Ben Palacios came through the Downtown Los Angeles studio last week, as part of an ongoing refresh of the actor look book — a deliberate evolution of lighting, styling and approach intended to give clients the distinction casting directors are now demanding.
Ben Palacios Actors Headshots at the Downtown Los Angeles Studio (Rory Lewis Photographer)
Los Angeles is unforgiving terrain at present. The competition for representation, for callbacks, for the first read, has never been sharper, and a headshot that merely flatters no longer earns the second look. The frame has to argue for the actor — has to suggest a range, an interior life, a specificity of casting — before a word is spoken.
That has been the brief running through these recent sittings: to test new lighting cues, classical in temperament but contemporary in finish, and to find the register that lets each actor stand alone on a casting director's monitor. Ben was a pleasure to work with — generous on camera, considered between frames, and a natural collaborator on the small adjustments that decide whether a portrait holds or merely passes
Ben Palacios Actors Headshots at the Downtown Los Angeles Studio (Rory Lewis Photographer)
It was a pleasure also to have Ben's mother in the studio offering quiet support — one of the small graces that always lifts a sitting. Hair was in the hands of Andrei and makeup with Nina, both of whom brought their usual precision to the chair; the discipline they apply before the first frame is visible in every plate that follows. My wife and producer Sasha kept the day moving with characteristic ease, and the session was, by every measure, a thoroughly enjoyable one.
Ben Palacios Actors Headshots at the Downtown Los Angeles Studio (Rory Lewis Photographer)