and remembering myself daily behind the lens of a camera. I still feel the pressure from the industry from time to time to develop a niche. It may not look like it because I photograph newborns and families and do commercial work for businesses, but I feel like my niche is love. 

I document love. And, whenever possible, I do it with film.  

I choose to photograph a single handful of weddings each year. I’ve received good advice from fellow photographers through the years: only blog or post about what you want to create more of. It’s not that I aspire to increase the number of weddings I photograph. But, I do seek to document more stories about love. When Instagram is long gone and nobody knows what digital files are any more, what we’ll have left are memories hopefully made sharper with photographs…and love. Love never ends. 

This wedding appealed to me because it occurred at golden hour in the hill country and because the couple was allergic to big weddings and because the bride wore a vintage dress which originally belonged to the groom’s grandmother and because I got to take my original second shooter who is also my wife and because we were the only “vendors” (everyone else was friend or family) and because I got to shoot film and because when I walked to the car to leave I felt more space in my heart.