February 13, 2025 • 31 mins
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Ever wondered how a CEO transitions from a world of molecular biology and tech startups to heading a thriving photography business? Join us as we uncover Jasmeet Singh's incredible journey from science to the shutter, where his teenage passion for photography evolved into a successful career as the CEO and chief photographer of 415 Headshots. You’ll hear firsthand how a stopover at a tire shop unexpectedly equipped him with core skills for his future venture. Singh's story is a testament to the power of passion and adaptation. He shares his strategic insights into client acquisition through savvy SEO tactics and the art of creating a warm, welcoming environment that makes each photo session a breeze. His journey is a captivating blend of calculated risk and relentless pursuit of learning.
Take a closer look at San Francisco's bustling corporate headshot scene and discover how Singh strategically positioned his business to cater to the city's dynamic workforce. Offering quick and affordable 15-minute sessions, he strikes the perfect balance between high-end and budget photography, meeting the needs of startup professionals and established firms alike. We also explore Singh’s thoughtful market research-driven expansion across California, tailoring services to diverse clientele from creatives in Sacramento to corporate clients in San Francisco. Plus, learn how he’s incorporating video services to meet rising demands, all while maintaining authenticity in professional headshots. If you're contemplating a career pivot or looking to refine your photography skills, this episode is packed with valuable insights and inspiration.
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Hosted and produced by Gary Pageau
Edited by Olivia Pageau
Announcer: Erin Manning
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Erin Manning (00:02):
Welcome to the Dead Pixel Society podcast, the
photo imaging industry's leadingnews source.
Here's your host, Gary Pegeau.
The Dead Pixels Society podcastis brought to you by Mediaclip,
Advertek Printing andIndependent Photo Imagers.
Gary Pageau (00:18):
Hello again and welcome to the Dead Pixel
Society podcast.
I'm your host, gary Pajot, andtoday we're joined by Jasmeet
Singh, who's the CEO and chiefphotographer of 415 Headshots in
San Francisco area.
Hi Jasmeet, how are you doingtoday?
Jasmeet Singh (00:34):
Hey Gary, how are you?
I'm doing well.
Thank you for asking.
Gary Pageau (00:38):
So you've got an interesting story about how you
got into the business.
You've always wanted to be aphotographer, but you didn't
start out that way.
What was your first foray intothe business?
You've always wanted to be aphotographer, but you didn't
start out that way.
What was your first foray intothe business world?
Jasmeet Singh (00:51):
Into the business world?
That's a good question.
You know what?
Actually?
I'd like to kind of set thestage a little bit.
Sure, absolutely.
It's not like I jumped intophotography.
I've been doing photographysince seventh grade.
My high school had a black roomor dark room and I've been
(01:13):
practicing film photographysince I was in high school
Stopped.
So that preludes the contextI'm about to give.
So in college I chasedmolecular biology and, believe
it or not, it's actually a verycreative field, really Well,
most people won't think about itthat way.
After college I joined a coupleof startups in the Bay Area.
(01:36):
I worked with FrisperTechnology, worked at Big Tech
as well.
I got a, a publication, gotsome patents in my name and what
I found was that once a companyscales past 30, 40 people, it
gets there's a lot of red tapeinvolved and you can't be as
creative as you could be earlyon.
(01:57):
So three to four companies.
One day I walked into work andI looked at the boss and I said
you know what, today's the lastday I quit today.
And they asked me what I do andI said I have no idea.
So I actually I called my buddyup who owns a tire shop, and I
changed tires for six months andpeople looked at me like I was
(02:20):
crazy.
Yeah.
Gary Pageau (02:21):
That's quite the career shift, going from
molecular biology to changingtires.
And which molecular biology iscreative?
How creative can you bechanging tires?
Jasmeet Singh (02:32):
I honestly I'm not a creative field, but this
is where the photography comesin.
Is that my camera and takephotos of cars, people's
customers, whatever.
And people loved it so muchthey would egg me on and say you
have to do this like full time.
I was like you know what, let'ssell it Start.
So I put myself up on you knowthose gig websites, thumbtack.
(02:55):
I forgot my first lead off,charged $40 for a two hour photo
shoot.
I got some.
I got some really goodheadshots out of that one.
Surprisingly, I've been doingfull photography, full time for
four years now.
People still point at thatphoto and ask me to take that
Like they're, like I want tolook like that.
And then, believe it or not,that was my first paid photo
(03:17):
shoot for $40.
So put myself on those gigwebsites and I, you know,
crashed at my parents.
So I was totally just startingafresh and what happened was I
was like okay, so I know how totake photos.
I would practice on all friends, clients that would willing to
pay me such a low price.
I practiced for a good abouteight, nine months.
(03:40):
I found a mentor that wasreally good in photography, who
taught me how to use studiolights, how to use them outdoors
, indoors.
And once I got good at this, Iwas like okay, so the biggest
thing I'm missing here isclientele.
And you know, as a sciencebrain, I kind of, you know
worked backwards.
I went on Google, I got, youknow, a SEMrush for SEO, saw how
(04:02):
much traffic competitors weregetting and what prospective
clients were searching for, andslowly but surely, I started
building my website.
And then, in the meantime,parallel to that, a photographer
that was popular in SanFrancisco reached out to me and
was like hey, your work is great.
I saw your thumbtack profile.
(04:23):
I would like for you tocontract for me, and what that
taught me was I worked with himfor about a year.
What that taught me was how toactually what clienteles are
coming in, how to engage withpeople.
So one of the biggest things Itell some of my contractors is
you can do a good job with aphoto, but it's about how you
(04:46):
walk a customer or a clientthrough the photo process.
That's that's that's key for me.
Honestly, you can take a greatphoto and someone walks out of
there like they were stiff or itdidn't flow well.
So, anyways, I digress.
I so no, no, that's perfect.
I want to come back to thatwhat I told my contractors and
what I learned was no.
Gary Pageau (05:03):
no, that's perfect.
I want to come back to that.
Jasmeet Singh (05:05):
What I told my contractors and what I learned
was working with differentpersonalities.
Some people, you know they'relike I don't want to be here, my
company's making me come here.
I don't want.
Like, please don't take toomuch of my time, I need five
minutes, take the photo andleave and I'm like, okay, you
got it.
In the beginning I was like, no, no, we have to do this angle
and this.
And the person's like I franklydon't care.
(05:26):
Meanwhile there's you stillhave to make them look good
though, exactly, exactly.
Meanwhile there's other peoplethat you really have to dig deep
.
So sometimes my wife is atherapist and sometimes I joke.
I was like you know what?
I'm somewhat of a therapist aswell, because people come in and
, frankly, they haveinsecurities that they don't
(05:47):
want to talk about.
Right, and these insecuritiesplay a big role in the photo
shoot.
Like they're like oh no, I likethis side of my face, or I I'm
worried about my round cheeks orI'm worried about the dimple
when I smile and getting.
So, going back to the point ofhow you talk to people, it's
about walking them through theprocess, asking questions that
(06:09):
you don't necessarily have todig deeper.
You can kind of get a goodsense of okay, this is, this is
what they like, this is whatthey don't like.
And then working with them, oneof the biggest things I
mistakes I made early on wasokay, this lighting usually
works for like 80 of people andI will try to fit everyone into
this lighting usually works forlike 80% of people and I will
try to fit everyone into thislighting or this.
And that's where I learned.
I was like okay, that's where Ilearned.
(06:29):
Like, different body structures, different body shapes, the
face shape you don't believe it.
How deep your eye socket ismakes a big impact.
You might use a beauty dish tokind of hide your double chin,
but if you have someone deepereye sockets, you came into the
(06:51):
people's.
So, yeah, stuff like that.
I learned working with that.
I call that raccooning.
Yeah, exactly, exactly, yeah.
So stuff like that.
I I learned working with thatcontractor luckily it wasn't on,
you know, I I got a practice onsomeone else's reputation, not
mine.
In that year I learned seoreally well and I ranked.
I was immediately like eight tonine months again, I didn't
hire any contractors.
I just learned this just usingSEMrush analyzes, competitor,
(07:11):
analyze competitors, websites.
I would watch a bunch ofYouTube videos and I would read
Google documents created mywebsite where I was ranking
number two on Google I think I'mstill in for headshots in San
Francisco, or professionalheadshots San Francisco and from
there it was like everythingjust took off.
So I went pretty much Isurpassed the salary I was
(07:33):
making as a scientist and I'vebeen doing this full time for
about three years now.
Um, okay, I'm on my brand.
So, and all that practice andthe experience I had early on
paid off.
Gary Pageau (07:44):
How did you decide to go with the 415 Headshots
branding?
Because it's obviously you'regoing kind of with kind of like
you know the local area.
You've got the trolley and thestreetcar in your logo, so
you're kind of reallyidentifying that.
But it's really not you and alot of photographers, especially
portrait photographers, reallysell their personality.
(08:04):
What was that decision about?
Jasmeet Singh (08:14):
That's a good question.
Honestly, I was not thinking no, but there is some logic to it.
So the logic is I actually didsome business analysis, if you
may.
What sells in San Francisco?
What sells in San Francisco?
So it's not like I'm sellingactor photos or actor headshots
or am I doing this.
It's most of like the bighitters in San Francisco
corporate photography, whetherit's event photos, headshots, et
(08:36):
cetera, or weddings andfamilies obviously it's
everywhere.
Headshots had to be in the namefor me because that's what I
was good at and I know corporatephotography is gonna take off.
And then another thing is whenfor me, this is what, the way I
was thinking about it iscompanies usually most of these
people are doing conferences orthey're doing off sites or
(08:57):
they're doing a once a yearmeeting in san francisco and
they're we just want a local SanFrancisco photographer that's
going to do like an amazing job.
So for me I was kind ofcatering to like the corporate
world per se.
Right, I'm like, yes, I'm localSan Francisco, we're doing this
and we're doing headshots, sokind of fits the bill for those
(09:19):
corporate clients.
So yeah, that's how I came upwith four or five headshots.
Gary Pageau (09:23):
What percent of your business is like the
headshot thing?
Is that all you do?
Jasmeet Singh (09:28):
I did that 100% for the first year and a half
and there was enough business.
Gary Pageau (09:31):
I guess my thing is there was enough business there
too.
Jasmeet Singh (09:34):
Yeah.
So that's exactly why I did mybusiness research first and I
was like, yes, you won't believeit, it's weird.
Friday nights at midnight I'mgetting like three requests for
headshots.
I'm like what's going on?
It's like, and it it's weird.
So there is a lot of clientele.
So the reason is because SanFrancisco is such a revolving
(09:54):
door of professionals coming inand out there.
When you think about it,there's a lot of venture capital
money being poured intostartups constantly or like, for
example, the whole AI trendhappened.
So there's a lot of companies,startups getting AI funding and
they need headshots.
So it's an evolving door interms of professions,
professionals coming and going,conferences happening.
(10:15):
You won't believe the amount oftimes someone messages me like
I need a headshot literally thenext hour because I have a
conference and I need to lookpresentable because apparently
my photo is going to go on apresentation.
So there's a lot of business togo around and especially the
fact that there's a lot ofcompetitors as well.
Gary Pageau (10:32):
Let's talk a little bit about the competitive
environment, right, because yourrelativity knew the market, so
it didn't look like you.
You leverage your existingcontacts, you, you know, build
it from the ground up.
You did some seo magic andthings like that, but you know,
in the competitive environment,I mean, you're basically
competing against, in some cases, the iPhone, in some cases, ai
and all these other tools, right?
(10:52):
So tell me a little bit aboutwhat it's like competing in that
market.
Jasmeet Singh (10:56):
So this is where it gets you know nitty gritty.
Some photographers are outthere that provide headshots and
they're providing like $700headshots, right, and it's all
about when it gets to this point.
It's about skill and pricingand, like a venn diagram
situation there, some ofphotographers are providing like
$100 headshots.
I think there's a studio called$99 headshots or something like
(11:17):
that.
Pricing is one.
Uh, second is skill.
I like keeping that in mind oflike the different looks you can
do.
You're not just going to do astudio or outdoor.
That's one thing.
So what I did in terms ofcompetitors is I kind of made
myself a lucrative enough.
I made myself accessible.
So what I'm what I mean by thatis I offer a 15 minute session.
(11:40):
It's 209.
So if you're a professional andyou're looking to elevate your
online presence, you're notspending 50, 500, 600 and also,
at the same time, you feel likeyou're getting a good product
because you're not paying ahundred dollars.
You see my portfolio.
I've actually this week, I justgot my headshots featured on
(12:02):
tech crunch and bloomberg, so Ihave these publications where,
yes, my headshots are on thesereputable websites.
So people feel like they'regetting a medium, they're like
we're we're getting theprofessional headshot.
Granted, it's only 15 minutes,but you're getting what you need
and then you can leave.
What I miss out on are peoplethat are willing to pay the $700
(12:24):
, $800 and they're getting atwo-hour session.
I'm missing out on that market,but I do that strategically.
In my business, I'm focusingmore about volume and quality at
once.
This is just high quality, lowvolume.
Gary Pageau (12:38):
Yeah, no, I get that.
I mean it's an interesting wayto approach that.
Is that because you would havetrouble maintaining a session
for two hours?
Because it seems to me likeyou're more like process get it
in, get it done, interact, befriendly, get the expression,
(12:58):
and then you don't need twohours for that.
Jasmeet Singh (13:01):
So yeah, so the reason I priced it that way at
first.
I was doing one hour sessionswhen I first started up and I
often found that most peopleit's, it, wasn't me People were
done about at the 30 minute mark, right, like I got what I
wanted.
Can we wrap this up?
And I would have multiplepeople coming up to me like I
know, this is one hour.
(13:21):
I don't want to be here for onehour.
Can we just get that leave?
And because most of these again,like I mentioned, it's just
like the LinkedIn or if it'slike the internal tools, I don't
have a problem maintaining asession for an hour and a half
or two hours.
I love it.
Frankly, I get to use all thedifferent for me.
I always tell people a photoshoot is like a science
(13:43):
experiment for me.
I don't have any lighting setup.
I look at you, I look at yourfacial features and then I set
the lighting up according to youand look for.
I love that personally, but mostof my clienteles are like we're
.
We're not in it for that.
We just need to just updatesomething.
However, this is the flip sideis when you go to, when you go
(14:05):
to portraits and portrait likebranding portraits when people
have their websites or theirbusiness owners or a boutique,
finance firm or law firm.
That's when I'm doing the hoursessions, because then they're
like hey, we're a team of twopeople or three people, we need
to cater to xyz.
We need to have different looksfor different platforms.
(14:26):
That's what I'm focusing on,that and, frankly, I need to
actually market towards that alittle bit more.
Gary Pageau (14:33):
But I have yeah yeah, because that is I was
looking at, like the flavors Iguess is what I would call it of
head shots that you have.
You know you don't have thevanilla, chocolate or strawberry
.
I mean, you've got the uh, youknow, the rare headshot, the
team headshot, which is what Ithink you're talking about.
Right, the team headshot, whichis where you want to keep a
similar look across, because itmay be, there may be six or
(14:57):
eight or twelve all, and youdon't want different backgrounds
and different looks, right?
Jasmeet Singh (15:02):
right, and then it also comes down to posing.
So that's one thing I learned alot is, when it comes to the
headshots itself, that's fine,and I I learned this like like
about a year and a half agopeople love, love being
micromanaged.
They love it because they don'tknow what, what to do, what
angle suit them.
So the difference is, whenyou're doing that hour and a
(15:24):
half to two hour session, it'snot even just the backgrounds,
it's about the posing.
So some like, for example, yourarms are shorter than like for
your torso, you can't reallycross your arms, right?
I don't want to force you intothat, so people are that's an
example.
Or like, if your neck is longer, I don't want you to kind of
like lean over a little bit,like see, like, your long neck,
uh, stuff like that.
(15:45):
It's just I I noticed that withthose hour and a half to our
sessions, it's more about posingthan it is actually just taking
the headshot and the photos,right, that's that's what people
are craving for, those hoursessions, and I love doing that
too, too.
Again, it's just a different.
That's more, for you have yourwebsite.
You may be a therapist, forexample, and you're doing
(16:05):
different poses and makingyourself look warm and
comfortable, showing yourclientele different looks versus
just the classic graybackground headshot for finance.
Gary Pageau (16:12):
And another niche on these is the dating headshots
, which, for those on the appsand things, so is it.
Is it the same pricing?
Oh, no, no.
Jasmeet Singh (16:23):
So, so this I love dating headshots.
Man, you won't believe it.
I call it headshots.
I need to change the name toportraits or something.
So what this is.
It's a very interesting markethere and I need to advertise
this again.
I've just been so busy, but whatI do is so for dating headshots
, I offer a consultation call.
(16:43):
So I call, we hop on a call forabout 30 minutes.
I figure out your personality,so I'm like are you more
introverted and extroverted,like going out, what do you want
to showcase on your datingprofile?
And I work with matchmakers, sosometimes a match, we have a
three-way call and thematchmaker is is there, and it's
like, hey, I need, I need toconvey X, y, z for this person's
(17:04):
dating profile.
Wow, what are you interested in?
Certain venues?
Like, what kind of clothes doyou wear, et cetera.
And then what we get off thatcall if they're not working with
a matchmaker, then I take itone step further is I have a
stylist that I work with.
So what I do is based upon yourpersonality and what you've
conveyed to me, I will pick outfour to five different outdoor
(17:26):
locations that would suit yourpersonality the best, and then
my stylist does is.
She goes on different websitesor like the mall nearby and like
, picks out wardrobes for theperson to wear for each location
and we don't buy them.
That's on the person, because Idon't want to deal with the
sizing and whatever.
So the person goes, buys theclothes.
They agree like, okay, I likethis they.
They show up to that session, solike, for example, if someone
(17:48):
wants to, you know, be like aneasygoing fun, like extroverted
look.
I'm like, hey, let's go to theembarcadero farmer's market on
saturday morning.
Let's get some casual shots ofyou, you know, getting your
groceries, stuff like that tomake it look warm, and you know,
like like everyday kind of look.
Then we might switch outfits,put on something like a little
(18:09):
bit business casual and let's goto a wine bar, like in enacting
, like a half hour type ofsituation.
And we do this for four to fivedifferent looks, because that's
usually what people are lookingat and we focus on mainly is
like the first look, um, thefirst photo they're going to do,
and then, yeah, so that thepricing for that is close to a
thousand dollars.
Again, it depends on how manylooks you're going for.
(18:30):
And then, if you want hairmakeup, which most individuals
do.
It's an extra cost, but yeah,it's very boutique service and
it's very hands-on and peoplelove it.
They always message me back.
They're like hey, thank you somuch.
I've been getting a lot morematches than I did before.
I had one person who actuallyoutsources images to get like A
B testing them.
(18:50):
It's like how would you rank myprevious pictures to the
pictures that I took?
Yeah, the new pictures aregreat.
That's a very Silicon Valleything to do.
Oh, of course, of course.
And the last thing, I got thiscomment from someone who, after
the dating headshots, hemessaged me.
He's like hey, thank you somuch for these photos.
(19:11):
I've been on a lot of firstdates, but what's happening is I
can't really make it to asecond date because my first
dates always fall through,because because the photos they
look great and when I come inlike I don't know how to do
small talk, do you offer datingcoaching?
Gary Pageau (19:26):
and I was like I was like I know your wife could
help with it because she's atherapist right maybe?
Jasmeet Singh (19:31):
yeah yeah, we've talked about that before and I
was like you know that's?
That's just a whole can ofworms.
I do not want to open yeah.
Gary Pageau (19:40):
So hey, you did the job.
You got the first date.
The second date's up to them,right yeah, exactly, yeah so you
serve different geographicalareas too, not just markets, but
so, like it says, you have fourhere.
I mean, are all these studiosper se?
Are just geographical locationsthat you are trying to reach?
Jasmeet Singh (20:02):
so I have a studio in san francisco and I
have a studio in sacramento, aloalto, in san jose.
I offer a location because ofagain, after doing market
research there's a lot offinance law firms, venture
capital firms in san jose andpaul alto, and then we'll drive
out there and set up and takecare of all that.
(20:24):
That also is more for seopurposes, but I do notice that I
get a lot of hits from thosewebsites because I usually from
like from paul alto, san jose Iusually most of my clients are
like, hey, we actually do needyou to come and set up and take
care of everything.
That's that, yeah, but fulltime.
Sacramento and San Francisco.
Gary Pageau (20:43):
And I noticed that they offer different services.
Like Sacramento is really morefull featured, it's still sort
of the headshot ish thing.
We also do some video and someother stuff there too.
Jasmeet Singh (21:00):
Yeah.
So again, market research here.
Sacramento has a lot moreactors, has more of an acting
and modeling scene and a lot, alot more creative scene.
So there's a lot of creativeshere that require the videos,
and I'm actually going to extendthat out to San Francisco.
I'm trying to figure out thebest way to do it without
interrupting my SEO.
So Google doesn't just penalizeme for just saying your name's
headshots and I'm doing videos.
So because what happened is Ifound a buddy who's we're gonna
(21:23):
try to partner up or we'retrying to figure out the
structure for this who's super,super good at uh videos, wedding
videos.
He's done for a while.
But what happened is my clients.
They're like, hey, your photosare great and we, because I
capture, what ends up happeningis, if I do the headshots, they
love me.
Like can you capture?
Like our next holiday party orour next, we're having a
(21:46):
conference.
Gary Pageau (21:47):
We need to capture action shots of, like, the team
engaged or even just like thosethings where people just sit and
talk about their company, Imean that's like a video
portrait kind of thing exactlyso I.
Jasmeet Singh (21:58):
So then I started doing all of that and, believe
it or not, like I did, stockimages for Fortune 500 companies
that they use all over theirwebsite and internal tools,
where it's like the classicthey're in a conference room and
everyone's engaged.
And then what happened is Istarted getting requests Can we
please offer videos as well,because we need to use this,
like we have training videos.
(22:19):
So we're doing images, let'sjust do the videos there at the
same time.
So I found a buddy who was afriend for a while.
I never really thought to bringit up because he would only do
weddings and then, slowly butsurely, he started corporate
gigs and now we're doing ittogether.
I haven't fully advertised ityet because I'm building up a
portfolio to showcase and itkind of frankly, it sucks a
(22:43):
little because most of thevideos I shoot they're supposed
to keep it hush hush.
Gary Pageau (22:46):
I can't share them because I have oh sure
information so I I saw it.
Jasmeet Singh (22:51):
It.
You know it's kind of adouble-edged sword, like I'm
getting business but I can'tadvertise it, so so I'm kind of
running it.
That's what happened, rightyeah, that's why, for sacramento
, it's easy for me to toshowcase, because sacramento
offers more creative artisticvideos I can showcase.
That is for small businessesand they're they're not really
adamant about privacy, so sowhat about the like, just the
(23:14):
standard linkedin headshot?
Gary Pageau (23:18):
Everyone's got that .
I always like to ask people whodo shoot those kinds of things
Like should you go for more of anatural look or get one that's
touched up or what's cause?
I mean, there's so many toolsout there where people are just
like eliminating every possibleblemish and every possible thing
and it's almost, I wouldn't saysay ai generated, but they
(23:40):
don't even look real yeah, um,avoid the fake look, my rule.
Jasmeet Singh (23:44):
I mean, you're updating your linkedin profile.
You're doing this to network,right, whether you're getting a
new job, whether you're gettinga promotion, you're everyone's
gonna see you.
Or in the like, after this,you're setting yourself up to
meet people, like, again, ifyou're getting a new job, you
you're going to go into a jobinterview.
First thing is, you know theylook at your LinkedIn picture
and if it doesn't look like you,they're definitely going to be
(24:06):
thrown off.
By simple rule, don't make itlook fake.
However, do some touch ups tomake it look actually
professional.
So, removing the flyaway hairsyeah, obviously removing.
If you have something in yourteeth, if your lipstick was off
a little bit, stuff like that Ido.
Touch up the skin Again, I makeit look natural.
(24:27):
I leave some of the eye bags.
I leave the lines near thesmile yeah, I leave that stuff
in there, or else it just looksvery, very manicured, it just
seems like because those toolsare so prevalent now on an
amateur level, right?
Gary Pageau (24:44):
People just scroll through LinkedIn and it looks
like the cartoon network yeah,exactly, yeah, yep, yep.
Jasmeet Singh (24:50):
and you, you know what there is.
I do run into someone likemaybe one out of ten times they
do specifically ask for that andagain I, I double check I'm
like I'm like, are you sure?
Like you want this?
Yes, I do.
And I was like okay.
So I mean I can't.
I mean the customer is alwaysright.
(25:10):
So I'm like I'll, I'll give youwhat you asked for, but be
careful, what you ask for youjust might get it.
Yeah, yeah, I mean, especiallymy, my biggest thing if you're a
realtor, I'm sorry, please makeit more natural, because you
are definitely going to see alot of people.
That's for me, like, if you'rea therapist, you're, if you're a
therapist, if you're a realtor,for, like those two professions
(25:33):
, I usually get a lot of peoplecoming in for headshots and try
to keep it more natural.
Um, when it's someone like alawyer, for example, I feel like
you can get away with itlooking a little bit more
manicured.
Usually people are just givingyou a phone call.
actually, if you're one likepatent attorney, you're, you're
just, uh, an emoji, or you'rejust a picture on someone's
slack channel, like no one's themost of these people more than
(25:55):
likely working from home, andthe reason I know they're
working from home is I've had acouple lawyers come in um and
they're wearing basketballshorts and they're wearing a
blazer and a suit and tie on top.
They're like I work from home.
I no one really sees my face.
I'm just doing this because mycompany asked me to.
Gary Pageau (26:10):
So I was like, okay , and you're fine, fine with
that.
So I guess what I've learnedfrom you in this is kind of
interesting is one is you knowthe the market research to
determine the markets you wanted.
That was going to a besomething that was going to be
of interest to you, right as acreative pursuit, but also there
was a business there, right.
(26:30):
What were some of the tools youused for doing that marketing
research?
semrush, I think was the biggestone so you're basically looking
for what people were searchingfor right, exactly, yeah.
Jasmeet Singh (26:43):
So it's like, if I'm looking up like acting
headshots in san francisco, ithad a lower volume than
professional corporate headshotsor company headshots.
So that's one.
The second thing, again, Iworked in the corporate world so
I knew how prevalent theseheadshots were, so I had some
sort of insight into that.
That's number two.
(27:03):
Number three was the fact thatwe're in such a revolving door
of companies in the Bay area Alot of turnover.
Exactly.
It's not just the individuals,it's the companies.
So I'm going to an offsite or acompany's office because
they're like, we just gotfunding yesterday or you won't
believe it these incubators.
They're getting constant,they're getting bombarded with
(27:24):
entrepreneurs.
They're like, hey, I want tostart a company and I mean I
don't know if they're going toIPO, but I definitely know that
they're probably going to get totwo, three employees and then
they'll need headshots.
Gary Pageau (27:34):
So do you create a headshot with the regular shot
and then with the open to workoverlay as an option?
Jasmeet Singh (27:41):
Oh no, that's hilarious.
No Work overlay as an option?
Oh no, no, I don't do that, butyou'd be surprised.
So when there were a lot oftech layoffs, this year I did
get an influx of I am lookingfor a new job.
I need a headshot.
I definitely got a huge influxof those.
Gary Pageau (27:57):
That's too bad, but I mean as everyone was singing
in the news, there were lots oflayoffs in the tech industry.
Jasmeet Singh (28:04):
And at the same time a lot of people were
getting hired for AI startups,so it was kind of a mixed bag.
Gary Pageau (28:09):
Last thing, what do you think about some of these
AI tools on the generative sidenot just for the touch-up side,
right, because that's like usingPhotoshop, which it's just a
tool to my, but I mean peoplewere like using they'll put
(28:30):
their face into a Gencraft orwhatever and they'll create like
an AI version of themselves.
I mean, I mean, obviously I Ithink they look cartoony and
weird, but what do you think?
Jasmeet Singh (28:36):
So I think it's great, you know in a sense.
In a sense.
So if you are a professional,personally, if I was 21, fresh
out of college and I'm like Iget paid I'm at the bottom of
the barrel in my salary levelI'd be more than happy to pay 20
bucks and get an AI headshot,If and if, and only if, it's
(28:58):
like I'm using it just forLinkedIn and it's super small
and tiny and you can barely kindof see it.
Again, here's the caveat WouldI make it look cartoon?
Would I be happy if it wascartoony?
Absolutely not.
I believe in the next two tothree years it's definitely
gonna get better.
If I'm talking about two, threeyears and the quality of that
headshot, I'd definitely use it.
However, on the flip side and Ithink it's great for that use
(29:25):
case, but on the flip side, ifyou wanted to create and and
everything is about authenticityI feel like in today's day and
age, um, if you wanted to createan authentic look or an
authentic branding of yourself,as if you're like a chef and you
know I'm taking I've done thisbefore for a chef, I've done
chef headshots they're in thekitchen and they're whipping
something up and they're like.
You can see the intensity ontheir face and making it
(29:48):
beautiful.
For that, I believe AI won'trepresent your authentic self
and I believe for that youdefinitely need camera, lights,
action, and I don't, I don'tbelieve AI will replace me with
your skill and your interest,you got to have you there too,
right?
Yeah exactly.
Yeah, I mean, AI is good and ithas its place Awesome.
Gary Pageau (30:11):
So people are interested in more information
on you and your company.
We've said it several timesthis is probably going to help
the SEO even more, but where canthey go for more information
about your company?
Jasmeet Singh (30:25):
the SEO even more .
But where can they go for moreinformation about your company?
Yeah, www.415hatshotscom.
I haven't uploaded the blog yet, but I'm actually working on
that right now and I'm going tobe posting more relatable stuff,
so keep out, keep a look out.
Gary Pageau (30:37):
Well, listen, it's great to meet you and hear more
about your business.
I learned a few things, sothat's always a great, a great
outcome of these.
So good to see you and maybenext time I'm in the Bay area
I'll check it out.
Jasmeet Singh (30:47):
It only takes 15 minutes right.
It only takes 15 minutes.
Gary Pageau (30:51):
Thank you much.
Jasmeet Singh (30:52):
Thank you.
Erin Manning (30:54):
Thank you for listening to the Dead Pixel
Society podcast.
Read more great stories andsign up for the newsletter at
wwwthedeadpixelssocietycom.
Welcome to the Dead Pixel Society podcast, the
photo imaging industry's leadingnews source.
Here's your host, Gary Pegeau.
The Dead Pixels Society podcastis brought to you by Mediaclip,
Advertek Printing andIndependent Photo Imagers.
Gary Pageau (00:18):
Hello again and welcome to the Dead Pixel
Society podcast.
I'm your host, gary Pajot, andtoday we're joined by Jasmeet
Singh, who's the CEO and chiefphotographer of 415 Headshots in
San Francisco area.
Hi Jasmeet, how are you doingtoday?
Jasmeet Singh (00:34):
Hey Gary, how are you?
I'm doing well.
Thank you for asking.
Gary Pageau (00:38):
So you've got an interesting story about how you
got into the business.
You've always wanted to be aphotographer, but you didn't
start out that way.
What was your first foray intothe business?
You've always wanted to be aphotographer, but you didn't
start out that way.
What was your first foray intothe business world?
Jasmeet Singh (00:51):
Into the business world?
That's a good question.
You know what?
Actually?
I'd like to kind of set thestage a little bit.
Sure, absolutely.
It's not like I jumped intophotography.
I've been doing photographysince seventh grade.
My high school had a black roomor dark room and I've been
(01:13):
practicing film photographysince I was in high school
Stopped.
So that preludes the contextI'm about to give.
So in college I chasedmolecular biology and, believe
it or not, it's actually a verycreative field, really Well,
most people won't think about itthat way.
After college I joined a coupleof startups in the Bay Area.
(01:36):
I worked with FrisperTechnology, worked at Big Tech
as well.
I got a, a publication, gotsome patents in my name and what
I found was that once a companyscales past 30, 40 people, it
gets there's a lot of red tapeinvolved and you can't be as
creative as you could be earlyon.
(01:57):
So three to four companies.
One day I walked into work andI looked at the boss and I said
you know what, today's the lastday I quit today.
And they asked me what I do andI said I have no idea.
So I actually I called my buddyup who owns a tire shop, and I
changed tires for six months andpeople looked at me like I was
(02:20):
crazy.
Yeah.
Gary Pageau (02:21):
That's quite the career shift, going from
molecular biology to changingtires.
And which molecular biology iscreative?
How creative can you bechanging tires?
Jasmeet Singh (02:32):
I honestly I'm not a creative field, but this
is where the photography comesin.
Is that my camera and takephotos of cars, people's
customers, whatever.
And people loved it so muchthey would egg me on and say you
have to do this like full time.
I was like you know what, let'ssell it Start.
So I put myself up on you knowthose gig websites, thumbtack.
(02:55):
I forgot my first lead off,charged $40 for a two hour photo
shoot.
I got some.
I got some really goodheadshots out of that one.
Surprisingly, I've been doingfull photography, full time for
four years now.
People still point at thatphoto and ask me to take that
Like they're, like I want tolook like that.
And then, believe it or not,that was my first paid photo
(03:17):
shoot for $40.
So put myself on those gigwebsites and I, you know,
crashed at my parents.
So I was totally just startingafresh and what happened was I
was like okay, so I know how totake photos.
I would practice on all friends, clients that would willing to
pay me such a low price.
I practiced for a good abouteight, nine months.
(03:40):
I found a mentor that wasreally good in photography, who
taught me how to use studiolights, how to use them outdoors
, indoors.
And once I got good at this, Iwas like okay, so the biggest
thing I'm missing here isclientele.
And you know, as a sciencebrain, I kind of, you know
worked backwards.
I went on Google, I got, youknow, a SEMrush for SEO, saw how
(04:02):
much traffic competitors weregetting and what prospective
clients were searching for, andslowly but surely, I started
building my website.
And then, in the meantime,parallel to that, a photographer
that was popular in SanFrancisco reached out to me and
was like hey, your work is great.
I saw your thumbtack profile.
(04:23):
I would like for you tocontract for me, and what that
taught me was I worked with himfor about a year.
What that taught me was how toactually what clienteles are
coming in, how to engage withpeople.
So one of the biggest things Itell some of my contractors is
you can do a good job with aphoto, but it's about how you
(04:46):
walk a customer or a clientthrough the photo process.
That's that's that's key for me.
Honestly, you can take a greatphoto and someone walks out of
there like they were stiff or itdidn't flow well.
So, anyways, I digress.
I so no, no, that's perfect.
I want to come back to thatwhat I told my contractors and
what I learned was no.
Gary Pageau (05:03):
no, that's perfect.
I want to come back to that.
Jasmeet Singh (05:05):
What I told my contractors and what I learned
was working with differentpersonalities.
Some people, you know they'relike I don't want to be here, my
company's making me come here.
I don't want.
Like, please don't take toomuch of my time, I need five
minutes, take the photo andleave and I'm like, okay, you
got it.
In the beginning I was like, no, no, we have to do this angle
and this.
And the person's like I franklydon't care.
(05:26):
Meanwhile there's you stillhave to make them look good
though, exactly, exactly.
Meanwhile there's other peoplethat you really have to dig deep
.
So sometimes my wife is atherapist and sometimes I joke.
I was like you know what?
I'm somewhat of a therapist aswell, because people come in and
, frankly, they haveinsecurities that they don't
(05:47):
want to talk about.
Right, and these insecuritiesplay a big role in the photo
shoot.
Like they're like oh no, I likethis side of my face, or I I'm
worried about my round cheeks orI'm worried about the dimple
when I smile and getting.
So, going back to the point ofhow you talk to people, it's
about walking them through theprocess, asking questions that
(06:09):
you don't necessarily have todig deeper.
You can kind of get a goodsense of okay, this is, this is
what they like, this is whatthey don't like.
And then working with them, oneof the biggest things I
mistakes I made early on wasokay, this lighting usually
works for like 80 of people andI will try to fit everyone into
this lighting usually works forlike 80% of people and I will
try to fit everyone into thislighting or this.
And that's where I learned.
I was like okay, that's where Ilearned.
(06:29):
Like, different body structures, different body shapes, the
face shape you don't believe it.
How deep your eye socket ismakes a big impact.
You might use a beauty dish tokind of hide your double chin,
but if you have someone deepereye sockets, you came into the
(06:51):
people's.
So, yeah, stuff like that.
I learned working with that.
I call that raccooning.
Yeah, exactly, exactly, yeah.
So stuff like that.
I I learned working with thatcontractor luckily it wasn't on,
you know, I I got a practice onsomeone else's reputation, not
mine.
In that year I learned seoreally well and I ranked.
I was immediately like eight tonine months again, I didn't
hire any contractors.
I just learned this just usingSEMrush analyzes, competitor,
(07:11):
analyze competitors, websites.
I would watch a bunch ofYouTube videos and I would read
Google documents created mywebsite where I was ranking
number two on Google I think I'mstill in for headshots in San
Francisco, or professionalheadshots San Francisco and from
there it was like everythingjust took off.
So I went pretty much Isurpassed the salary I was
(07:33):
making as a scientist and I'vebeen doing this full time for
about three years now.
Um, okay, I'm on my brand.
So, and all that practice andthe experience I had early on
paid off.
Gary Pageau (07:44):
How did you decide to go with the 415 Headshots
branding?
Because it's obviously you'regoing kind of with kind of like
you know the local area.
You've got the trolley and thestreetcar in your logo, so
you're kind of reallyidentifying that.
But it's really not you and alot of photographers, especially
portrait photographers, reallysell their personality.
(08:04):
What was that decision about?
Jasmeet Singh (08:14):
That's a good question.
Honestly, I was not thinking no, but there is some logic to it.
So the logic is I actually didsome business analysis, if you
may.
What sells in San Francisco?
What sells in San Francisco?
So it's not like I'm sellingactor photos or actor headshots
or am I doing this.
It's most of like the bighitters in San Francisco
corporate photography, whetherit's event photos, headshots, et
(08:36):
cetera, or weddings andfamilies obviously it's
everywhere.
Headshots had to be in the namefor me because that's what I
was good at and I know corporatephotography is gonna take off.
And then another thing is whenfor me, this is what, the way I
was thinking about it iscompanies usually most of these
people are doing conferences orthey're doing off sites or
(08:57):
they're doing a once a yearmeeting in san francisco and
they're we just want a local SanFrancisco photographer that's
going to do like an amazing job.
So for me I was kind ofcatering to like the corporate
world per se.
Right, I'm like, yes, I'm localSan Francisco, we're doing this
and we're doing headshots, sokind of fits the bill for those
(09:19):
corporate clients.
So yeah, that's how I came upwith four or five headshots.
Gary Pageau (09:23):
What percent of your business is like the
headshot thing?
Is that all you do?
Jasmeet Singh (09:28):
I did that 100% for the first year and a half
and there was enough business.
Gary Pageau (09:31):
I guess my thing is there was enough business there
too.
Jasmeet Singh (09:34):
Yeah.
So that's exactly why I did mybusiness research first and I
was like, yes, you won't believeit, it's weird.
Friday nights at midnight I'mgetting like three requests for
headshots.
I'm like what's going on?
It's like, and it it's weird.
So there is a lot of clientele.
So the reason is because SanFrancisco is such a revolving
(09:54):
door of professionals coming inand out there.
When you think about it,there's a lot of venture capital
money being poured intostartups constantly or like, for
example, the whole AI trendhappened.
So there's a lot of companies,startups getting AI funding and
they need headshots.
So it's an evolving door interms of professions,
professionals coming and going,conferences happening.
(10:15):
You won't believe the amount oftimes someone messages me like
I need a headshot literally thenext hour because I have a
conference and I need to lookpresentable because apparently
my photo is going to go on apresentation.
So there's a lot of business togo around and especially the
fact that there's a lot ofcompetitors as well.
Gary Pageau (10:32):
Let's talk a little bit about the competitive
environment, right, because yourrelativity knew the market, so
it didn't look like you.
You leverage your existingcontacts, you, you know, build
it from the ground up.
You did some seo magic andthings like that, but you know,
in the competitive environment,I mean, you're basically
competing against, in some cases, the iPhone, in some cases, ai
and all these other tools, right?
(10:52):
So tell me a little bit aboutwhat it's like competing in that
market.
Jasmeet Singh (10:56):
So this is where it gets you know nitty gritty.
Some photographers are outthere that provide headshots and
they're providing like $700headshots, right, and it's all
about when it gets to this point.
It's about skill and pricingand, like a venn diagram
situation there, some ofphotographers are providing like
$100 headshots.
I think there's a studio called$99 headshots or something like
(11:17):
that.
Pricing is one.
Uh, second is skill.
I like keeping that in mind oflike the different looks you can
do.
You're not just going to do astudio or outdoor.
That's one thing.
So what I did in terms ofcompetitors is I kind of made
myself a lucrative enough.
I made myself accessible.
So what I'm what I mean by thatis I offer a 15 minute session.
(11:40):
It's 209.
So if you're a professional andyou're looking to elevate your
online presence, you're notspending 50, 500, 600 and also,
at the same time, you feel likeyou're getting a good product
because you're not paying ahundred dollars.
You see my portfolio.
I've actually this week, I justgot my headshots featured on
(12:02):
tech crunch and bloomberg, so Ihave these publications where,
yes, my headshots are on thesereputable websites.
So people feel like they'regetting a medium, they're like
we're we're getting theprofessional headshot.
Granted, it's only 15 minutes,but you're getting what you need
and then you can leave.
What I miss out on are peoplethat are willing to pay the $700
(12:24):
, $800 and they're getting atwo-hour session.
I'm missing out on that market,but I do that strategically.
In my business, I'm focusingmore about volume and quality at
once.
This is just high quality, lowvolume.
Gary Pageau (12:38):
Yeah, no, I get that.
I mean it's an interesting wayto approach that.
Is that because you would havetrouble maintaining a session
for two hours?
Because it seems to me likeyou're more like process get it
in, get it done, interact, befriendly, get the expression,
(12:58):
and then you don't need twohours for that.
Jasmeet Singh (13:01):
So yeah, so the reason I priced it that way at
first.
I was doing one hour sessionswhen I first started up and I
often found that most peopleit's, it, wasn't me People were
done about at the 30 minute mark, right, like I got what I
wanted.
Can we wrap this up?
And I would have multiplepeople coming up to me like I
know, this is one hour.
(13:21):
I don't want to be here for onehour.
Can we just get that leave?
And because most of these again,like I mentioned, it's just
like the LinkedIn or if it'slike the internal tools, I don't
have a problem maintaining asession for an hour and a half
or two hours.
I love it.
Frankly, I get to use all thedifferent for me.
I always tell people a photoshoot is like a science
(13:43):
experiment for me.
I don't have any lighting setup.
I look at you, I look at yourfacial features and then I set
the lighting up according to youand look for.
I love that personally, but mostof my clienteles are like we're
.
We're not in it for that.
We just need to just updatesomething.
However, this is the flip sideis when you go to, when you go
(14:05):
to portraits and portrait likebranding portraits when people
have their websites or theirbusiness owners or a boutique,
finance firm or law firm.
That's when I'm doing the hoursessions, because then they're
like hey, we're a team of twopeople or three people, we need
to cater to xyz.
We need to have different looksfor different platforms.
(14:26):
That's what I'm focusing on,that and, frankly, I need to
actually market towards that alittle bit more.
Gary Pageau (14:33):
But I have yeah yeah, because that is I was
looking at, like the flavors Iguess is what I would call it of
head shots that you have.
You know you don't have thevanilla, chocolate or strawberry
.
I mean, you've got the uh, youknow, the rare headshot, the
team headshot, which is what Ithink you're talking about.
Right, the team headshot, whichis where you want to keep a
similar look across, because itmay be, there may be six or
(14:57):
eight or twelve all, and youdon't want different backgrounds
and different looks, right?
Jasmeet Singh (15:02):
right, and then it also comes down to posing.
So that's one thing I learned alot is, when it comes to the
headshots itself, that's fine,and I I learned this like like
about a year and a half agopeople love, love being
micromanaged.
They love it because they don'tknow what, what to do, what
angle suit them.
So the difference is, whenyou're doing that hour and a
(15:24):
half to two hour session, it'snot even just the backgrounds,
it's about the posing.
So some like, for example, yourarms are shorter than like for
your torso, you can't reallycross your arms, right?
I don't want to force you intothat, so people are that's an
example.
Or like, if your neck is longer, I don't want you to kind of
like lean over a little bit,like see, like, your long neck,
uh, stuff like that.
(15:45):
It's just I I noticed that withthose hour and a half to our
sessions, it's more about posingthan it is actually just taking
the headshot and the photos,right, that's that's what people
are craving for, those hoursessions, and I love doing that
too, too.
Again, it's just a different.
That's more, for you have yourwebsite.
You may be a therapist, forexample, and you're doing
(16:05):
different poses and makingyourself look warm and
comfortable, showing yourclientele different looks versus
just the classic graybackground headshot for finance.
Gary Pageau (16:12):
And another niche on these is the dating headshots
, which, for those on the appsand things, so is it.
Is it the same pricing?
Oh, no, no.
Jasmeet Singh (16:23):
So, so this I love dating headshots.
Man, you won't believe it.
I call it headshots.
I need to change the name toportraits or something.
So what this is.
It's a very interesting markethere and I need to advertise
this again.
I've just been so busy, but whatI do is so for dating headshots
, I offer a consultation call.
(16:43):
So I call, we hop on a call forabout 30 minutes.
I figure out your personality,so I'm like are you more
introverted and extroverted,like going out, what do you want
to showcase on your datingprofile?
And I work with matchmakers, sosometimes a match, we have a
three-way call and thematchmaker is is there, and it's
like, hey, I need, I need toconvey X, y, z for this person's
(17:04):
dating profile.
Wow, what are you interested in?
Certain venues?
Like, what kind of clothes doyou wear, et cetera.
And then what we get off thatcall if they're not working with
a matchmaker, then I take itone step further is I have a
stylist that I work with.
So what I do is based upon yourpersonality and what you've
conveyed to me, I will pick outfour to five different outdoor
(17:26):
locations that would suit yourpersonality the best, and then
my stylist does is.
She goes on different websitesor like the mall nearby and like
, picks out wardrobes for theperson to wear for each location
and we don't buy them.
That's on the person, because Idon't want to deal with the
sizing and whatever.
So the person goes, buys theclothes.
They agree like, okay, I likethis they.
They show up to that session, solike, for example, if someone
(17:48):
wants to, you know, be like aneasygoing fun, like extroverted
look.
I'm like, hey, let's go to theembarcadero farmer's market on
saturday morning.
Let's get some casual shots ofyou, you know, getting your
groceries, stuff like that tomake it look warm, and you know,
like like everyday kind of look.
Then we might switch outfits,put on something like a little
(18:09):
bit business casual and let's goto a wine bar, like in enacting
, like a half hour type ofsituation.
And we do this for four to fivedifferent looks, because that's
usually what people are lookingat and we focus on mainly is
like the first look, um, thefirst photo they're going to do,
and then, yeah, so that thepricing for that is close to a
thousand dollars.
Again, it depends on how manylooks you're going for.
(18:30):
And then, if you want hairmakeup, which most individuals
do.
It's an extra cost, but yeah,it's very boutique service and
it's very hands-on and peoplelove it.
They always message me back.
They're like hey, thank you somuch.
I've been getting a lot morematches than I did before.
I had one person who actuallyoutsources images to get like A
B testing them.
(18:50):
It's like how would you rank myprevious pictures to the
pictures that I took?
Yeah, the new pictures aregreat.
That's a very Silicon Valleything to do.
Oh, of course, of course.
And the last thing, I got thiscomment from someone who, after
the dating headshots, hemessaged me.
He's like hey, thank you somuch for these photos.
(19:11):
I've been on a lot of firstdates, but what's happening is I
can't really make it to asecond date because my first
dates always fall through,because because the photos they
look great and when I come inlike I don't know how to do
small talk, do you offer datingcoaching?
Gary Pageau (19:26):
and I was like I was like I know your wife could
help with it because she's atherapist right maybe?
Jasmeet Singh (19:31):
yeah yeah, we've talked about that before and I
was like you know that's?
That's just a whole can ofworms.
I do not want to open yeah.
Gary Pageau (19:40):
So hey, you did the job.
You got the first date.
The second date's up to them,right yeah, exactly, yeah so you
serve different geographicalareas too, not just markets, but
so, like it says, you have fourhere.
I mean, are all these studiosper se?
Are just geographical locationsthat you are trying to reach?
Jasmeet Singh (20:02):
so I have a studio in san francisco and I
have a studio in sacramento, aloalto, in san jose.
I offer a location because ofagain, after doing market
research there's a lot offinance law firms, venture
capital firms in san jose andpaul alto, and then we'll drive
out there and set up and takecare of all that.
(20:24):
That also is more for seopurposes, but I do notice that I
get a lot of hits from thosewebsites because I usually from
like from paul alto, san jose Iusually most of my clients are
like, hey, we actually do needyou to come and set up and take
care of everything.
That's that, yeah, but fulltime.
Sacramento and San Francisco.
Gary Pageau (20:43):
And I noticed that they offer different services.
Like Sacramento is really morefull featured, it's still sort
of the headshot ish thing.
We also do some video and someother stuff there too.
Jasmeet Singh (21:00):
Yeah.
So again, market research here.
Sacramento has a lot moreactors, has more of an acting
and modeling scene and a lot, alot more creative scene.
So there's a lot of creativeshere that require the videos,
and I'm actually going to extendthat out to San Francisco.
I'm trying to figure out thebest way to do it without
interrupting my SEO.
So Google doesn't just penalizeme for just saying your name's
headshots and I'm doing videos.
So because what happened is Ifound a buddy who's we're gonna
(21:23):
try to partner up or we'retrying to figure out the
structure for this who's super,super good at uh videos, wedding
videos.
He's done for a while.
But what happened is my clients.
They're like, hey, your photosare great and we, because I
capture, what ends up happeningis, if I do the headshots, they
love me.
Like can you capture?
Like our next holiday party orour next, we're having a
(21:46):
conference.
Gary Pageau (21:47):
We need to capture action shots of, like, the team
engaged or even just like thosethings where people just sit and
talk about their company, Imean that's like a video
portrait kind of thing exactlyso I.
Jasmeet Singh (21:58):
So then I started doing all of that and, believe
it or not, like I did, stockimages for Fortune 500 companies
that they use all over theirwebsite and internal tools,
where it's like the classicthey're in a conference room and
everyone's engaged.
And then what happened is Istarted getting requests Can we
please offer videos as well,because we need to use this,
like we have training videos.
(22:19):
So we're doing images, let'sjust do the videos there at the
same time.
So I found a buddy who was afriend for a while.
I never really thought to bringit up because he would only do
weddings and then, slowly butsurely, he started corporate
gigs and now we're doing ittogether.
I haven't fully advertised ityet because I'm building up a
portfolio to showcase and itkind of frankly, it sucks a
(22:43):
little because most of thevideos I shoot they're supposed
to keep it hush hush.
Gary Pageau (22:46):
I can't share them because I have oh sure
information so I I saw it.
Jasmeet Singh (22:51):
It.
You know it's kind of adouble-edged sword, like I'm
getting business but I can'tadvertise it, so so I'm kind of
running it.
That's what happened, rightyeah, that's why, for sacramento
, it's easy for me to toshowcase, because sacramento
offers more creative artisticvideos I can showcase.
That is for small businessesand they're they're not really
adamant about privacy, so sowhat about the like, just the
(23:14):
standard linkedin headshot?
Gary Pageau (23:18):
Everyone's got that .
I always like to ask people whodo shoot those kinds of things
Like should you go for more of anatural look or get one that's
touched up or what's cause?
I mean, there's so many toolsout there where people are just
like eliminating every possibleblemish and every possible thing
and it's almost, I wouldn't saysay ai generated, but they
(23:40):
don't even look real yeah, um,avoid the fake look, my rule.
Jasmeet Singh (23:44):
I mean, you're updating your linkedin profile.
You're doing this to network,right, whether you're getting a
new job, whether you're gettinga promotion, you're everyone's
gonna see you.
Or in the like, after this,you're setting yourself up to
meet people, like, again, ifyou're getting a new job, you
you're going to go into a jobinterview.
First thing is, you know theylook at your LinkedIn picture
and if it doesn't look like you,they're definitely going to be
(24:06):
thrown off.
By simple rule, don't make itlook fake.
However, do some touch ups tomake it look actually
professional.
So, removing the flyaway hairsyeah, obviously removing.
If you have something in yourteeth, if your lipstick was off
a little bit, stuff like that Ido.
Touch up the skin Again, I makeit look natural.
(24:27):
I leave some of the eye bags.
I leave the lines near thesmile yeah, I leave that stuff
in there, or else it just looksvery, very manicured, it just
seems like because those toolsare so prevalent now on an
amateur level, right?
Gary Pageau (24:44):
People just scroll through LinkedIn and it looks
like the cartoon network yeah,exactly, yeah, yep, yep.
Jasmeet Singh (24:50):
and you, you know what there is.
I do run into someone likemaybe one out of ten times they
do specifically ask for that andagain I, I double check I'm
like I'm like, are you sure?
Like you want this?
Yes, I do.
And I was like okay.
So I mean I can't.
I mean the customer is alwaysright.
(25:10):
So I'm like I'll, I'll give youwhat you asked for, but be
careful, what you ask for youjust might get it.
Yeah, yeah, I mean, especiallymy, my biggest thing if you're a
realtor, I'm sorry, please makeit more natural, because you
are definitely going to see alot of people.
That's for me, like, if you'rea therapist, you're, if you're a
therapist, if you're a realtor,for, like those two professions
(25:33):
, I usually get a lot of peoplecoming in for headshots and try
to keep it more natural.
Um, when it's someone like alawyer, for example, I feel like
you can get away with itlooking a little bit more
manicured.
Usually people are just givingyou a phone call.
actually, if you're one likepatent attorney, you're, you're
just, uh, an emoji, or you'rejust a picture on someone's
slack channel, like no one's themost of these people more than
(25:55):
likely working from home, andthe reason I know they're
working from home is I've had acouple lawyers come in um and
they're wearing basketballshorts and they're wearing a
blazer and a suit and tie on top.
They're like I work from home.
I no one really sees my face.
I'm just doing this because mycompany asked me to.
Gary Pageau (26:10):
So I was like, okay , and you're fine, fine with
that.
So I guess what I've learnedfrom you in this is kind of
interesting is one is you knowthe the market research to
determine the markets you wanted.
That was going to a besomething that was going to be
of interest to you, right as acreative pursuit, but also there
was a business there, right.
(26:30):
What were some of the tools youused for doing that marketing
research?
semrush, I think was the biggestone so you're basically looking
for what people were searchingfor right, exactly, yeah.
Jasmeet Singh (26:43):
So it's like, if I'm looking up like acting
headshots in san francisco, ithad a lower volume than
professional corporate headshotsor company headshots.
So that's one.
The second thing, again, Iworked in the corporate world so
I knew how prevalent theseheadshots were, so I had some
sort of insight into that.
That's number two.
(27:03):
Number three was the fact thatwe're in such a revolving door
of companies in the Bay area Alot of turnover.
Exactly.
It's not just the individuals,it's the companies.
So I'm going to an offsite or acompany's office because
they're like, we just gotfunding yesterday or you won't
believe it these incubators.
They're getting constant,they're getting bombarded with
(27:24):
entrepreneurs.
They're like, hey, I want tostart a company and I mean I
don't know if they're going toIPO, but I definitely know that
they're probably going to get totwo, three employees and then
they'll need headshots.
Gary Pageau (27:34):
So do you create a headshot with the regular shot
and then with the open to workoverlay as an option?
Jasmeet Singh (27:41):
Oh no, that's hilarious.
No Work overlay as an option?
Oh no, no, I don't do that, butyou'd be surprised.
So when there were a lot oftech layoffs, this year I did
get an influx of I am lookingfor a new job.
I need a headshot.
I definitely got a huge influxof those.
Gary Pageau (27:57):
That's too bad, but I mean as everyone was singing
in the news, there were lots oflayoffs in the tech industry.
Jasmeet Singh (28:04):
And at the same time a lot of people were
getting hired for AI startups,so it was kind of a mixed bag.
Gary Pageau (28:09):
Last thing, what do you think about some of these
AI tools on the generative sidenot just for the touch-up side,
right, because that's like usingPhotoshop, which it's just a
tool to my, but I mean peoplewere like using they'll put
(28:30):
their face into a Gencraft orwhatever and they'll create like
an AI version of themselves.
I mean, I mean, obviously I Ithink they look cartoony and
weird, but what do you think?
Jasmeet Singh (28:36):
So I think it's great, you know in a sense.
In a sense.
So if you are a professional,personally, if I was 21, fresh
out of college and I'm like Iget paid I'm at the bottom of
the barrel in my salary levelI'd be more than happy to pay 20
bucks and get an AI headshot,If and if, and only if, it's
(28:58):
like I'm using it just forLinkedIn and it's super small
and tiny and you can barely kindof see it.
Again, here's the caveat WouldI make it look cartoon?
Would I be happy if it wascartoony?
Absolutely not.
I believe in the next two tothree years it's definitely
gonna get better.
If I'm talking about two, threeyears and the quality of that
headshot, I'd definitely use it.
However, on the flip side and Ithink it's great for that use
(29:25):
case, but on the flip side, ifyou wanted to create and and
everything is about authenticityI feel like in today's day and
age, um, if you wanted to createan authentic look or an
authentic branding of yourself,as if you're like a chef and you
know I'm taking I've done thisbefore for a chef, I've done
chef headshots they're in thekitchen and they're whipping
something up and they're like.
You can see the intensity ontheir face and making it
(29:48):
beautiful.
For that, I believe AI won'trepresent your authentic self
and I believe for that youdefinitely need camera, lights,
action, and I don't, I don'tbelieve AI will replace me with
your skill and your interest,you got to have you there too,
right?
Yeah exactly.
Yeah, I mean, AI is good and ithas its place Awesome.
Gary Pageau (30:11):
So people are interested in more information
on you and your company.
We've said it several timesthis is probably going to help
the SEO even more, but where canthey go for more information
about your company?
Jasmeet Singh (30:25):
the SEO even more .
But where can they go for moreinformation about your company?
Yeah, www.415hatshotscom.
I haven't uploaded the blog yet, but I'm actually working on
that right now and I'm going tobe posting more relatable stuff,
so keep out, keep a look out.
Gary Pageau (30:37):
Well, listen, it's great to meet you and hear more
about your business.
I learned a few things, sothat's always a great, a great
outcome of these.
So good to see you and maybenext time I'm in the Bay area
I'll check it out.
Jasmeet Singh (30:47):
It only takes 15 minutes right.
It only takes 15 minutes.
Gary Pageau (30:51):
Thank you much.
Jasmeet Singh (30:52):
Thank you.
Erin Manning (30:54):
Thank you for listening to the Dead Pixel
Society podcast.
Read more great stories andsign up for the newsletter at
wwwthedeadpixelssocietycom.
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