Self-Publishing WELCOME TO THE MADHOUSE: A Writer's Odyssey

Self-Publishing Welcome to the Madhouse: Chapter Six: The Author Photo

Chapter Six: The Author Photo

Although I was not keen on an author photo, my account manager at Friesen Press said that it would be a good idea and that a professional photographer should be hired to take my picture. In her email, she wrote:

"From our experience, we can't stress how important a professionally taken photograph is to this entire process."

Seeing as how I needed as much help as I could get - dead in dog years and all that - I started looking for a professional photographer who would take my 'head shots'. 'Head shots' are pictures primarily of the head and shoulders of a person. People from all walks of life get head shots done, business people especially. Hopefully, the head shots will make you look better than in your passport photo or your driver's license photograph, which tend more towards the mug shot.

There are a lot of professional photographers out there and one can spend a lot of money on your head shots, or not. I did not want to go to a department store and just get a photo at the family photo center. I was pretty sure my account manager, Bre, did not have that in mind when she suggested the professional photographer. She had seen me in the flesh, poor girl, when I had gone to Friesen Press, in Victoria, to investigate their actual place of business, and I suppose I needed professional help to put my best face forward!

I searched different websites and looked at the various photographs put up by the various photographers in their galleries of pictures. I wanted a relaxed style of photograph, nothing stilted and formal. After much perusing, I chose Pix Photography, in Port Credit, Ontario. I liked the photos on this person's website and there were testimonials that sounded encouraging. I sent a contact email asking about prices and the photographer answered back right away. Her name was Jeanne McRight and she gave me her quote.

For one business head shot, one outfit: $150.00 (Canadian dollars) plus 13% tax. Choose from 20 photos.

For two business head shots, two outfits, two different backgrounds: $185.00 plus 13% tax. Choose from 25-30 photos.

For three head shots, multi-purpose, three outfits, three different backgrounds, and four retouched photos: $225.00 plus 13% tax. Choose from 35-40 photos.

Since I write science fiction and fantasy, as well as paint and sell collage paintings, I thought it might be best to have three different photographs; the three faces of S.E. Sasaki. Hopefully, Jeanne McRight would be able to give me one photograph that would be acceptable for an Author's picture for a back book cover.

Jeanne McRight had taught art and photography, for years, in a secondary school devoted to the Arts in Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada. She was now retired from teaching but was doing photography out of her home. She was a very small, thin, spry, sixty-eight year old female who owned a beautiful house in Port Credit, Ontario. I found her warm and welcoming, with a huge smile and sparkling eyes. I was very nervous about this photo session and she made me feel comfortable and relaxed.

Her photo studio was upstairs and it was combined with her art studio. She had paints and brushes and easels in one half of the room, which was an angled loft with bright, sunny skylights and low, slanting ceilings; the other half of the room had photography background screens hanging behind a centrally-placed, wooden stool, surrounded by white, silver, and golden shiny panels called 'reflectors', in all different shapes and sizes. She explained that the reflectors helped soften the light and take away shadows. There were lights that looked like spotlights in the background, as well.

It was all rather intimidating.

She first had me just sit on the stool and not smile, while she checked the lighting. She said, 'Save your muscles in your face until later'. Then she climbed up to the top of a stepladder holding a camera with an enormous lens attached and proceeded to hit the top of her head against the low, angled ceiling. Apparently, she would be taking my pictures, perched at the top of this ladder, with her head slightly cranked to the right, her scalp almost wedged against her ceiling. I was thinking there had to be a better way for her to do this, or she was going to have a serious kink in her neck by the end of the session, as she snapped away. It was lucky she was a small woman!

I was worried that, at sixty-eight years of age, perhaps this tiny woman should not be up and down that stepladder so quickly. What if she fell off! Would she break a hip? Now I was anxious for not only her neck and the top of her head, but also her hips, but Jeanne seemed to manage just fine. She was a bundle of energy and did not act her sixty-eight years of age, at all, as she bopped up and down that ladder to adjust the reflectors, the spotlights, the background, the position of the stool, the position of her subject - me! - and the ladder itself. As a matter of fact, she was way more agile and mobile than me!

She had me sitting on the stool, with three large, white reflector panels splayed out before me, as if I was trying to get an even tan, under my chin. She said the soft, diffuse light that the reflectors would create, from below, helps to lessen the appearance of double chins, jowls, and sagging skin. I said give me fifty of those!

She had me sit and stand, face this way and that, look up, look left, look right, look straight. But most of all, look natural . . . ??

Most of the time, she had me laughing my head off. She was a delightful, funny lady, and it was a lot more enjoyable than I imagined. I would highly recommend Pix Photography if you live anywhere in the Greater Toronto Area and you need head shots.

Jeanne McRight did it right! She made you comfortable. She made the experience fun!

Once the photo session was over, I paid cash. You did not have to. You could pay by PayPal or a business cheque.

That night, she sent me a link to a private, passcode-protected site where I could view all of the photographs she was happy with and, to my astonishment, there were actually several that I and my family liked!

She told me how many I could pick and she would retouch them.

I wished her luck!

I have not heard back from her, yet. This has me a little worried. She emailed me, 'Great choices!' but perhaps she was just being kind. Obviously she is having more difficulty with the retouching than she let on!

Poor woman.

Still, I believe Jeanne McRight is a magician with her camera. I told her, 'This is as good as it gets. I will never be any younger than I am now. It is all downhill from here. Do what you can. I will be grateful for any help. These pictures have to last me the rest of my writing career because I am not getting any more after this!"

Jeanne just laughed at me.

Gravity sucks!

The people at Friesen Press will have a choice between a couple of photos and they are not as bad as I thought they would be. The Author photo, which I had not planned on including on the back cover, will hopefully not scare any of my readers away! People may not recognize me in real life, at conferences and conventions, because Jeanne did such a good job, but a good photographer is certainly cheaper than plastic surgery . . . and far less painful!

Pix Photography in Port Credit, Ontario, Canada: Highly recommended!