The photos are something that had to be done for the LA Times Festival of Books, which is coming up April 24th & April 25th. My signing times, if you're coming down to the event, are 10-11 on both days. I am participating with AuthorsDen again, and they are going to the trouble of having some posters made of the author and the book cover and requested a professional photo. And there we have the beginning of my freak out. I don't have any photos which meet the criteria, and knew I had to get them taken. Every author should have a head shot, just as any actor should. It is a part of the business side and is a must...I just wanted to hold off on doing it for a while longer.

AuthorsDen suggested Glamour Shots and since I had no ideas otherwise took them up on their suggestion. The Glamour Shots customer service was excellent. I booked the appointment online and they called to confirm the appointment and gave me the information on what to expect. Arrive at the appointment time with clean, dry hair, sans makeup with four outfits.

Four outfits????? My freak out went from tame little kitten variety to rampage of the wildebeasts in two seconds flat. I don't own four outfits that fit me at the moment. If that sounds like a strange statement, you can read why here. And right at the moment, a shopping spree is out of the question (and truthfully that would make this an extremely painful experience). And they wanted shoes and my shoes would send Ivanna screaming from the room. I own ratty-tatty tennis shoes which are worn from....well, wearing them until they fall apart. I don't do heels, I don't do skirts or pantyhose, my wardrobe is casual in the extreme, and I have no plans of changing. Good luck to Glamour Shots, eh?

I arrived on time with eight outfits and accessories, plus props in tow. I know I freaked out about four, so why did I have eight? I threw myself on the mercy of the stylist to make the decisions for me. I had one outfit that I was certain of, and another I was fairly sure about, but as for the rest, I had nothing but question marks. My stylist, Kathleen, was a petite college girl, who was just as cute as could be. I explained my dilemma and she couldn't have been more helpful. We whittled down the outfits to the few and she agreed with my selections (the two outfits which do actually fit me, plus jeans and a collared shirt - untucked so you can't tell I have to belt the jeans on in order to keep them up. We decided on a more natural look rather than dramatic for the makeup and Kathleen went to work. For my part, I tried very hard not to fidget while she worked, a feat of amazing restraint for me. It was a little hot in the salon, so poor Kathleen kept having to add powder as the sweat kept popping up. Once my makeup and hair were done, I changed into my first outfit and Thomas took over.

Thomas was excellent to work with. He gave me very specific directions on what to do and, despite popular opinion that I am unable to take direction from anyone, I actually follow direction in a photo shoot fairly well. I knew the shoot was going well because as Thomas checked the pictures he was taking each time, his eyes would light up. I think we missed the mark on only about three of them. One I blinked, one I opened my mouth to talk (yes, I know that is not a surprise), and I don't know on the third. But other than that, Thomas was very pleased, and let me tell you when the photographer is pleased with the pics, you know you're going to get good ones. My problem then became how to choose. Below are the thumbnails in black and white (click on it to bring it up in a larger view) and I'm planning on having a poll to help me select the picture that should go on the poster once I get the package with the pictures in color.