What Makes a Creative Headshot?
What does a creative headshot actually mean?
"Creative headshot" has become something of a marketing term — a way of signalling that the result won't be stiff and corporate without actually explaining what that means or how it happens. It gets used a lot. It gets explained rarely.
So here's what it actually means, from someone who thinks about this a lot: a creative headshot isn't defined by the backdrop you choose, the lighting setup you use, or whether you're standing in a field versus against a white wall. Those are aesthetic decisions. They matter, but they're secondary.
A creative headshot is one where something specific and true about you shows up in the frame. Where the image has a point of view. Where it couldn't have been made of anyone else.
It comes down to two things.
Most technically competent headshots fail at creativity not because of the equipment or the setting — but because of what happens between the photographer and the person in front of the camera. Or rather, what doesn't happen.
Generic headshots are made when the photographer's job is to get a technically acceptable image of whoever shows up. Creative headshots are made when the photographer's job is to find something specific about this particular person — and then make an image of that.
That requires a different kind of session. More conversation. More direction. More patience with the moments between the posed ones. And it requires a photographer who's genuinely curious about the person in front of them — not just technically competent at recording their face.
There's a difference between telling someone how to hold their chin and actually working with them to find an expression that's genuinely theirs. The first produces technically correct results. The second produces images that feel like the person.
The best headshots I've made have come from sessions where I understood something about what the person does, how they think about their work, and what they're trying to communicate. That understanding shapes every decision — light, framing, timing.
The best headshots aren't made by getting people to look their best. They're made by getting people to stop performing — and then photographing what's left.
On what the session is actually trying to do
What a session with me involves.
Before we shoot, I want to know something about you — what you do, what you're trying to communicate, what context these images will live in. That conversation isn't small talk. It's where the session actually starts.
Experience means knowing when to push and when to wait — when the image is there and when it isn't yet. It means being able to read the session and adjust, rather than running a fixed process regardless of what's happening.
You don't need to know how to pose. I'll guide you through the session — and I'll be paying more attention to the moments between the poses than to the poses themselves. That's usually where the images happen.
The setting should serve the image, not the other way around. We'll choose an environment that makes sense for what you're going for — not just whatever's available.
The finished images are retouched carefully — removing distraction without erasing the person. You should look like you, not like a version of you that's been processed into something generic.
The result, when the session goes well, is an image that doesn't just confirm your existence — it communicates something specific. That's what a creative headshot actually is. Not a stylistic flourish. A real image of a real person.
— Shawn
A headshot that actually looks like you.
Portrait and headshot sessions in Ottawa & Gatineau. 17+ years. No chin advice.
