Happy New Year

Happy New Year 2019

2018 has been a ride!

We have worked with everyone, from individuals and teams of two, all the way to multi-nationals like Linkedin, Google, Salesforce and created exciting new horizons with many more.

We have spread the good word of wellness with PepTalk Workplace Wellness Platform as a PepPartner. Had book launches, tears of joy and plenty of big laughs along the way.

To you all, from my home to yours, where ever it may be. Thank you for following along and I wish you a wealth of health, happiness and fun in 2019.

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

John

2019 International Workshops

2019 International Workshops

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2019 is coming up fast.
Time to start putting plans in place.

We will be bringing our positive self image message and headshots to a city near you in 2019. Presently we have plans for Saudi and United States, Great Britain and Singapore underway.

We will be running Image wellness workshops, speaking on social anxiety, personal brand, and positive image psychology and teaching people to love their faces.

If you would like to see us in your city, comment below or get in touch.

Linkedin Local Dublin / LocalX

LocalX Dublin 17/10/18

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I am delighted to be co-hosting another Local X in Dublin with Jannetje Van Leeuwen

this time in The Church Bar, Restaurant & Venue.

You Can Get Your Tickets Here

After the roaring successes of our last events we are delighted to be back in the historic St. Annes Church on Wolfe Tone Street and Jervis Street in Dublin to host the event.

The 7th #linkedinlocal Dublin in The Church.

We invite you to join us on 17th October for our 7th meetup since we started back in January this year.

We will revisit the beautiful venue The Church where we will sit and share tapas together. After food, we'll mix it up a little to allow for more mingling - this space will allow for that better!

As always, we will keep this gathering as intimate as possible and keep it to maximum 40 people. The price is 25 EUR ( to cover food and one drink). 

Come and genuinely connect with the humans behind the LinkedIn profiles to inspire, motivate and grow one another, and build relationships with those who really care.

LinkedIn Local

#LinkedInLocal was started by Anna McAfee, Erik Eklund, Alexandra Galvizand Manu Goswami to meet their LinkedIn connections offline on a personal level. 

They founded the concept on authenticity, respect and collaboration, and it’s today being hosted all around the world.

No Agenda - No Labels

We believe authentic relationships are created unplanned. Leave the job titles and business cards at home.

Quality Over Quantity

Size really matters, the most interactive and personal meetups have 40 or fewer attendees. Due to the nature of this intimate event and seating restrictions in the venue, we have limited the number of tickets to 40 this event.

No Selling - No Pitches

Speak with the people, not to the people, and master your sales and marketing pitches in other events.

Will we see you on October 17th ?

Your Linkedin Profile and How to Make it Work for You

Your Linkedin Profile and How to Make it Work for You

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I am delighted to have been asked by JCI Dublin to teach a workshop on making your LinkedIn Profile work for you.

Get Your Tickets Here

Are you getting the very best from your Linkedin profile?

Does your profile photograph show the very best of you?

What do people read, hear and feel when they browse through your profile?

We all want the best from our online presence. Sharing our best photographs on Instagram, our ups and downs with friends on Facebook and attempting to be interview ready at all times on Linkedin. 

John will take you through the finer points of making the most of your Linkedin profile.

With:

- Profile Image tips and diagnostics

- Strengthening your profile

- Developing a Linkedin "Brand You"

- Making the right connections.

and Analytical hacks

Smiling: 3 Exercises To Change Your Day

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Smiling!

My hashtag#WednesdayWisdom post this week is about something that makes us feel great. Something I tell clients all the time is that when we see an old friend or win something, our arms go out and up. Our faces and bodies posture in the same way.

Thats why a smile goes out and up! Smiling causes a release of endorphins, happy hormones, so with that in mind.

I have some homework for you all.

1. Hold a pen in your teeth for 60 seconds. This creates the same facial posture and will cause that same endorphin release!

2. Smile at a stranger. Make brief eye contact with somebody you pass today and smile. Smiles are universal in language and give a little bit of kindness and warmth to you and the people you smile at!

3. Smile in the mirror. This one is vital and takes a little more time to feel benefit from long term. We spend our time in the mirror doing tasks and checking stuff. Brushing teeth, cursing or squeezing spots. So smile at yourself. Know what you look like smiling and walk away while still smiling. This will better your relationship with your own self image.

Did any of these work for you?

 

Where do you come from?

Where do you come from?

Where is it you come from?
Does geography have anything to do with that place within ourselves that creates what we put out to the world?

I have shot headshots with Eric Lalor a few times now and am always struck by his openness, his willingness to leave it all on the table and show who he is and that place within himself that he comes from.

Maybe, being a standup comic has given him the freedom to open those doors, desensitisation and an openness to self deprecation. 

Maybe as an actor he has learned skills to search within himself to find that place in order to portray the harsher side of Cathal Spillane in the RTE soap Fair City. 

We all need to take a leap of faith like Eric did over 7 years ago to follow his dream without regret. 

You can see Erics interview with Online Youth Mental Health Service ReachOut below. 

You can follow Eric on Social Media. On Twitter  his articles on Joe.ie

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

Linkedin Local 31st July 2018

As many of you know, I co host Linkedin Local Dublin with Jannetje van Leeuwen 

Following the success of the first four events, we have organised the fifth #linkedinlocal Dublin with a twist!

To facilitate connection in a different way we thought we'd mix it up a little and do a sit-down - share good food and great conversation. 

Not your typical networking event! Please read below For some more information :)

LinkedIn Local meetups have been popping up all across the globe, and the purpose is to get to know your connections on a personal level, and genuinely connect with the humans behind the LinkedIn profiles. For more information check out linkedlocally.com. 

Meet your LinkedIn connections offline!
That is what LinkedIn Local is all about. No pitches, no speakers.

#LinkedInLocal was started by Anna McAfee, below you find the values she and the other early adopters set out for successful meetings. It is all about "connecting humans".

The concept is founded on authenticity, respect and collaboration.

You are empowered to meet people in an intimate setting to connect on a personal level.

No Agenda - No Labels

Leave the job titles and business cards at home. We believe authentic relationships are created unplanned.

Quality Over Quantity

Size really matters, the most interactive and personal meetups have 40 or fewer attendees. Due to the nature of this intimate event and seating restrictions in the venue, we have limited the number of tickets to 30 this event.

No Selling - No Audience
Speak with the people, not to the people, and master your sales and marketing pitches in other events.

 

To book your tickets https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/linkedin-local-dublin-thai-tapas-saba-3107-tickets-47902923935

1% Better Podcast

My Interview with Rob of the Green

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Hey guys, I was delighted to be interviewed by @Rob O'Donohue for his The 1% Better Podcast. 

We spoke about #SelfAcceptance #PositiveSelfImage #Wellness #Mindfulness and my work with PepTalk Wellbeing amongst lots of other things. 

So if you want to know how to look better in photographs, or understand what you look like to the rest of the world. Have a listen. 
#ApplePodcast - https://lnkd.in/dDxeakG
#GooglePodcasts - https://lnkd.in/d-6nVm6 #robofthegreen
site - https://lnkd.in/dXrVZg4
Newsletter - Sign up for our newsletter: http://eepurl.com/c1-GRD
Spreaker: https://lnkd.in/dgDwh92

Your Body Language: It speaks so you don't have to!

Your Body Language: It speaks so you don't have to!

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How well do you know what you are saying to others?

Over 70% of our communication is non verbal and we communicate with our bodies and our faces faster than we can create the words to describe how we feel. 

We have three brains. The Walnut is the human thinking brain, the clever bit. The lemon hidden inside is the emotional centre of the brain, and the bit at the end that connects it to our body is the reptilian brain, providing us with danger responses and balance. 

So what are you really saying, as you sit there adjusting your posture because you are now aware of it. 

Did you know it was being controlled from a different part of the brain than the words you are thinking now?

Like in the image above, we posture. Based on our environment, we release hormones and send signals to the brain stem telling us how to stand, how to hold ourselves and what to do with the muscles. Automatic responses to the world and people around us. All while thinking about something completely different. 

 

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Think about when you are scared. We become smaller, we close off our posture, roll our shoulders forward and try protect ourselves. Our facial posture changes too. We pull with ligaments and tendons to make the mouth smaller, bring the eyebrows down and to the centre. 

When we are happy, we become bigger, happy to be seen, when we meet an old friend. We throw our arms out and up. The same as the shape of our brightest smile. All this without ever assigning active thought or words to the sensation we feel. 

Neuroscientist Guillaume Duchenne with a subject

Neuroscientist Guillaume Duchenne with a subject

Our bodies, and our minds work in tandem. Like a spiders web. When a fly gets stuck in the web, no matter where on the web the spider is, it feels the vibrations from the struggling fly and is alerted to it's presence. 

Our minds and bodies are the same. Once one is altered, by proxy so is the other. So maybe it is time you started to listen to what your body says. It doesn't have the facility to be wrong. 

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

"That film is nothing like the book"

Have you ever seen a film and thought "That is nothing like the book" Is the issue the movie, or you?

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Have you ever seen a film and thought "That is nothing like the book" Is the issue the movie, or you?

I constantly tell people, "When you see yourself in the mirror, you think you look like that, but you don't.
You are the only person who sees that image.

So when you see a photograph, your brain wants to know why it looks different. So you search for imperfections" So you read Harry Potter, or Fifty Shades of Grey.

When you read it, your mind creates a visualisation of the story, the characters and the scenes. You pre-visualise the story and gain senses. 
If your sister or brother read the same book. Their visualisations would be completely different, just like everyone else who has ever read the books. 

So when you see the movie, you are seeing it through the eyes of somebody else entirely. 

Is it just movies we do this with? 

Do we become judgemental of other peoples view of the world because we expect they see the same?

Have you ever been judgemental or had wildly inaccurate expectations?

How to stay young fit and beautiful

How to stay young fit and beautiful

We live in a culture of convenience, every person obsessed with staying young, thin and beautiful no matter the cost. 

Adverts screaming Get Fit Fast, Lost 10LBS in 24hrs and Lose weight feel great. 

Magic pills for everything, Aloe Vera and Vinegars. Sold with the promise we will look younger, be thinner and never have to exercise again. 

Meet Ernestine Shepherd. 80 Years of age, exercising daily, drinking water and looking after her body so that it can look after her. 

As humans we were born to work for food. To walk to a water source, to walk and run and climb to forage for fruits and vegetables. To burn thousands of calories per day just to eat, and now? We turn on a tap, open a fridge or set a microwave. We don't even have to go that far. Food is in abundance, exercise not so much. 

We have an obsession with being skinny or super thin over being fit an healthy. 

If you want to stay young, fit and healthy. Exercise, drink water, don't smoke and lay off the junk food and alcohol. 

Fillers, Botox and tummy tucks don't add to your life expectancy. They don't make you fit enough to play with your kids longer. Taking care of yourself does. 
 

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

Own your inner space.

Owning Your Inner Space

As part of what I do, some of you will be aware I spend as much time talking as I do taking photographs

With PepTalk Wellbeing and for clients like Linkedin, I run workshops and talk about self acceptance, self image and owning who you are. Knowing it is good enough, but learning to take an extra step at a time outside your own comfort zone. 

In talks from time to time I reference this video. Jill Scott, so comfortable in who she is and the skin she walks in. 

The French film maker, makes a slip up. A tiny mistake, in asking Jill. "Are you nervous?"

We could all learn a little from what she says in this video.  

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

Do you ever think why bother?

Do You Ever Think, Why Bother?

Sometimes we can get so disheartened trying to help others. Why bother? Fighting other peoples corners who are just so negative and shoot others down.

Over the past 10 years my photographic career has had many twists and turns.  Over the past 4 years it had become more focused on what I love. The human face, and over the past 12 months has become laser focused on the psyche and how that reflects both internally and externally. 

One thing that happened over the past 12 months was, I got a pain in my arse chasing people who were of false or plastic disposition. People out for themselves and always on the take. 

I learned a valuable lesson in just giving them enough to empower them to make their own decisions.  Then things turned. I started to find time for my own psyche, being mindful and grateful for my own path. 

Thanks to people like Ann Smyth Olivia Hurley Michelle Fogarty Paul Daly and PepTalk Wellbeing. My thoughts and feelings in this area became validated. 

More often than not in our society, the efforts we make for others are under appreciated, go un-noticed or are swallowed by their negativity. 

Sometimes. Magic Happens. 

Who Helped you?

Your Profile Picture Is CRAP!

Your Profile Picture Is Crap!!

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Once a month I run a thing on Linkedin where I offer free advice and free unbiased critiques on peoples profile photographs. It tends to be interesting. 

Each month I receive over 50,000 views on these posts with comments and InMails from all over the world. 

More often than not the images are either like the one above, poorly or moderately lit selfies, which look like giant heads with disingenuous smiles, or of people cropped from other photographs within groups or on stage speaking. 

So what does this say about you?

Your image is the first time prospective clients and employers meet you. It is the first time they see your face and interact with you. Just in the same way they would meeting for an interview, they look at your image to form the first impression. 

Why should you spend money on a headshot?

Just look at the picture above, now look at your own Linkedin photograph and consider the impression it gives to prospective clients or employers. 

Investing in your headshot means investing in your first impression. It shows you take yourself seriously and are willing to invest in your career. 

If you had a choice to buy electronic goods from two vendors, one from the back of a van and the other from a store. You are most likely to go to the store, where you get a receipt, a guarantee and the assurance that if anything goes wrong. You know they will still be there when you return. 

Embrace Your Face. 
Find a good headshot photographer in your area on HeadshotCrew 
Study their work and make sure you like what and how they do it. 

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

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I Make People Cry For A Living And I Love It!

I Make People Cry For A Living And I Love It!

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As a headshot photographer, I stand 5 feet from my clients searching for genuine emotion. So when they cry with happiness or stress.
They are being true. Hiding behind nothing and showing fragility.

As humans we have three brains evolutionarily speaking. 
- The Neocortex (The Walnut part - Thinking brain)
- The Limbic Brain (Lemon shaped - Emotional centre)
- Cerebellum (Reptillian Brain - Runs breathing, balance & survival)

When we are under stress, the neocortex cannot see the cause, nor can it differentiate between a lion snarling at you or my camera. 

Stress is stress and the brain and body respond in the same way. 
We know this as the "Fight or Flight Reaction."

But, my camera and I don't cause a risk to life. So they have to stay, and barring slapping me, they can't fight either.  

Some cry, with the anxiety of facing something that is sure to show them the things they don't like about themselves. 

Some cancel before they get to the studio, One client cancelled 6 times and even walked away from the studio door in that time due to stress. 

In facing their fears, they overcome such a trivial yet so powerful task as having a photograph taken.

Have you ever backed away from doing something seemingly trivial because of fear?

Is there something you wish you could do?

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

Natural Vs Perceived Perfection: Why I stopped shooting family sessions.

Natural Vs Perceived Perfection:
Why I stopped shooting family sessions. 

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For years starting out, my bread and butter sessions were families. From new borns to grown, established families with grandchildren and great grandchildren I shot it all. 

I remember hearing someone say many years ago:

"Family is not what you see in photographs. It is what you do between them."

Something that stuck with me and was always in the back of my head as I worked with families. So eager to display the posed, perfect chocolate box life we often see in family portrait sessions. 

I for quite a while struggled with the concept of what I was doing. I always felt I wasn't delivering their personalities or the true nature of the families. Kids becoming agitated because they were restricted to one spot. Parents embarrassed then annoyed because the kids were running amok. 

The change came when I photographed a First Holy Communion in The National War Memorial Gardens, Dublin. The family were lovely and had Eight kids. They were great fun. The side of the minivan opened and they spilled out like clowns from a clown car. The parents said "Let them do what ever they want and just get photographs of it". 

I felt at first they had given up trying to control that many kids at the same time and had resigned themselves to the fact it was going to be like picking up a dozen broken eggs by hand. Just impossible. The more I watched the kids laugh, explore and play, the more I realised the parents were clever. 

These kids weren't uncontrollable. They were kids. As kids are. Genuine and funny. The parents didn't want the posed, plastic portraits of their family. They wanted to see the kids personalities in every shot. Something I always felt lacked in kiddie portraits I had shot before. 

Life is not flat and poised. Posed to show moments of controlled stress trying to portray a form of happiness that doesn't exist. Even the Brady Bunch and The Waltons had their moments. 

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