Which is Best? Colour VS. Black and White in your headshot

THE REAL QUESTION: COLOUR VS BLACK AND WHITE HEADSHOT

Ann is a brand specialist she helps people develop their brands when they’re not too sure on how to grow their brands. She recommends on how you need to and products to show and also how you product-a-phy your services, so, if you’ve got any Expos and exhibitions, that kind of thing, stand laid out. So she also has a few skills in when you have experiential kind of go along to drink some wine into an experience Ann’s your lady for that.

Okay, let’s get into the question.  The war!  Ann asks:

THE REAL ANSWER

This is a really good question! because this leads me on to talk about the nature of fashion and the nature of trends and how this kind of plays out in photography.

SALT? PEPPER?

So right now a lot of people are dropping the word “tastemaker” around as if it’s kind of like salt and pepper on your dinner this is another word that is basically “trendsetter” or “influencer”.

HOW FASHION & ART RULE THE WORLD

So everyone imitates fashion and everyone imitates art if that’s just the way that it is I’m sorry I will be happy to debate that with you at any time over cocktails if you want to meet me online we’ll have a cocktail and we can debate that but that is just what happens.

Everybody imitates art and in the fashion world so when designers put out a collection and they are explaining to the world what they are about to do for the coming years and the coming seasons and actually what happens is the rest of the world does what they are told by the leading people in the arts world.  Or you might have creative brain that puts together some kind of an exhibition and that is essentially explaining to people what they are behaving like or it’s pointing up some kind of satirical commentary on what people have done, we digest that in the way that we digest it and that’s how we work in my opinion that’s how culture behaves.

So if we dial that back to Ann’s question now and we talk about colour headshots or black and white headshots it all kinds so it kind of boils down to what is in vogue and what trends are happening right now.

ACTORS & MODELS

So right now in the acting world and in the fashion world if you go for a casting if you’re going through a specific role or a specific job the casting director wants to know exactly what colour your hair is what your colouring is what colour your eyes are so that they can place you in a role the way that they need to because of the way that the script has been written or the way that the brand wants their particular product to be conveyed.  Now because that’s what’s happening and we are specific and modern technology can do that quite clearly and easily that is the way that headshots in that world works so because that’s happening there the rest of the world is following that trend.

THE REST OF THE HEADSHOTS WORLD

So colour headshots are prevailing now in the 80s and the 70s the actor headshot and of like the accomplished actor was always and steering more to black and white and that was because it was easier to produce on mass and I always remember in the movie Fame do you remember and the girl I can’t for the life of me remember how I wish I could but the girl went to go get her headshots made and then she falls over or something in the film and they spill out on the street and she’s devastated and she cries about it, they’re all black and white.  That’s probably because that was all she could afford to do get them on mass in black-and-white and they’re kind of like soft focus but maybe her eye is what’s key in focus that’s because that was what was fashionable then.

So if you have, if you’re in business and you’re not in fashion you’re not in art the trend that a headshots photographer is going to tell you to like what I would tell you is you want to go colour, because that’s what the arts world is doing.

ATTACK OF THE VICTORIANA CATWALK TREND

Now it could be that all of a sudden I don’t know a “Victoriana” is going to be really hot and heavy on the catwalks next season I don’t know what’s going to come out and what’s going to be on-trend but let’s just say that’s going to come out really big and that’s going to take over all of our lives.  It’s going to be some kind of big kickback towards everything that’s happening with AI and VR who knows!

That could be really majorly serious and all of a sudden there’s this undercurrent you know like how steampunk was a few years ago? Maybe that’s going to happen and it’s going to take off in a massive way and all of a sudden there will be this subculture and it will be huge and maybe black and white headshots photography will have its day again.

I MAY EAT THESE WORDS FROM TODAY

Then I could be recommending to business owners and small business owners who have their finger on the pulse of this subculture you want to go black and white in the colour VS black and white headshot debate because that’s what your brand is all about then I’ll be saying that and this video will be out of date because I want to follow the trend of what’s happening in the fashion and the art world.

KEEP MOVIN’

Okay? 

So, it’s always going to change, things are always going to keep moving everything is always fluid because that is what’s happening in our culture and our times but right now the trend is colour and right now the trend is always things to be in pin-sharp focus.  I don’t know if you’ve seen ‘The September Issue’?

Grace Coddington talks about her frustrations with how all photography is always pin-sharp and but that is still the fashion right now especially in business portraiture I hope that settled the debate down a little bit in your mind Ann. 

You will know as a brand specialist and as someone who recommends trends in visual merchandising, I’m sure you probably had a bit of a hunch of this already because you know what’s going on in the fashion world anyway.
If you have a question in this vein, by all means, shoot it my way and we can talk about it further. What do you think is the right fit for your brand in the colour VS black and white headshot debate?

I’ll see you in the next episode, everyone, have a beautiful day see you later!

MWAH!

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