I recently had some professional photographs taken for PR and marketing in the future and to be honest I wasn’t looking forward to it. As a rule I just don’t like having my picture taken and never like the end result. I think I always end up looking goofy, or have my mouth gaping open or I look half asleep. This was also the day after my busy trip to London to visit my publisher and see my agent, so I was pretty tired.
Much to surprise the actual process itself was a lot of fun. Hannah Webster was my photographer and she has done lots of commercial portraits before as well as food photography, events, marketing and a whole host of other stuff. She’s also taught photography, so I felt that I was in very safe hands. We started with some photos at her studio and I had to try to remember to smile, then I became conscious of my smile and I thought it was lopsided, or maybe I was smiling too much. Her lovely and friendly cat Jess kept me company, calmed me down and made my smile and the photos much more natural. We took some more pictures outside at a local park and then came the awful wait for the photos to come through. In the end I didn’t need to worry. I’m actually really pleased with the photos, they look natural and very relaxed.
Stephen Aryan 