Who's in the Crew? - Spotlight on Garret Buckley

NAME: Garret Buckley - https://headshotcrew.com/garret%40buckledown.media
https://www.buckledown.media/

WHERE DO YOU LIVE? Lincoln Park, Chicago Il.

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN SHOOTING HEADSHOTS? Around a year

WHAT ELSE DO YOU LIKE TO SHOOT? I love shooting high-end country club/charity galas. 

WHAT IS YOUR LIGHTING SETUP FOR HEADSHOTS? I'm sticking with the triangle for now. I use the Godox system of 400,200x2 a V1 and a speedlight. Three 1x3’s, a 2x2 for kick, and a bare round head V1 to control my background. 

TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT THE SPACE YOU SHOOT IN.  DO YOU OWN IT? RENT IT? LIVE IN IT? My studio is in the heart of downtown Chicago. I’m right on Michigan Avenue, a block from the southeast corner of the “Loop” line.  I’m in a great building full of creatives. Instrumental instructors, artists, voice lessons, axe throwing, and anything else cool you can think of! Did I mention violin makers? There are 7!
I have just under 500 sqft with 14ft ceilings. Enough space for a private dressing room, coffee/lounge area, and my dual-sided shooting area. I shoot my headshots against a broad white wall and then have a 9-foot backdrop system to shoot long ways for any full body stuff! 

WHEN DID YOU FIRST DISCOVER PH AND THE HSC? I first discovered Peter around October 2019? from an Fstoppers critique and some B&H keynotes. I discovered the HSC after buying the “Perfecting the Headshot” tutorial. 

HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO JOIN THE CREW ONCE YOU FOUND IT? It took me about a month or two, I think.  I got enough info from the freebies out there to know about the Hurley method so I slapped and bought the tutorial right after the nationwide lockdown. I studied and studied and studied until I moved across the country to open my studio (also during the pandemic!). I joined once it was safe to start shooting more people!  

WHAT IS ONE THING PEOPLE WOULD NEVER GUESS ABOUT YOU? I was a full scholarship, full time starting D1 athlete, and had thoughts of pursuing pro-competition as my career. I was one skills notch shy (and a few screws loose in the head) from making this a reality. I’m so glad I picked up a camera as that chapter of my life closed.  I also used to be an audio engineer and write/ perform in a technical progressive metal band. Wild. 

WHAT IS ONE THING YOU WISH PEOPLE KNEW ABOUT YOU? I’m just really happy to be in a community of people that are as, or more passionate as I am. I’ve always been through a revolving door of tight-knit, niche communities and I’m just so frickin happy that there is one for headshot photography, not even mentioning the value of the crew. 

11 Comments

You're the man, dude! Watch out for this guy.

Wow. Ditto on David’s comment. Garret, you’re only a year in to this?! Had me fooled! Great stuff!

Great to know, and glad to have you here!

Great to have your energy in the group.

Nice to read about you, Garret! A technical progressive metal band? Wow.

So glad you joined Garrett!! You're a fun addition to the CREW!

Super talented and humble! Great work and great talking with you in our break out room!

Garret, great to learn more about you! Nice-looking studio, by the way. So glad you're here. You're on fire! Love that bearded guy!

Garret, you doing amazing work!

I was going to type what I saw Beth already wrote! You're on fire!

I love your story! So fun and inspiring! Thank you for the spotlight Kim!

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