it's here. BOOYEAH!! 2009 was a wonderful year of headshots and working with actors, writers, photographers, producers, marketing execs, musicians, models... all sorts of great folks. That means we get an extra exciting crate contest this year. Don't know the background of the crate shot? head over to my headshot site and read up on the history as well as see last year's finalists. Good times.

Because if the volume of shooting I did this year, I was faced with the arduous task of culling down from 182 crate shots to the finalists you see above. It was pretty fun to revisit all the headshot shoots from this past year - and the selection process was extremely difficult... but I finally present to you the finalists of the 2009 Crate Contest! So now it's up to YOU, reader, to vote for your favorite... keep in mind, the rule of the shot is that it must be 100% the creation of the subject. No photographer input allowed. All I do is stand there, maybe move someone left or right, and then push the button. I encourage you to vote on the creative merit of the idea, not necessarily the technical execution of the photograph. Winner gets a $50 Amazon.com gift certificate! Voting ends at midnight on New Year's Eve [when I will undoubtedly be asleep.] HINT :: if you click on the image above, you can just use the arrows on your keyboard to navigate through them]

I gave up long ago trying to blog every headshot shoot, but I thought I would take a second to share a few of the recent headshotty happenings that have been going on up here at the e:LOFT.

A fellow photographer once asked me if I ever get tired of shooting headshots. After all, I shoot a ton of them and for the most part, depending on where the actor/musician/yoga teacher/photographer/planner/generally awesome person is marketing him or herself, the images need to fit a certain format. My [lack of] lighting structure is similar with everyone and I generally don't take a lot of artistic liberties with my shooting. Well, the short answer is no. The long answer is nnnnnnnnnooooooooooooooooooooo. The experience of shooting headshots enriches me makes me grow in ways I never would have imagined when I began this crazy little journey. I think part of it has to be that I invest so much of myself into the whole process. I really believe in what my clients are doing so it's easy. What it is, really, is staring into someone's eyes for hours on end and watching them bubble up to the surface and share a little bit of themselves with you. It's not some portrait that they show up for, sit down, we snap a few frames and then call it a day. It's truly an amazing exchange. PLUS I get so so proud when I see my clients doing amazing things. I've seen them at the TONY's, the Academy Awards, on most of the major networks* and all over the regional stages. [*granted, I hardly watch any TV but they always keep me posted as to when they're going to be on so I can tune in.]

So check out some of what the folks above are up to... Caitlin just finished a run as a standby and understudy for Jane Fonda on Broadway in 33 Variations [that basically means 'we would have cast you but we needed someone famous to help sell tickets'], Amanda Jane Cooper has a big role in Homecoming [click to see her in the trailer] as Mischa Barton's best friend, Amanda Hennessey is opening The Superheroine Monologues next week up in Boston, Rob is putting together the Studio 12 Ensemble's next evening of Shotz in NYC that will have Dan and Justin from above [among others] in it, Doug won 7th place in the WSOP a couple of years ago [click to read the article] and now he's taking the acting world by storm, and J. Chris Newberg is... well... he's just J. Chris Newberg.

So I hope you enjoy their faces... and a little bit of their personality too... as you browse through the images above... plus some awesome crate shots :]

Be Joyful. Seek the joy of being alive.

eric

I have a whole bunch of awesome posts coming your way... and I thought I'd start out with a couple of headshots from some recent sessions. I gave up a long time ago trying to blog every shoot...