Click! A Fraction of a Second to Change Your Life.

Click! A Fraction of a Second to Change Your Life.

©John Murray Headshots

I make no secret. When I picked up a camera first, I was terrified. Scared beyond belief to take photographs of people. I was the master of Malahide Castle Images & the champion of Howth Harbour. Or so I thought. 

All the while I would shy away from photographing people. After all, Malahide Castle or Howth Lighthouse weren't going to be offended or tell me they looked fat. 

Over time I faced my fears, starting with photographing family and friends. Then weddings and some fashion and magazine work until 21st December 2013. Winter Solstice. 

Meet Briain (For those tuning in from outside of Ireland, Pronounced Bree-an), 
On a very cold day in December 2013 my photographic career changed. In 1/160th of a second there became nothing between Briain and I. The camera became invisible as he stood for the second of two photographs. The first without his hat. 

As he stood for the first image, I noted a slight familiarity in his face. His small frame and posture reminiscent of Sinatra. Click. His daughter interjected. "Can we put his hat on? He looks like a gangster with it!" "Of course" I laughed. 

As they searched for the hat, I continued to shoot. One man, One camera and One light. 
As he entered the room again with the hat, I caught the eye of my colleague Dave. He smiled with begrudging approval knowing something different was about to happen. 

Briain stepped forward. I positioned him under the light and adjusted it to compensate for the position of the hat. Making sure to tilt the brim slightly for dramatic effect. I stood back behind the light, took my breath and focused the camera. The sound of the heavy 85mm lens rolling like a glass ball across floor boards. Briain's face coming out of the blurred darkness with cinematic grace. 
I don't recall what I said. Held my breath and smiled. My face masked behind the giant black body of the Canon 1DX. Click

"We done?" he asked. "We're done" I said as Dave walked across the room. Abandoning all else. I looked to Dave who without saying a word was asking Well? I nodded approvingly. "It's special". My only words. 

Before they left, I asked Briain and his daughter would they mind if I used it as part of my portfolio. Getting him to sign a release. All the while that moment. Solidified in my mind. Playing back over and over. 

Getting home at almost 1am that night, I pulled the images off the camera just to see it on my IMac Screen. With some quick editing to bring it closer to what we see with the human eye it was done. 

In the days that followed. The emails came one after the other. After he was shared by Canon to the world at large. Online Photography Journals and websites asked could they feature. Two of which featured on Christmas Day.

Click. 1/160th of a second. Click. An epiphany. Since then, this fraction of a second. I have stood five feet from every face I photograph. Searching for that sense of connection. Where the big black camera all but dissolves. 

As photographers we are indebted to the faces we shoot. We need to look beyond the superficial, to share the substance. Finding genuine, reactive expressions that are based on trust.
How you walk in the skin you wear is your decision.
Why not embrace it?
What other choice do you have?

Belfast Headshot Day

Belfast Headshot Day

They say first impressions last, and they'd be right!

You have 0.9 Seconds to make a strong first impression. In a digital age, our first impressions come from your headshot.

On Linkedin, your website or through acting or modelling agency cards. How people perceive you happens based on how you invest in your personal brand. 

John Murray, Ireland's only active Peter Hurley trained headshot Photographer is coming to Belfast's 1G1 Studio on Saturday July 29th 2017 and bookings are limited. 

For details & to book your session contact the team here.

Are You Taking the P*ss

Are You Taking the P*ss

As many of you reading will appreciate, as business owners brand image is almost everything. From day one, you plan and worry about how things look on the business and how to give the business the best public image. 

Another big worry is revenue. Marketing and finding fresh new business is also something we worry about. Doing everything we can to build trust in order to draw in business. 

So.... We all get marketing mail through the door. (Junk Mail) Some companies have the cash flow to employ professional companies like An Post AdMailer or City Post. Companies with less opting to post the flyers themselves. (Hey, get the kids involved. Two birds one stone).

Today, in our small estate of only fifty houses we had two men in a jeep posting advertising flyers for a local business. (I won't name and shame).
After working their way around the estate, talking to residents along the way, one of the men was, caught short! (For those not from Ireland, Caught short means he needed to urinate). 

So onto the small green space in the estate where the kids play he went. Unzipped and rather unceremoniously watered the plants. In an estate where 60% of the houses have young families. 

Seriously people. Don't post things through doors with hands you wouldn't hold your kids with. 

This isn't the first time either. Recently a family member of ours in another even smaller estate in the area had issues with a door to door sales person urinating on the wall of her house. Only to be seen by her 5 year old daughter. 

Put a plan in place people. Tell your staff or representatives to either go to a pub, a restaurant or knock on a door and ask for the mercy of a resident. 

Don't take the piss!! It's not worth having your name on a list. 

Ingenuity & Adversity, Finding Song Though Hearing Loss

Ingenuity & Adversity, Finding Song Though Hearing Loss

We are surrounded by noise. Both audible and visual. Billions of images and videos uploaded to the internet every day. It all becomes very grey.  

Very rarely in our mundane world do we come across people who are truly astounding. Using every avenue available to us as humans to explore, learn and grow. 

Meet Mandy Harvey a twenty nine year old Jazz singer from the USA. The thing that makes her special? She lost her hearing at the age of nine. 

Mandy is an example of what it is to be human, what it is to adapt and overcome adversity. Proof the human race can really do absolutely anything. 

By using her remaining senses, singing barefoot next to a speaker to feel the vibrations of the beats, using her sight and sense of feeling to learn to sing notes and remembering the sensation. Mandy learned to sing with pitch perfection. 

If ever you feel deflated, beaten and like the world just isn't turning on the same access you are. Remember you can overcome almost anything. You just need to look at it from another angle. 

How you walk in the skin you wear is your decision. Why not embrace it?
What other choice do you have?

5 Tips for the Perfect headshot :Video

5 Tips for the Perfect Headshot :Video

Hey Guys, If you are anything like me. You love nothing more than a Youtube video to explain how to do something. So, I've done a few. Here are 5 top tips for your perfect headshot. 

Latest Visitors Across the World

Latest Visitors Across the World

As you all know I am a little obsessed with where people are clicking in from. I am fascinated by different cultures and how each country as you move over East, or West changes slightly with each border. 

Ireland: Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Carlow, Kilkenny, Belfast
UK: London: Chelsea, Hendon, East Molesey, Hackney. Basingstoke, Willingdon Eastbourne. Wales: Newport
Germany: Boppard
Sweden: Huddinge
Greece: Athens
Portugal: Coimbra
Italy: Novellara
Switzerland: Lausanne
Finland: Helsinki
Saudi Arabia: Al Murabba, Riyadh
Australia: Melbourne, Hurlstone Park Sydney
France: Paris
Singapore.
USA: Stockton California., Aurora Colorado, Atlanta Georgia, Hastings Michigan, Piscataway Township New Jersey, Clegg North Carolina, Herndon Virginia, Malvern Pennsylvania, Orlando, Pensacola Florida,
 

Comments are enabled for this post. Drop a comment where you are from!!

Come out of the shadows & own it

Come Out of The Shadows & Own It!

We spend so much of our life floating along. Not doing anything or taking chances that make people sit up and listen. We can be every level of sensational but never be heard.

Meet Anton. I have shared the full second video before in another post because it is about owning it. Standing up for your own individuality taking life by the horns and saying I am me and that is good enough. 

Anton was a backing singer for people like Aretha Franklin, big names with big bold voices. The people who attract every pair of eyes when they enter a room and every ear as they speak. Anton lived in the shadows. Supplementing the greatness of others to let them shine. 

Until the moment he took to the X Factor stage in the first video. It starts just as he enters the stage and tells why he wants to step forward into the light and be happy being him.

The second video starts when Rita Ora acknowledges Anton Individuality. Validating something nobody should require validation for. His appearance. 

It ends with Simon's critique, again drawing attention to Anton's expressions. Until Anton stands proud and takes ownership. "I Believe in me"

Maybe it's time we all reflect a bit on who we are, what makes us and to show what is waiting to flourish within us. 

How you walk in the skin you wear is your decision. Why not embrace it? What other choice do you have?

Website Visitors

Website Visitors

It never ceases to amaze me some of the places people visit my website from. Places that don't often get press or never feature in film or the TV shows we watch. Places I've only ever heard of because people are clicking buttons, looking at my images and reading my blog posts. 

I have a little bit of an obsession with seeing where people are clicking in from and often there are little surprises. Really cool guys. Thanks for dropping in. Over the past few days people dropped in from these places. 

Ireland: Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Wicklow, Galway.
England: London (Soho, Hackney, Fulham), Worchester, Manchester, Royal Wootton Bassett, Wolverhampton.
Scotland: Edinburgh, Leven
Italy: Genoa, Rome, Monza.
Canada: Mississauga, Chatham-Kent Ontario
Norway: Oslo
USA: Manhattan NYC, Chicago & Naperville IL, Oklahoma City, Tampa FL. San Jose, Compton Los Angeles CA. Tucson AZ. Philadelphia PA. Dayton Ohio. Boston & Gardiner MA. 
Spain: Malaga
Portugal: Almada

2,634 Visits by 2,019 people in the past week. It's touching to think the voice of one man, can stretch so far.

How you walk in the skin you wear is your decision. Why not embrace it? What other choice do you have?

Manchester Attack

Manchester Attack: Fighting Hate

Today the world wakes with a sombre stillness. The news reporting an attack on innocence. The killing of children and their parents at Manchester Arena following the Ariana Grande Concert. The senseless murder of so many in the name of any cause, nothing more than cowardly. 

Fighting Hate

In the wake of the attack, so many opened their doors as refuge, people bringing anonymous strangers into their homes for shelter and warmth in their times of need. Regardless of colour, religion or creed. People, helping people. This is how we beat hate. 

We beat hate by refusing to acknowledge difference. We beat hate by refusing to use labels. 
Don't call me white, I won't call you black, Don't call me straight, I won't call you gay. Don't call me Catholic, I won't call you Muslim, protestant or Hindi. 

In killing labels we kill hate. We individually need to take steps to stop ourselves acknowledging difference. We pass this on through generations to our children and theirs. Spread love, selflessness and kindness.  

My thoughts are with you all Manchester. 

Celebrity to Anonymous :- Jennifer Grey

Celebrity to Anonymous: - Jennifer Grey

A face known across generations for her role in Dirty Dancing. Jennifer Grey was born into a show business family. The daughter of two screen actors. Academy Award Winning Joel Grey and Actor and singer Jo Wilder. 

With a string of roles in the 1980 from Ferris Bueller's day off to her Golden Globe nominated roll in the cult film Dirty Dancing in 1987. Jennifer's star was well and truly risen. One of the most recognisable faces in Hollywood. 

Then she had that nose job. 

She in the early 1990's did something that would change her life and the course of her career, and not for the better. She had rhinoplasty making her almost unrecognisable to not only the public, but to her own friends and family. In a 2012 interview she told The Mirror "I went into the operating theatre a celebrity and came out anonymous". “It was the nose job from hell. I’ll always be this once-famous actress nobody ­recognises because of a nose job.”

We often forget to consider the consequences of our actions in advance of them. Did it end her life? No. It didn't kill her, it didn't stop her from being happy. 

There is beauty in every face. That beauty is as unique as the personality behind each one. 

How you walk in the skin you wear is your decision. Why not embrace it. What other choice to you have?

Vanity & Speed. A societies vice.

Vanity & Speed. A Societies Vice.

Thursday night for me was a feast for the brain. Being a busy business owner I was off galavanting around Dublin and had to record my favourite TV shows and brain food. First of the night was Bodyshopping on RTE, Followed by Micky Flanagan Thinking aloud on Sky.

In body shopping we saw Donna travel for a breast augmentation, Margaret have an eye lift and mother and daughter Anne and Bianca have anti-ageing work done. While thinking aloud saw Micky explore the world of the Mid life crisis. 

Fundamentally, I do agree with anything that makes people feel better in themselves, but there is a crux. Let's come back to this. 

The one thing that stands out through all of the stories individually is each person, is trying to attain a level of superficial beauty they perceive to be the acceptable norm in the world. We are surrounded by advertising telling us that if we have this car, wear these clothes or use this toothpaste. We can be sexy, happy and never have to worry about the generic day to day again. 

I want to touch on Margaret for a second. A middle aged woman giving of herself to her ill father. The level of kindness and compassion she shows for him very evident. There are so many who don't have such fortune. She and others like her, caring for the elderly, ill and infirm could teach us all a thing or two about humility and humanity. 

I was taken aback when Margaret said when she is in social circles she pulls back, feeling like she has nothing to say and doesn't want to have people looking at her. This is called Imposter syndrome and is something most suffer from to a degree. In a recent worldwide study  60% of people said they had avoided contributing to a group forum to avoid drawing attention to how they looked. 

What matters here is not how tired she felt she looked. It is not in the superficial but very much in her substance. A hard working, kind, caring woman who has the love and admiration of many. Especially her father. Not one of them focused on her eye lids. 

Mother and Daughter duo Anne and Bianca were in together for Anti-Ageing treatments. Anne having her skin peeled with a laser, Bianca at 24 starting a course of Botox. Again two people wanting to conform to what they think the rest of the world expects from them and looking for the easy option. 

I call it the easy option because people are being sold cosmetic surgery as the first stop for anti-ageing. It does nothing for your body medically, doesn't make you fitter or won't make you live any longer. In Thinking Aloud Micky Flanagan met with a 73 year old fitness enthusiast who looked 40. She exercised every day, drank plenty of water and most importantly didn't smoke. 

So coupled with the advertising man telling us we have to look and act a certain way, we now have the issue of speed and impatience. Where 10 years ago we would sit listening to the modem dial into the internet and watch the pages slowly form on screen, we now shake in anger tapping the screen if our smart phones don't open our favourite website, video or Facebook page in under 5 seconds. If it goes past 10 wondering if the site or phone network is down. 

Now the concept of living a healthy life is arduous and inconvenient. Eating and drinking well. Preparing food the way it was done before everything was available at a minutes notice. Why should we spend a life time making work for ourselves and doing things the old way when we can have it all quicker with a higher cost. 

Back to the crux. Everyone should have the right to feel good in themselves, no matter what it takes. Try it the old fashioned way first. Learn to see the substance and not the superficial. Live a life that is slower in pace and it will last longer, you will look and feel the way men and women are supposed to look and feel at that age. Take care of the inside both physically and mentally, it will show on the outside.
If you have exhausted all other avenues and still feel that what is on the outside isn't where you want it to be. Then and only then should you change the features your ancestors loaned you. 

Just remember in changing them, you are telling the next generation that what you gave to them. Just isn't good enough. 

How you walk in the skin you wear is your decision. Why not embrace it?
What other choice do you have?

Getting Old

Getting Old

As Western cultures, we live in fault based societies. We are thought to seek out our imperfections in order to improve on them. In an age where companies spend more on advertising than research and development, we are forced to believe that young, slim and beautiful is perfect. Anything else needs to be changed. 

This video from US Coast Guard movie The Guardian was something that struck me when i saw it first and has stayed with me. I photograph people less than 5 feet in front of my camera. So many struggle with their image from facial features to ageing. 

Getting old. It's earned. 

Ireland My Ireland

Ireland My Ireland

Sure you have your faults and flaws, who doesn't. You have your trials and tribulations. Anger and hate. But Ireland your charm is something to behold. 

We are a nation of celebrators not celebrities. Sharing our pride in our countrymen and women should they win or not. All the while not letting them get too ahead of themselves with a gentle begrudgery.

We are a nation of mild. From the weather never being too hot, or too cold. The sun never lasting too long and even the big snows only lasting for a few days. We have this magical ability to get fed up with the change at hyper speed. Yet still muster up enough tolerance to holiday in Spain for two weeks, only complaining it wasn't long enough when we come home. 

We brush over some of the worst aspects of life and history with fleeting regard. The famine in the 1840's killed over a million souls. We refer to it simply as "The Hunger". People with mental health issues simply "Suffer with their nerves".

Nothing though prepares visitors for your splendour. 

From your glorious golden sunsets.

To your ever changing landscape of spectacular colour tones. The greenest of greens and bluest of blues. Something we only as locals appreciate on an unusually beautiful day or when we entertain guests from abroad. 

Where else in the world can you randomly meet the President for a chat while out walking your parrot in the sun. Or get photo bombed by him walking his dogs. 

For everything the land gives us, the people are where Ireland truly shines. 

From the Irish soccer fans who cleaned up after themselves, changed car tyres and brought so much good feeling to France in such a difficult time, to bus driver Christy Carey who despite language barrier made the people of Kathmandu along with everyone in Ireland fall in love with him. 

Ireland is like your childhood. We do a lot of moaning about it when we are too close or living it. The older you get the better your childhood gets. Just like our amazing country. 

Sláinte

Be Kind To Yourself

Be Kind To Yourself, Your Kids are listening

As humans in a western world, we grow up in fault based societies, Thought to seek out our imperfections in order to improve on them. 

When we are very young. We are limitless. Ask a group of four year old kids who the strongest, or fastest in the group is, every hand will go up. Ask again when they are seven and the magic of their unbounded inner superhero has all but gone. We, as adults are the only ones to blame. 

I think the cover frame of the video above says it all. Imagine being that girl. No more than 10 years old. Imagine now that she looks like her mother and is repeating in the video what her mother says about her forty something year old face. They have the same nose, by self deprecating her own mother who sees no fault in the child, is telling her that her face is not okay. It is not okay to look like that. 

If you are looking at the outside as a gauge for how great you are as a person. You are looking in the wrong place. Try looking a little deeper. When you find what you are looking for. Share it with the rest of us.  

How you walk in the skin you wear is your decision. Why not embrace it? What other choice you you have?

Stress of being Photographed

The Stress of Being Photographed

I read this brilliant article today on headstuff.org by actor, writer and comedian Tara Flynn.

Dont Shoot: Lights, Camera, Anxiety - Headstuff

In it she goes talks quite candidly about the stress of being photographed. Not that I am trying to steer people away from having their photograph taken, quite the opposite. We all have our stresses when it comes to having a camera shoved in our faces. See my post on why we feel so uncomfortable in front of a camera here.

You can follow Tara @TaraFlynn 
You can follow Headstuff @ThisHeadStuff
You can follow me @jmphotodub

Every Generation can effect change

Every Generation has the chance to change the world

This morning, as with most mornings I get a notification from Facebook telling me what i was up to this day every year since I signed up. Funny to think it was this month 2 years ago when our generation changed Ireland for the better. Here is what i wrote.

This is kinda of a spilt post so bare with me. 

On May 22nd we the Irish people will be asked to vote in a referendum on Marriage Equality. 

As educated, civilised people, we will be asked to make an informed decision to either, accept, or reject a motion to allow people to marry others of the same sex. 

I will be voting Yes. 
I will be voting Yes, not because i feel it is the right thing to do.
I will be voting Yes, not to spite those who choose to vote No.
I will be voting Yes, not to spite those who do not believe in or support homosexuality.
I will be voting Yes, simply to practice what I preach. 
I will be voting Yes because I reject labels. 
I will be voting Yes so that others may live without discrimination

I will vote yes, to lose the label of a White, catholic or Straight. 
I, am merely John. The only labels I hold are Son, Brother, Uncle, Nephew and Boyfriend to Vivienne Prete. 
I vote yes so that others may lose the labels they carry, labels of race, religious belief or sexual orientation. 
I vote yes so that some day, we may all be seen as individuals contributing to the common good. 

I vote yes, so that friends, colleagues and strangers might enjoy the same rights I have and the rights their parents never dreamed they would be excluded from.

I would also like to drop a nod to Brendan O'Carroll of Mrs Brown's Boys TV Series. Rory Cowan if you wouldn't mind passing along. 

I grew up in the 80's and 90's, I remember the people from back then.
The neighbours who fed the entire street, the scores of kids out playing together, all sharing the one kids ball or someone else's skateboard. I remember the common site of 2 kids, sharing one set of roller skates, when having, and not having were the same thing. 

I remember Italia '90 when the whole country was filled with pride, even when the team didn't win. I remember people painting street curbs and houses in the colours of the flag, even though the team might never see it. 

I remember the people, even though they didn't have much, always willing to share what was there with others because it was the right and charitable thing to do. The Irish, thing to do. 

Thank you Brendan O'Carroll, for bringing those values, that humour and the memories back to us for 30 minutes at a time. 

Thank you for giving us the gift of who we are and the view of where we have come from. The communities who stood together to fight drug dealing, who had street parties and summer projects for the kids in the time when searching for a friend, meant trying their house, their grannies house, the playground, the football pitch and the abandoned warehouse you knew the way into.

Thank you for showing us the good inside, when the not having much, meant we had all we needed. When being poor meant you took the bus, made the most of a pot of coddle or stew. 

And most of all. Thank you for making my mammy laugh. for that, i am eternally grateful.

Body Shopping & Our Own Image

Body Shopping & Our Own Image

RTE have started a new TV series fronted by Dr. Ciara Kelly called Body Shopping. The show follows men and women before, during and after cosmetic surgery procedures. The aim to explore the reasons why, and to find out if it truly makes them happier. 

The show begins with a Orla from Edenderry Co. Offaly who wants to travel to Lithuania for rhinoplasty (Nose Job). Orla became self conscious seeing her nose in photographs when she was socialising with friends. So much so, she covers her nose in photographs with her hands or drinks. She isn't alone. Her mother and sister both state they hate their noses too. 

In the same way children adopt phobias of spiders etc. from parents. It is easy to see from their mothers experience of bullying, where they have fostered this awareness of their own nose shapes.

We as humans have unique, individual relationships with our own appearance. How we feel about our image is something only we can decide. 
In the same way we respond to fear from dangerous situations. Our minds respond to uncomfortable situations in the same way. Case in point, having a photograph taken. 

See my post on why being photographed makes us feel so uncomfortable here.

Essentially when Orla sees herself in photographs, it doesn't look like the Orla she sees in the mirror. Her brain wants to know why and scans her face in the image. In every photograph we all go to one thing that explains it. The one thing we hate about ourselves in photos and makes us uncomfortable. The more we see it, the more it cements in our minds. 

During the show, we hear people a number of times telling Orla they don't see the problem. That she is perfect as she is. 

At the end of the show, Dr. Kelly recaps and says despite being initially happy with the nose job now isn't happy at all with it. What does that show. The issue isn't the nose. It is her own sense of self. The is caught in the gap between how she thinks she looks, and how she thinks the rest of the world sees her.

This basic fact is the same for everyone on the show. How they see themselves is tainted by how they believe the rest of the world sees them. 

You don't need to change your face or your physical appearance, you need to change your mind. My post on getting out of your own funk is here. 
Okay, so my face, my headshot. 

Image by Peter Hurley

My headshot above, straight from the camera. So what do you see. Truth is you saw a face. Two eye a nose and a mouth. Looking fairy happy with myself being photographed by the worlds top headshot photographer. 
Now look again. Did you see my left eyelid is heavier than the right? How about the hair follicle causing a bump between my eyebrows? Ears are big enough you had to have noticed them? How about the missing chunk from my right ear? My nose is bent and has a bump on the side you saw that?
Truth be told, the only thing I see in photographs is that the left side of my mouth, is slightly lower than the right. You didn't see that either. 

How you walk in the skin you wear is your decision. Why not embrace it? What other choice do you have?

 

10 Reasons your team needs headshots

The Top 10 Reasons Your Team Needs Headshots:

1. A great headshot shows you are invested

They say a picture speaks a thousand words, and they'd be right. Having a professional headshot, shows not only that you are invested in yourself, it shows you will be invested in your clients.

2. A great headshot makes connections

Science shows we form opinions of the people we meet in the first 0.9 seconds. There are 1.8 Billion photographs uploaded to the internet daily. Almost all of the images we see have become nothing more than social media noise. Make people connect by having a stand out image

3. Your headshot tells your story

Over 70% of all human communication is based on body language and facial expression. Your headshot is the first time someone meets you. It should tell them everything they need to know, without you ever speaking a word.

4. The team building event

I regularly shoot for large clients. Shooting upwards of 50 or 60 team members. Taking something that by it's very nature creates fear, turning it into a fun social experience and creating an environment where staff are sharing tips and compliments over each others images.

5. Team headshots show consistency

When your customers look at your team headshots or about us page, what do they see? Do they see cohesive, uniform headshots that show consistency in your brand?, or do they see a mix and match of images that subconsciously communicate inconsistency in standards? Can you afford to not have it done?

6. Team Headshots = Social Media Content

Nowadays branding is much more than a logo. We see faces like Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk. We instantly associate it with their brands. We look beyond the walls and see brands from the inside out. Most companies have social media. Headshots are a great way to share your staff stories and success with your clients and followers with strong, consistent imagery.

7. Team headshots, build bonds

Okay, so having your headshot can be stressful. After all we are pointing a camera at the gap between how you feel you look, and what you think the rest of the world expects. Having team headshots done creates conversation, improved morale, social interactions, compliments which increase dopamine releases from validation (similar to getting Facebook likes or Retweets) and opens your staff up to taking more calculated risks and challenges. 

8. Uniformity, Uniformity, Uniformity.

For centuries uniformity has been used by the military, police, medical professionals and fire and rescue services to show consistency and gain trust. Children wear school uniforms to show them they come from something bigger than themselves. Having uniform headshots, not only shows staff they belong to something bigger. It shows your clients they are buying into something strong, consistent and trust worthy.

9. Ease of repetition 

A business is very much a life form. It will grow when nurtured, staff will come and go. Having headshots professionally shot means it is easy to shoot new faces as they come through the doors, seamlessly adding them to your online presence without the need to shoot the whole team again or compromise the brand image with poor quality or inconsistent imagery.

10. Stand Out!

Again, 1.8 BILLION Images on the internet daily. Most of it fodder. Your image needs to make you stand out. It needs to draw attention and make people sit up and look. People buy from people. We all know this. Isn't it time we acted on it. 

How you walk in the skin you wear is your decision. Why not embrace it? What other choice do you have. 

For more information and to book your session. Get in touch here

Target McConnells SafeFood Campaign

Target McConnells Wins Safefood’s Childhood Obesity Business

Target McConnells Managing Director Abi Moran

Huge congratulations yet again to Target McConnells on winning the contract to front Safefood's childhood obesity campaign. It's always great to see a great company, and great people being rewarded for their efforts. 

You can read the Adworld article here.

How far is too far?

How Far is Too Far?

www.her.ie article linked to picture. 

Just saw this shared by Her.ie

So this guy last year got a hair transplant, now he has had a beard transplant. Now I know each to their own, we all have the right to make decisions on how we look and if we want to go down this route or not.

What are you fighting in doing this?
What is prompting or causing this sort of behaviour in our society?

Okay so genetically we are preconditioned to present ourselves in order to meet a strong mate, reproduce strong offspring.

So are we to cheat our prospective mate? Make them think we won't go bald or we have suspiciously perfect skin or facial hair? Huge lips with no natural lines or at 40, have had such a perfect life your face has just realised and gone into a state of shock?

Come on people. What you were born with is what you have, those are the cards you were dealt.

The features you have are not yours and yours alone. They are on loan from those who came before you. From your mother, father, grandparents, aunts and uncles.

They are on loan to you so that you can pass them on to someone else. So that they may pass them on. The lips that kissed you goodnight, the eyes you stared into as a child and the ears that listened to your first words.

In changing these things not only are you insulting those who passed them to you, but telling your children, those who come after you, that these features are not good enough.

Are your beautiful children ugly? Are they to change their features?

Get a grip people!

How you walk in the skin you wear is your decision. Why not embrace it? What other choice do you have?