Headshots for Grant Saunders, Hypnotist

Grant is a good friend of mine, and now and then, I head over to his office/studio and shoot some new portraits of him. I needed some headshots and thought Grant would be the person to ask, and I could repay the favour by working my magic on him.

Going through change

Over the last couple of years, Grant has been changing. He has lost weight, but he is also changing his brand. He is no longer just working as a comedy hypnotist but has a more serious side to his business. He also does a lot of live streaming, so new headshots are always important.

Know the outcome

I knew my ultimate goal for the shoot was to get some vibrant pictures of me that I could use on social media and other profile pages; check out my blog here. However, I knew the outcome that I wanted you to have to take baby steps to get there.

Start somewhere

You have to start somewhere, so where do I start? Start with baby steps. So I set up a quick white sheet and grabbed one light and a softbox. I knew I wanted to create some moody traditional pictures using light and shadow. 

The next step

From one light, the next step is two lights. A few seconds later, I set up a little back/rim light to give the pictures a bit more of a three-dimensional look. I knew I had enough images, so it was time for my master plan.

Bright

Having shot Grant many times, I wasn’t sure if he would go for the bright, vibrant look I wanted. As I had already warmed him up, I managed to talk him into the fun and colourful. The shoot went well; it only took 30 minutes from start to finish. 

Here are a few pictures from the evening.