Stop Putting Off Your Headshot
Not long ago I connected with someone who was genuinely excited about updating his headshot. We talked, it felt like a great fit, and then life got in the way. Work got busy. The calendar filled up and just like that, it got pushed down the list.
I'm not telling this story to call anyone out. I'm telling it because it is one of the most common things I encounter. Smart, accomplished professionals who have updated everything else about their personal brand, but still have a photo from a previous chapter of their life representing them every single day. The reason is almost never actually time.
The busy excuse
Forty five minutes, that's how long a headshot session typically takes from the moment you walk in until the moment you walk out. That's one lunch break, that's less time than most people spend in their weekly all hands meeting, that's a single episode of whatever you're watching on Netflix right now.
The math is almost embarrassingly simple. Forty five minutes now in exchange for a photo that represents you correctly for the next two or three years. Every email you send, every LinkedIn profile view, every time a potential client Googles you after a referral, all of it working in your favor instead of quietly against you.
If you're finding forty five minutes for other things, and you are, the calendar isn't the real issue.
What's actually going on
The real hesitation is quieter than a busy schedule. It's the underlying worry that you'll go through the whole thing and still not like how you look; the concern that you'll be awkward in front of the camera, or perhaps the photos will look stiff and forced or just not like you. That fear makes complete sense. Especially if you've had a session before that felt uncomfortable or produced photos you never actually used. That experience leaves a mark.
Here's what I want you to know: You don't have to figure out how to pose. You don't have to know what to do with your face or your hands or where to look. That's my job. Every single person I work with gets walked through the entire session. Nobody has to show up knowing anything except where to park. The awkward, stiff results you're afraid of? Those come from sessions where nobody is guiding you. That's not what this experience will be.
There's no perfect window
The right time to do this is rarely going to announce itself, work has a way of staying busy. The calendar has a way of staying full. Waiting for a quiet stretch in Silicon Valley is a strategy that tends not to pay off.
If you're honest with yourself and the real reason is somewhere closer to what if I don't like how I look, that feeling isn't going to be resolved by waiting. It gets resolved by showing up, being guided through it, and walking out with photos that finally look like the version of you that everyone else already sees.
Forty five minutes. That's the whole trade.
Dan Wehrle is a headshot and portrait photographer based in San Jose, serving professionals across Silicon Valley and the South Bay. Ready to stop putting it off? Get in touch here.