Linda Mackie / Victoria, Canada
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“I actually like the term portrait versus headshot because a portrait to me is more about who the person is. And a headshot is more about what the person looks like.”
Hi Linda! We’re so pleased that you are part of Headshots Matter and that you’ve taken some time to answer a few of our questions about your photography and your creative studio business.
Can you tell us a little bit about Linda Mackie Creative and how long you've been a photographer?
It still blows my mind but I’ve been a professional photographer for about 20 years now! I began my creative career in the early 90s in Vancouver and my family and I moved to Victoria in 2016. I worked in advertising agencies as an account coordinator and producer, and then pursued my artistic passion as a freelance makeup artist for advertising, magazine editorials, weddings and portraits, along with some fun TV and film projects sprinkled in.
I took everything I learned from working in these industries and began looking through my camera with a keener eye. I knew what was what and what I liked and innately started taking personality and fashion-inspired photoshoots with friends, models and actors that really resonated with people. So that's what I've been doing ever since.
I love all types of photography but my main focus and passion is personal branding photography, which to me is a blend of where fashion meets lifestyle meets business. I love working with entrepreneurs and who I call ‘everyday changemakers’ - people making a difference either in or outside of their business and I love highlighting them in my podcast called ‘The Eloquent Entrepreneur’: Conversations with Everyday Changemakers.
Together with my creative team, we also offer makeup and hairstyling and more recently have begun offering video production and brand and website design, as I find that a lot of my clients want and need these services in addition to photography. It’s a lot of fun!
The people in your photographs all seem to be so comfortable and connected with you. How do you calm and disarm someone who is really nervous in front of your camera?
I’ve always had a naturally welcoming, calm, compassionate and empathetic personality, and people have always told me they feel at ease around me.
It became apparent early on that the more we get to know each other and prepare in advance for their photoshoot, the more comfortable they're going to feel and therefore more of their personality and true essence will come through in their images. Over the years I developed a unique creative process that helps my clients feel more at ease throughout the process so when it comes time for their photo shoot, they already know and trust me and know what they can expect from start to finish.
You seem to be wearing a few creative hats with your photography studio, your Eloquent Entrepreneur podcast series and collaborating with other creatives. Can you tell us a little bit about your passion for championing other creative people and changemakers?
I've been busy over the last few years! In 2019, I decided to expand my business with the podcast. At first I just really wanted to inspire people to get out there and make a difference in the world. Whether you’re an individual, small business owner or big company, I believe that each and every one of us can make an impact, no matter the scale.
I see this time and time again with my clients and I feel like it’s something people want to do. People want to leave a legacy. They want to contribute to the betterment of the planet, and I’m just genuinely interested in my clients and what they do, and how they’re making a difference. And in turn, it enhances my life and inspires me to do my best and, you know, make a difference in the lives of my clients and the things that I really feel passionate about.
It's still a work in progress, as I'm a single entrepreneur doing everything myself. So it's been on the back-burner for the last few months, but I'm working to reignite it and I have lots of people to interview!
Who would you love to photograph and/or interview someday and why?
David Bowie would have been my top choice but unfortunately he's passed away. But if I were to choose someone now I think it would have to be Paul Nicklen and Cristina Mittermeier. They are incredible nature and wildlife photographers at National Geographic and the founders of the environmental conservation organization SeaLegacy, and they live not far from me on Vancouver Island! Their work is amazing and what they are striving to do is raise awareness and inspire people to care about the planet and do everything they can to protect it. Their photographs show the true beauty in nature and animals and how diverse our planet is, and I think it would be really cool to interview and photograph them. I think the work they do is really important yet very challenging because although they get to travel around the world, they often have to work in some pretty precarious and dangerous conditions. You can tell they love it compassionately though, as it shows in everything they share, which what I find so inspiring!
We're seeing a lot of social media posts lately about authentic headshots. How do you balance capturing a sense of authentic, ensuring your portraits have a finessed attention to detail?
The authenticity part comes from the energy exchange I have with my clients. I'm already very calm and inviting and very welcoming, and that helps people feel comfortable with me. So that’s kind of the first step because I think when you're feeling really comfortable in your own body, and comfortable with someone who's taking your photo, that automatically creates a good scenario for genuine connection and authenticity.
But there's also another factor that I talk a lot about in my business now. Over the years, I've noticed, especially for women, that there's this level of unacceptability. We don't accept ourselves the way we are. This really plays into how we feel about ourselves when we see our photos, and sometimes it can be negative.
I've had people say they didn't like their photos, even though I knew there was nothing wrong with them. They looked amazing - they just didn't like themselves in the photos. And so I really try to help people with that as part of my job as their photographer. I coach them into being more compassionate towards themselves so that they can more fully express and be more accepting of themselves. This is something that comes up a lot in the pre-work I do with my clients.
I also offer a retreat, which I didn't mention earlier. I've only had one so far, but it was a great success. The purpose of the ‘Stepping Into Your Essence’ retreat is to help people eliminate, or at least reduce, self-limiting beliefs and get to a place of more self-compassion so they can feel more sure of and accepting of themselves in their life and business and dreams!
They start to see themselves in a more loving way, express themselves more fully and really get to a point where they're happy with who they are and what they look like and understand that, you know, photos don't lie. We have it within ourselves to bring forth our best self, but that comes from inside. No photographer in the world can take a photo of someone and have them like it unless the person likes themselves, unless they accept themselves. They are always going to criticize whatever they see whether it's in a photo or in the mirror.
So the retreat is going happen again, most likely in the new year. But the idea is that they do the one day retreat and then when we do their photoshoot, they have actually transformed and feel differently inside.
How do you control your creativity and where do you find inspiration?
As a creative artist, it definitely ebbs and flows. But when it comes to creativity I love looking to other artists, other photographers, even actors and models and changemakers and influencers. I also look to nature for colour schemes and ideas for composition and flow.
It’s not all visual - I'm also a huge music lover so that’s a huge inspiration to me and something that I've been wanting to incorporate more in my art. You will see in the next while what that will look like but having grown up in the 70s and 80s and having access to such amazing music I'm really inspired by not only the music, but the by the lyrics and the styles and the fashion and by how music makes us feel.
How critical is mindset when preparing for a photoshoot or interview and is there anything you specifically do to prepare yourself?
For my personal branding, or any photoshoot for that matter, I make sure I'm really prepared and that I've gone through the process with my clients and really know what we’re doing for their shoot.
It’s a very collaborative process - I create a shooting plan so we all know what the timeframe is, what we're going to be doing, what clothes the client’s gonna be wearing. I basically make sure all the details are planned out ahead of time, but I also make sure we have room for spontaneity as well because sometimes you just find yourself like, ‘oh, this is looking great! - let’s continue with this and see what happens.”
As far as interviews go, I typically interview clients I've worked with so I know a lot about them already. I have a set of questions I ask everyone, but I make sure the questions I'm asking relate to them specifically.
In your opinion, why do headshots matter?
I actually like the term portrait versus headshot because a portrait to me is more about who the person is. And a headshot is more about what the person looks like. I guess in general terms, they are interchangeable but that's my own personal thought on it.
If you're in business, you really need to have an image of yourself that can speak for you when you can't be there in person. I say this a lot because it really is true with so much of business and interactions with others taking place virtually.
I have the process that I have because I want to see my clients fully express themselves in front of the camera and just be themselves. And then when people see their photos, they can say ‘yeah, I know that person’ or ‘I can see or feel who that person is’. I want their personality to shine through. We all look for visuals to determine if we're going to work with somebody or not so these photos are extremely important.
I believe there’s a lot of crossover, especially with personal branding photography because these are often absolutely stunning portraits of people that can become family heirlooms. They can be gifts for husbands and wives and children and friends. And these are our legacy. If you had to leave your house because it was on fire, everybody says they would run to save their photos because we don’t want to lose our memories of the people we love and that is what is so very precious to us at the end of the day.
Photos really take us back to a time and a place in our lives that has passed. That evokes emotion. Makes us feel loved or important or that we made a difference somehow. People need photography in their lives because we need it to connect to the meaning of our lives, how we spend it, what we do, how we contribute, where we’ve been and how we’ve changed or grown.
I often tell my clients to look at photos of themselves from, say, ten years before, and a lot of times they say how much they wish they had appreciated who they were and what they looked like back then. And I know they're gonna say the same thing ten years from now, so why not appreciate yourself now and have your portraits done because this is how we can really connect to ourselves and others, and to the world around us.
Thanks so much Linda, we love your work and your kind and creative approach to your business!
To learn more about Linda Mackie and her creative studio, please take a peak at her website: www.lindamackie.ca
