"We all have a gap between the way we see ourselves, and the way the world sees us."

- Peter Hurley

I'm a big fan of Peter Hurley's headshot photography. It's an interesting challenge: communicating the personality of a human by capturing their face very close up. Expressing what a person is like, purely from their photograph. Most folks don't like the idea of looking at themselves in a very closeup picture. Especially when another person is taking that picture. As a photographer, I can usually find an imperfection in every photograph I take. Would the average person, or even a fellow photographer notice these imperfections? Probably not, or maybe consciously not. Because perfection can be boring, and boring is one thing nobody, not a supermodel, nor a dock worker, wants to be.

In this case I had a great subject. Ethan's not afraid to get in front of the camera, which makes the first 90% my job easy. He wanted a mix of professional, and expressive headshots, and I think we accomplished that task. With 3 backdrops, 2 lights, and a GQ magazine in hand for inspiration, we got to work.

Here's an amazing TEDx talk by Hurley, and psychologist Anna Rowley, about the self-acceptance gap.