Here’s a small test. Pull up your current headshot — the one on your LinkedIn, your firm’s directory, your website. Now look in a mirror. Do they still match? For a lot of accomplished people, the honest answer is not really. The photo is a few years and one whole chapter old. Maybe the haircut’s […]

Here’s a question I get more often than you’d think, usually right after someone books: “Wait — can I write this off?” For a lot of people, the answer may well be yes, and that changes the math on investing in good photos of yourself. I’m Erica Land, a Rockville-based portrait photographer, and while I’m […]

Here’s a scene I know well. A senior guy walks into my Rockville studio a step behind his mom, hands in his pockets, pretty sure this whole thing is going to be awkward. He’s here because she booked it. He’d rather be at practice, or honestly anywhere else. Forty minutes later he’s grinning at the […]

Let’s be honest about how this actually works. Someone is on their couch, thumb moving, giving each profile about a second and a half before they swipe. Your first photo isn’t part of the first impression — for that second and a half, it is the first impression. The bio, the shared interests, the clever […]

You’ve been the one making this happen for eighteen years — the rides, the forms, the reminders, the quiet worry at 11pm. So it makes sense that when senior portrait day arrives, you want it to go perfectly, and you might be a little nervous about whether your teenager will cooperate. I’m Erica Land, a […]

There’s a question I get from almost every branding client, usually about halfway through planning: Do I want the natural, caught-in-the-moment shots, or the polished, professional ones? My answer is always the same. Yes. Both. That’s the whole point. I’m Erica Land, a Rockville-based portrait photographer, and I’ve spent twenty years learning that the professionals […]

If the phrase “personal brand” makes you want to lie down, you’re my kind of client. I photograph a lot of quieter people — the ones who do excellent work and would genuinely rather not be looked at while they do it. Introverts often assume branding photography isn’t for them, that it’s a loud, performative […]

The night before a headshot session, most people don’t lie awake worrying about lighting or posing. They lie awake worrying about their closet. I get it. Your clothing is the one part of the day that feels like it’s entirely on you, and it carries more weight than people expect — because in a headshot, […]

If you have six browser tabs open right now, each one a different photographer, I know exactly how that feels — and I want to help even though I’m one of the tabs. Choosing a headshot photographer is strangely personal. You’re not buying a product with a spec sheet; you’re deciding who you’ll stand in […]

Senior year has a way of arriving all at once. One summer you’re mapping out college tours and last-first-days, and the whole year starts sprinting before it’s even begun. Senior portraits are one of the few moments that ask everyone to slow down for an afternoon — and I’d love to make yours. I’m Erica […]