Vail Fucci - The Headshot Doctor

Tonight is a night that I will remember FOREVER! It was the last class in a 3 week series I taught for Arlington Community Education. Going into the evening it was already really bitter sweet. I was proud of all my students and how much they had learned in such a short period of time, but I was going to miss them just the same. I felt like we had just barely scratched the surface of what they could learn.

With 5 minutes left in the class, Armen asked if he could deliver some remarks. I said sure Armen. Armen was an English teacher at BB&N for many years. He said even though it was a class that only met 3 times, today is something of a graduation and so there is much to celebrate so he brought out cookies for everyone. And then he said he had written an ode that he wanted to share with everyone.

He pulled out this framed piece of poetry and read it aloud to the class. I was so moved. I thought about grabbing my phone to record it, but I just wanted to be present in the moment. To have someone write something like this about my teaching after only a few lessons was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. Many asked when my next class would be. I told them I wasn't sure, but to gauge interest I asked that if they were interested in another class with me if they could raise their hand. EVERY STUDENT IN THE ROOM RAISED THEIR HAND! So even though I am crazy busy I assured them I would find some way to continue teaching them. I can't wait to see what they produce!

Thank you so much Arlington Community Ed for reaching out and asking me to be a teacher. It was wildly rewarding! And thank you so much Armen, this ode is going up on the wall in my studio!

For years I have seen stunning portraits come up in my LinkedIn feed taken by Jon Meadows of High-End Headshots. This past week I had the opportunity to go down to DC to experience one of his sessions for myself.

I particularly wanted one of his dramatic super closeups that always stop me in my tracks, or rather, my scroll. I was astonished how quickly Jon was able to get these shots out of me. At the end of the session, picking which images to buy was both easy and hard at the same time. Jon made the process of narrowing down the shots really easy, but at the end of the day letting any of my favorites go was soooo tough! These 3 ended up being my favorites. I am so thrilled with how they came out. The ones on black make me feel confident and beautiful every time I look at them. The one on pink perfectly captures the personality I am known for. Jon miraculously got me to have my real giant ear to ear smile without me scrunching up my face too much.

In addition to getting the images of my dreams, seeing how Jon gets these images right in camera was a priceless experience for me.

Thank you Jon for these truly high-end headshots!

I am beyond excited to share with you that on July 29th, at 1pm ET, I will be doing my first of a series of presentations for B&H Photo Video Pro Audio’s B&H Event Space. Teaching a class for B&H is something I have dreamt about for years. I watched so many of my Idols present there: Vanessa Joy, Joe McNally, Rick Friedman, Peter Hurley, Scott Robert Lim, Will Cadena and many many more! To now be amongst them is beyond an honor. I am so excited to get to pay it forward and teach new generations of photographers in this class how they can be a full-time photographer and still maintain a good work-life balance and actually make good money doing it!

I need to say a giant thank you to Abe Curland. I have been an affiliate for B&H for some time now and he has been an incredible person to work with. When I finally got to meet him in person at WPPI 2024 he asked me what I love to do. I said other than shoot photography, I love to teach photography! He said “oh I will have to introduce you to our education team.” The very next morning while I was shooting at the WPPI step and repeat for Spot My Photos he had a member of their education team watching me. Stephanie then tapped me on my shoulder and gave me her card and said, let’s get in touch. It was all I could do to keep my composure!

A second GIANT thank you goes out to Ryan Jacobs of SpotMyPhotos. Time and time again SpotMyPhotos results in me doing cooler and cooler things. I am now doing things I never could have even dreamed of being possible because of this amazing platform you have created. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for believing in me and making a product that has truly launched my business to incredible heights.

Be sure to register for the class and watch it live if you can!

B&H Photo Event Space Making A Profitable Pivot: Switching Genres So You Can Make More Money, Work Fewer Hours, and Have a Better Work-Life Balance