The Camera-Ready Life

Greetings!

This post marks a big shift in the content of this blog.  For those of you who read for advice, strategies and inspiration on your quest to being working actors/models, I think you’ll be even happier with the content, discussions and point of view I’m about to add to this labor of love I’m calling “The Camera-Ready Life” – - and it’s gonna get a bit “woo-woo” at times. (Don’t bother looking up “woo-woo” – just think touchy-feelie and all sensitive ‘n’ shit!)

I was on a call recently with one of my Photo Therapy clients. She said, “I tend to avoid being the center of attention, because I feel like when people are looking at me – that they’re just looking at my flaws.” Broke my heart. I have 100% faith that I can help her. People are in such pain these days.

My business has always been about transforming people who want to be models and actors into just that, by following a plan that is proven to work. We work with people of all ages and types to assess their marketability in the commercial San Francisco market. We ensure they have the right photos, specific auditioning skills and business coaching to be seen by agents as marketable talent immediately. That business is established and successful. We have a 99% success rate at placing our clients with agents. It’s very satisfying and rewarding.

The universe made it very clear to me, recently, that my blessing is not facilitating a process that creates working models and actors. My blessing is helping people to be “seen” – maybe for the first time in their lives.

There’s been a trend rising, especially in the commercial acting/modeling world. That trend was people – especially women over 40 – really seeing a huge surge of demand and success in commercials and commercial print. A common scenario would be a woman bringing in her child or grand-child and asking us to evaluate them. Often, I would tell her, “well, your child is definitely cute, but you are the marketable one!” This would often embarrass her and she would start nervously laughing, pushing back and then even sometimes get very emotional – sharing deep, personal feelings – feeling about herself. So much would be revealed, and after many of these interactions it became so clear that these lovely age 40-plus women felt as if they had lost, or given up so much along the pathway of their life that they had nothing left to offer. They’d say that their husband doesn’t look at them anymore. Their kids see them as a taxi cab. At work, they were just “that lady at the desk”. She is seen as the cook, the maid, the mom, the wife, the “ma’am”. (FYI – most women don’t like being referred to as “ma’am”)

So, once we would start to work together I could start to see glints of smiles – hints of confidence. We’d work together on video, and watch it back…usually resulting in uncomfortable squirms and lots of “OMGs!” During the all-day photo shoots, it was amazing to watch the “light” turn on and see these women confidently work with my camera, have the confidence to know how to pose, how to use their faces, eyes and mouths to produce vibrant photos. Long story short – by the time we spent our 4-6 weeks together, there was such a marked and miraculous transformation in my client. Of course she’d get an agent and of course she’d start auditioning and booking commercial gigs. But even more special – these women found themselves again! Or – maybe found themselves for the first time! They tell me that they finally see that they still have something to offer – that they have value! That their image, right now as they are – actually has value!

I have taken this trans formative process and am now offering it to every woman who feels that they want to reclaim that which they may have lost along the road of their life. I feel that everyone deserves to own at least one photo of just themselves (not a family photo, etc.) that they absolutely love and cherish. A single photo like that can be transformational. It can bring out the fire, the juice, the courage to finally be SEEN! Maybe this transformational photo – or the results it bring – will remove that one last barrier to writing that book, starting that business or maybe – just because it’s empowering to have a that “perfect” photo. I’ve had many of my clients tell me that on a bad day they just look at the photo and it makes them feel beautiful. It reminds them of the fact that yes(!), they have value, purpose and worth in this world that often forgets people over 40. They finally feel “seen” – Priceless!

So, that is my blessing.
My mission is to bring this feeling to everyone!