This holiday season has me, along with many of you I’m sure, feeling especially introspective. Stripping away the “biz” of the rest of the year, melting away the hurts and hurtles of 2013, and leaving only the fact that I am where I am, how does it compare to where I was a year ago? Does it measure up to where I wanted to be? If I achieved what I thought I wanted, did it truly make me happy? What do I want now? Am I seeing the honest truth in my current state, and am I allowing myself to…
Author: Sylvia Hendershott
Sylvia Hendershott
1/2 of Husband and Wife Celeb/Commercial Photography Team The Hendershotts - Sylvia and her husband Adam are a Los Angeles based photography team that specializes in kid's fashion and celebrity portraits. Their work has been featured in Baby Couture, People, US Weekly, 944 and more. When they're not working, they love going to the movies and catching up on DVR with their two fluffy pups.
Welcome to the advanced class! In Part I, we covered a few general posing tips for an editorial style photoshoot, using myself as the guinea pig – no professional hair and makeup, and absolutely no Photoshop either! As promised, this month we’ll take a more detailed look at the various components of posing and break down exactly how your choices can create the tone or detract from it. I’ll also give you a major secret for breaking out of the awkward and making it all a no-brainer on set. Support Your Image As we talked about here, it’s imperative to…
Last month’s exposé featured a few pretty little tricks that help us achieve some of the top desired effects during a shoot, and used a simple headshot type setup to illustrate each modification. This month and next month, we’re delving a little deeper with a two-part series showing you the good, the bad and the ugly of how to pose for a more editorial style shoot. (Useful for you, terrifying for me. You’re welcome.) Once again, in order to allow you to see the full effects of each tip, I’ve done my own hair and makeup, and there has been no…
Due to my (selflessness, awesomeness, sheer stupidity…?), I’ve summoned up the bravery to use myself as the guinea pig for today’s tell-all exposé: we fake so much. And it’s awesome. Releasing completely unretouched, unedited photos of myself, I’m going to demo a few tricks of the trade. (Thanks to my hubby Adam Hendershott for helping me out with this one!) Here’s a list of the… Top Five Most Helpful Things You Can Fake (or Make!) During a Photoshoot: 1) Real smile – Forget everything you’ve learned about saying “Cheese!”. The trick is literally to trick yourself into having a real…
Whether you’re flying solo or lucky enough to have the top PR agency as your wingman, it’s important to realize that as a smart businesswoman, it is your responsibility to create and maintain control of your image at all times. If you’re flying solo, here’s a guide to help you produce images that support your image! With spectacular photos, you can leverage your website, social media, press kit and other publicity materials into a multi-platform approach to familiarize the public with who you are and what you do, but you have to do your homework in order to present a…
No one is safe. The reality is that anybody pursuing their passion, whether it’s photography, acting or crocodile wrangling, can be susceptible to developing a mild to severe case of Stuck-in-a-Rut Syndrome (SIARS). Common Symptoms: Fatigue, indifference, apathy, resentment, blame, complaining whining, general crankiness and feeling “off”. Possible Causes: Comparing yourself to others, a recent string of disappointments, or suddenly realizing you’re way off-course. Can involve hurt pride, shaken up self-confidence, or a nagging feeling that you’ve outgrown your current situation. Diagnosis: Time to tune in and do some inner detective work to get to the bottom of this one.…
My first professional photoshoot experience was over ten years ago, when I was a young, naive, completely sheltered theatre major who knew nothing about myself and even less about fashion, image, or the industry. I needed a headshot to satisfy a class requirement and audition for parts that semester at school, but other than that I really had no idea what that entailed. Did that mean I had to smile or be serious? What clothes did I need to wear? All I had was plain black and gray tops at the time- I had heard wearing black was against the…
Life Lessons From Behind the Lens: We See What We Want to See Life will always be a crazy hectic blur of messy simultaneous things happening all at once, loudly interfering with one another, and pulling you, everything and everyone in it in a million different directions. It’s so easy to get swept up in the chaos of that rip current, and become so ungrounded and uncentered that we have no idea which way is up, what we want, who we are, or where we’ll catch our next breath, and then judge ourselves for not having it all together. Just…