Get better pics! | Violent Owl

Pictures are the most impactful part of your online dating presence—but for most people, they’re also the hardest piece to come up with. Most people’s poorly lit selfies don’t really cut it! And of course, many of us that *one* cute photo from 2011 that we use on every site because it’s the only one we think makes us look good. This is not a good first impression to make! I aim to solve this problem with Mug Shots!

Here’s how it works: I get a small group of people together. (Usually single people, for what it’s worth.) My photographer and I pick a pretty venue with plenty of natural light. We get together. My photographer attends. I facilitate and distract you while she shoots pics. We all sip cocktails and eat great food and have a blast together. Our goal is to get you laughing, and capture that moment on camera.

A few weeks later, you get a selection of incredibly natural, flattering, unposed pics that are the perfect blend of polished and carefree. They’re exactly what works best on a dating profile to set you apart from your competition, and showcase the warm, friendly, funny, delightful person that you actually are! Yay!

Upcoming Mug Shots events

Portland, Oregon, sometime in spring 2015! (We’re taking Mug Shots on the road by popular demand, but only if we get enough interest to justify our travel costs.)

To attend any event, please email me. Once you’ve paid the invoice I send you, you’ll be officially on the list!

Pricing

The fee for these events ranges from as low as $99 per person (for bigger groups) to $399 (for individual sessions). We barely break even given the amount of work that goes into pulling these off, so pricing may shift down the road. Please allow me to briefly sell you on it so you don’t totally balk at the price! 🙂 I want you to understand the value and the tradeoffs if you get pictures via some other method.

A good portrait session runs around $400, with an experienced and talented photographer who can loosen you up and make you look good. (Plenty of folks charge less than that, but they generally also spend less time with you and are less savvy and determined about getting great results.)

However, portrait sessions tend to deliver a somewhat formal, posed look, which isn’t great for online dating purposes—it makes you look like you’re trying way too hard, which makes it look like you have something to hide or like you can’t look that good on a normal day. Not the impression you want to make! 🙂

Mug Shots is not only vastly cheaper than that, but it gets you a better output thanks to the WAY more natural/relaxed vibe of your final pics. A solo photographer usually isn’t able to loosen you up the same way that a dedicated facilitator/icebreaker is. (And while photos are the purpose of the event, you never know who you might meet at a Mug Shots happy hour, too!)

So there you have my pricing pitch! Of COURSE you can snap pics with your friends for free, or track down a photographer on Craigslist who will shoot you for cheaper than $99. (I even have instructions on how to do this on my photo guide page.) Or you can book a spendier photo shoot for a more “matchmaker” type vibe.

But the folks who attend Mug Shots realize that they’ve failed for six months at getting their friends to take cute high-quality flattering pics of them, and they want the quality of a seasoned pro with the relaxed vibe of a casual social setting. They get the value of having pros make them look way better than they usually look in pictures, without it looking like they’re trying too hard.

And now you know why Mug Shots exist! Wanna come? Get in touch! [icon-heart]

Example photos

Here are a few pics from prior events. I keep my client pictures private, because most people prefer to have their Mug Shots appear solely on their own online dating profiles. But one good-natured attendee was willing to be my public Mug Shots model! (And the other model is Jennifer, who is usually holding the camera.) If you’re desperate to see more examples before an event, let me know and I’ll see who else is willing to give you a peek. 🙂