Please excuse the appearance of this website. I’m in the process of updating certain things, including the general look of the site. It will probably be changing over the next few days. I want to make it more contemporary. And I’m going to be using images from the photoshoot I did with Walker1812 Photography. I’ll write a bit about that today.

Here, by the way, is the author photo that came out of that shoot:

What do you think? I like it a lot, of course, although it makes me look more glamorous than the typical author headshot. But there’s nothing wrong with glamor, is there? What I particularly like about it is that a lot of personality comes through. That’s what I’m like, minus some of the glamor. Looking at the world in that sidelong way, as though it’s somewhat, but not entirely, amusing.

So what is a photoshoot actually like? First thing that morning, I met the photographer. I was wearing no makeup, just SPF 30 because of the Florida sun. When we arrived at the location, I went directly to makeup. That was a fascinating process. I always assumed that the makeup used on photoshoots and in movies is fundamentally different from the makeup we use every day, and I was right. Oh, the makeup itself is the same (Mac, in this case), but it’s applied differently. By the end of the process, I looked as though I had been photoshopped. In the photograph above, my face doesn’t look all that different than it did in the original shot, although of course the photographer performed his post-shoot magic on it. I don’t think I’ve ever had such a perfect complexion.

And then there were five hours of taking photos in different settings and positions, with three costume changes. What you won’t see in any of the photographs is the assistant who dragged the boat around in the water. There were times when I couldn’t sit up by myself (after lying in the boat for an hour with my head propped on the wooden side, for instance). There was also a behind the scenes video being shot at the same time, which I’ll show you once it’s done.

I think I learned a lot from the process. I definitely learned, a bit late because I didn’t see the photos until after they were uploaded onto the computer, how I should stand, how I should turn my head – what works and what doesn’t. I learned about my own angles. That will be useful if I ever do a photoshoot again. If I do, I will focus more on telling stories. In the end, the photographs I liked best were the ones that told stories, either through action or through a facial expression. Even reaching out to touch a branch, or looking behind me, could be a story. In the end, I want images to make me think and feel, in the same way I want prose to make me think and feel.

That’s what I like about the woman in the headshot above. You can see her – me – thinking. What is she thinking? Ah, that you’ll have to tell me . . .