Richard "Guess how old I am" Yingling

21? 30? 18? 25? 40? If you guessed any of these, you would be wrong. Though his surname is Yingling and though he tells me he is related to the "Yuengling" lager that we all no from Pennslyvania, Richard is not old enough to drink. NO. In fact, Richard is not even old enough to drive. Yet he is old enough to graduate from high school on be on his way to Howard University to pursue acting...at the age of 15. Yes, 15 ladies and gentleman. Needless to say, I was stunned. In fact, Richard is the youngest of 3 and all of them graduated high school early and began their college career long before most even thought of going to college. How is this possible? What type of genes our his parents producing? What's their background? What kind of jobs do they have? Are his parents the best parents ever? Well, luckily for me Richard's Mom came along for the photo shoot. (After all, how was Richard going to get there? DRIVE? I don't think so.) And the answer? Home School. TADA!!! That's right, 3 kids, all home schooled, all graduating early, and all smart as a whip. Now you may say home schooled children lack the social skills necessary for everyday life...I disagree. If you were to ever meet Richard you'd agree. He's a smart, young, polite and articulate individual and with all the freedom that comes with being home schooled, Richard gets hones his "social skills" in the theatre acting with adults and other kids his own age. In fact, it was Lexi Haddad who recommended him to me--the girl who was 14 going on 30. These kids are amazing. What's not to like about being homeschooled? Best of luck to you Richard!

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Briel "NO, I'm not the pornstar" Banks

It's not often you meet a beautiful young actress...well, maybe if you live in Los Angeles. And it's not often when you meet an attractive, young actress who's a pornstar...well, maybe in Los Angeles. But it's certainly not often when you meet a beautiful, young actress who has the same name as a pornstar...well, maybe not in Los Angeles, but in Washington, DC? Yes.

Meet Briel Banks, formerly Briana Banks. Briel and I met 5 years ago when we got a chance to work together in Ford's Theatre's new production of A Christmas Carol directed by Matt August. As you might guess Briel played Belle while I played the lowly, yet intrinsically important to the story line, Mr. Topper. Years later, our director would tell me that when he realized "Briana Banks" was in the show he wasn't really sure whether she was the "Brianna Banks" or not. He would say, "Maybe, she's retired from the business and is now legitimately acting? She has blond hair, but you can never tell, especially when they don't have all the makeup on and are actually wearing clothes." He would deduce soon enough that Briana was not the pornstar, but it made for hilarious conversation during our photoshoot yesterday. :)

Well, years later Brianna is now Briel, and doing extremely well for herself in the DC Theatre scene. Next up for Briel: She will be playing Laura in Olney Theatre's production of The Glass Menagerie June 3rd to July 5th of this year.

You can see why she's going to play Laura.


It's very easy to take pictures of someone who is naturally beautiful.






She may look like Briana Banks, but I think she looks alot like Michelle Pfeiffer.


Good old outtakes.
(Click on me to enlarge.)


One of my favorite clown shots yet.

I like to call this her Mr. Toad face.:)


Here's an old headshot that supported the "Briana Banks" myth. Apparently, if you put this headshot next to the other Briana Banks, the similarities are striking.

For more photos: click here.

"I Had A Friend, A Friend Named Lee..."

Regina Lee that is and let's see if you can name the band who sings that lyric. (If you can, write it in the comment section.) Anyway, Regina Lee came to me through the use of this thing called the "internet." Apparently if you search under Headshot Photographers and DC you'll find me -- go figure. Well, shortly after checking my website out, Regina left a message for me and here's what transpired. A Mathematics major who graduated from James Madison University in '06 she's now working in the Real World, whatever that is, at Acuity Consulting, Inc. and apparently is part of the Mathematics & Statistics Club. Now she's trying to make it in the acting and modeling world through the help of Linda Townsend Management, but first things first...you need headshots with a couple of different looks. Let her know what you think. Good luck Regina, I hope these help.

If you'd like to see more photos of Regina, click here.

Her GAP pose.


The Amazing thing is how different she can look. Very versatile.



Very Modelesque.

With the hair up, she looks so much older.

Hi! I'm Regina and I'm just hanging out.

Now who wants to be a face model?


Love it.

Behind the scenes.

It's too much! The stress! It's way too much!

Pierson/Nixon

Well this wasn't a series of televised interviews, rather a series of shots. And the session didn't end with a tacit admission of guilt regarding her role in the Watergate scandal, but she did admit she was terrified to get her picture taken, does that count? Helen Nixon, an assistant principal by day (while watching her soaps) and an avid lover of theatre by night, Helen has three wonderful children and a wonderful husband who located me to take her new headshots. "New" is an operative word here, because when I asked to see her old headshot, she couldn't even find one...that's how long it's been. What you may not know about Helen, for those that already know her, she loves Skid Row. No, that was not a typo nor a joke...she really does. The last photo is proof enough of that. Maybe that should be the subject of a new movie by Ron Howard. Helen Nixon as Nixon in her Hollywood blockbuster movie Pierson/Nixon about her admission that she truly loves 80's Metal. Drama, no...Comedy, absolutely. :) Now without further adieu, all the way from Rockville, MD, put your hands together for the one, the only HELEN NIXON!

Hello new headshot.


When I first asked her to put the clown nose on, her reaction was amazing!
(see middle picture)

I told you she loved metal. Scary, right?

Alexander the Content

My first reaction when Alex called was, "Your last name's Content? That's AWESOME!" Alex found me through his friend Praem who got his headshots a few months ago, and though Alex isn't an actor, he needed a headshot nonetheless. You see, Alex is singer. Not a singer that you'll see in a musical and certainly not the kind of singer you'd see in XMAS Carol (i.e. Me) - a real honest to God trained singer. Now for those of us, myself included, who don't know what that means, here's the skinny...he's good, apparently damn good. So why does he need a headshot then? Apparently, there's a competition coming up at the end of January in Annapolis and if he qualifies and passes the first couple of rounds, his chances of making the finals in NY greatly increases. So, he needs a headshot for the competition. Oh - I almost forgot, whoever makes it to NY, gets a week of personal voice coaching at the Metropolitan Opera...SWEET! Needless to say I wish him well. It was great being able to talk about music, relaxation techniques for both singers and actors and the overall world of being an artist. Best of Luck Alex!

The Traditional Look.

The Traditional Look with some Attitude.

A look that says I've done something mischievous?



Much different look with the hair down.


The sun finally went down so we could do a little outdoor work.


As Always, Clowns.

Jen "OH MY GOD I'm a jerk" Crooks

That was the opening line of an email I received recently. The Sender? Jennifer Crooks. WHY? Because after taking her headshots way back in March, it wasn't until the end of August that she finally got back to me with her picks. "These last several months my head has been bouncing around like a volleyball at the olympics. Okay, so I thought I sent this a while ago and realized I just had a draft of it but never sent it. Punch me in the face would ya?!" Well, I won't punch you...in the face that is, but I may have a need to release some aggression if this election doesn't end soon. Nonetheless, here's Jen's headshots. The last actually does look like I punched her. :)

Jen wore these scarfs that day and I thought, what the heck - let's try it.

This was my favorite scarf shot.

But this was my favorite overall. Love this shot of Jen.

The many faces of Jen.

Now what is she talking about here?
(Just think naughty.)

But I can't quite explain this one.

Doing her scarf dance...I think.


This would be Jen egging me on to punch her.


And if I did punch her, it might look like this. :)