The salient point of this podcast episode revolves around the significance of presence and confidence, as articulated by our esteemed guest, James Stewart, a specialist in precision coaching and photography. James elucidates how effective headshots and brand portraits serve as powerful tools for executives and top performers, projecting an image of leadership and authenticity that can shape perceptions even before a conversation begins. His extensive experience, encompassing work with law firms, senior executives, and championship athletes, underscores the transformative impact of capturing one's true essence through photography. Throughout our discourse, we delve into how confidence is not merely an innate trait but a cultivated skill that can be fostered through deliberate practice and the right guidance. Join us as we explore the intricate relationship between visual representation and personal branding, and how one can harness these elements to enhance their professional trajectory.

The Trailblazing Titans podcast presents an engaging discourse on the significance of presence and confidence, featuring a distinguished guest, James Stewart, a professional photographer renowned for his ability to encapsulate the essence of leadership and authenticity through his work. Stewart, whose clientele includes executives, law firms, and championship athletes, shares his profound insights on the transformative power of a well-executed headshot. He elucidates how an individual's initial perception is often shaped by their visual representation, asserting that confidence is projected long before any verbal interaction. This episode delves into James's unique approach, which combines artistic photography with performance coaching, enabling clients to confidently present their most authentic selves.

Throughout the dialogue, Stewart recounts his journey from sports photographer to headshot expert, emphasizing the need to adapt one’s skill set to meet the evolving demands of the digital age. He articulates the importance of updating one's professional image, particularly in an era where online presence is paramount. As he reflects on his career, Stewart shares invaluable lessons from both successes and failures, underscoring the importance of taking risks and embracing the learning opportunities they offer. The discussion culminates in practical advice for listeners seeking to enhance their personal brand through effective visual communication, ultimately reinforcing the idea that a compelling headshot is not merely a photograph but an essential business asset that can significantly impact one’s professional trajectory.

In addition to exploring the technical aspects of photography, the conversation also touches on the psychological element of confidence and how it can be influenced through the photographic process. Stewart’s methodology encourages a collaborative approach, where he works closely with clients to elicit genuine expressions that resonate with their true selves. This not only alleviates the discomfort often associated with being photographed but also fosters trust between the photographer and the subject, thereby enhancing the overall outcome. The episode serves as a reminder that, in professional representation, taking the initiative to present oneself authentically is imperative, with the headshot serving as a critical first impression in a competitive landscape.

Takeaways:

• The podcast episode emphasizes the paramount importance of projecting confidence through effective headshots and personal branding.
• James Stewart discusses how coaching helps individuals present their authentic selves before they even say a word.
• The conversation highlights the significance of presence in shaping perception within professional environments.
• Listeners are encouraged to pursue their passions now rather than waiting for ideal circumstances, echoing the advice given by James' mother.
• A key takeaway is the necessity of updating one's headshot regularly, as it serves as a crucial business asset in today's digital landscape.
• James shares that embracing technological advancements, such as AI, can significantly enhance one's professional journey and personal branding efforts.

Welcome to Trailblazing Titans podcast where we explore stories and authors who connect people, ideas and opportunities.

I am your host, Keith Haney.

Today we're diving into the art of presence and confidence with someone who knows how to capture it before you even say a word.

Our guest is James Stewart.

He helps executives and top performers project confidence through precision coaching and photography.

Through high impact headshots and full brand portraits, James work reflects leadership and authenticity.

Trusted by law firms, senior executives, and championship athletes, James brings a performance mindset rooted in athletic discipline and years of experience behind the lens.

Today we'll uncover how presence helps shape perception and how confidence starts long before the conversation ever begins.

James, welcome to the podcast.

Hi, Reverend Haney, how are you?

It's great to be here.

Good, good to have you on.

I'm looking forward to this conversation.

I love sports and someone who takes sports photography and take it to the next level.

I'm looking forward to finding out your story.

So let's dig into that.

Yeah, thanks so much.

Can I just say real quick before we get started?

Sure.

You know, I obviously checked out a bunch of your episodes in the past month or so and you got so much cool content on here.

Great advice, especially for someone like me.

So I just, you know, wanted to tell anybody listening to go leave a five star review like I did, because there's just so much stuff that you're going to get out of this podcast and I know how much work goes into this, so, you know, that really helps the creators to do that.

So I just wanted to mention that to everyone.

Oh, that's awesome.

Thank you so much.

Unsolicited.

I like that.

So, James, let me ask you my favorite question.

What's the best piece of advice you've ever received?

You know, it's.

I've thought about this question for a while and it was from my mother and it was, you know, a while back.

I'd say it was probably 20 some years ago when I was a lot younger.

And I think it was in the context of, you know, at the time I was out of school and like, just had my first, like, kind of like real job and I really wanted to buy a house.

And I just kind of was asking her for advice because, you know, it was like a monumental thing to do.

And coming out of school, you know, you have no money, you have a job, that's okay.

And she told me, you know, there's never going to be a good.

I said to her, like, I just don't think this is the right time.

And she Said, you know, there's never going to be a good time probably for anything that you want to do, so you should just try and do it.

And, you know, it made sense to me, but it's really like kind of over the last 20 years, really made more sense to me.

You know, I don't have my mom anymore.

And, you know, some of the advice that she gave me, I. I can apply it to some of the pretty much all the tough, difficult things that I've had to do in my life.

That piece of advice always kind of fit, whether it was, you know, a house, taking a job, switching careers, you know, any big thing that I always thought I want to be as much prepared for.

I want to do as much prep as everything.

And, you know, she was a school teacher and very organized and everything, so she never really meant, like, yeah, just don't do, you know, throw caution to the wind.

But she said, you know, basically, don't plan for later.

And, you know, after losing her, that makes even more sense.

And, you know, with, like, recently, you know, I've.

I've been in photography professionally for, you know, 15 years or more, maybe now, and I've always kind of done it on the sidelines.

And I always thought, like, oh, you know, maybe when I retire or maybe when I have enough money to leave my job, or, you know, this or that.

And while they may have seemed like great excuses, I think that's kind of what they were.

And the main thrust of that was just like, pursue it right now.

Start right now.

Don't wait to start.

And that's kind of the advice that I've kind of found fitted, like, a lot of things in my life.

And it's funny because my father is like a horticulturist.

And there is an old saying that is not a quote from him, but he always quoted it to me as well.

And it fit with my mom.

And it was another one I go by.

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, but the next best time is now.

So that's sort of without them coordinating.

Their advice was kind of similar to me, and it's kind of stuck with me for all these years now.

I love that that's sound advice because you can wait for the perfect moment.

And I hear a lot of people say, I wait for the perfect moment and I missed it.

I wish I had just started and just taken a leap of faith and just done it and see where it all leads.

So, yeah, you gotta jump in the water before you can spoil it.

Yeah, basically that's what she was saying, you know, don't wait around.

And it's really something now I kind of think about every day as I'm older.

You know, I've lost people that, you know, there's people I don't have anymore that were around and you just take it for granted sometimes.

Like, you know, your mom's always around and she's not, or your dad's, you know, so many family members like.

And I hate to be like sappy, but it's just, you know, we're kind of, it is short when you think about it.

So there's no reason to wait to do anything really, in my opinion, you know.

Exactly.

So let's dive into your career because you started out doing live sports events and you moved into the niche of headshots and brand portraiture.

What inspired your transition?

What made you stop doing this and jump into something new?

Well, sports.

I was, you know, growing up, I was not an athlete.

And as I got a little older, I got more.

As I got older, basically I was getting realizing I was kind of starting to age and I'm not.

You know, when you're 15 and you can do whatever, you can get banged up, you heal really quick.

And I was shooting sports basically.

You know, after I got out of school, the gym opened up in my town and they were looking for someone to photograph like a con.

They were going to have a competition.

It was a CrossFit gym.

So CrossFit was, you know, not new, but it was a few years into it.

It was getting very popular and I was, you know, in my late 20s and I really didn't do much moving around.

I didn't do much athletic things.

So I took that job because they offered me a three month free membership to the gym.

And I kind of was looking to, you know, start working out and getting active.

So I, I shot their event for a day and I was like enthralled by CrossFit.

And then, you know, just all the, it was just different.

And at the time there wasn't anything really like it.

There wasn't competitive exercising really.

And I just, it was awesome.

It was so high, high paced and really also the community of.

It just kind of struck me that there were so many people into this to come out on the weekend.

You know, I was living in upstate New York, not near anything.

People were coming from like 70 miles away to do this.

It was my first time doing it.

People wanted the prints, people wanted digitals.

Like, it just kind of fell into my lap really, and I took the opportunity and from there, you know, it just morphed into like every weekend I was trying to find a competition to shoot, I was getting asked to shoot some.

And over the next maybe five years, I worked my way into freelancing for CrossFit Incorporated for their media team.

And I, you know, so I went from like a garage competition to like, you know, the top of the top professional, tons of money on the line.

And it was a professional media organization.

So I got a lot of training in great sports photography, editorial, kind of like photojournalism type of things.

And you know, along the way I would shoot athletes for portraits aside from like live events.

And they would always ask me like, hey, do you do headshots?

And I always said, no, not really.

This is kind of all I do.

Like, I know somebody that can do it for you.

But it just, after a while I was like, why am I not taking this opportunity to expand my services, really?

So I started doing it and, you know, it was okay, but I just thought they lacked something.

I thought they could be better.

When I looked at them, compared to like my sports live images, like, one seemed very professional and the other did not.

So I just was kind of always doing them as one offs.

I just never really felt too confident about them.

And a few, you know, I always knew a few years ago that there were, you know, photographers and trainings that I could do in the city.

So as I, you know, later in my years, I moved out of upstate New York to Jersey City, Hoboken, and, and eventually now, like, I live in Manhattan, but I trained, I signed up and I trained with Peter Hurley, who is like one of the most well known headshot photographers in the country or possibly the world.

And it just, you know, I did a two day training with them and I joined his headshot training group and it just, you know, changed how I looked at everything.

It.

I saw how his method, which is like a coaching method, just brings out this unique photo that is just so you.

Um, and I've.

I've never really seen any other thing sort of like it.

And ever since then, you know, I just kind of realized like, how many people around here need headshots and, and really, you know, how important the headshot is for people who are leading their industry or, you know, coaches, professionals.

It really kind of, I just thought a headshot was like a box you checked all off that everybody needed because of Facebook or Instagram or, you know, LinkedIn for business but until I saw, like, people get a headshot, including myself, stand behind the camera and get a headshot and look at it and be, you know, like, when I got my headshot done this way, it was the first time I ever really, really, like, honestly liked the photo and thought it represented me the best that it could.

All the headshots I had prior to that were great.

They just, like, were missing something, you know?

Like, I don't think anybody would look at it and be like, oh, that's terrible.

But when you look at this other version, it's like, you know, the second you see it, you just know that that's me.

And to see people who were similar to me where they were, like, I don't photograph well.

Not looking forward to this.

Like, let's just get this over with, you know, I shared the same thoughts, and seeing that, like, right in front of me made me realize, like, if I can do this, this can change people's, like, business lives.

It can help them feel more confident.

It can get them seen and heard before they even, like, kind of are in a room with you.

So that really changed everything for me.

And it.

It showed me how important it was, but it also showed me that I could do this kind of work for people.

That's, like, very impactful.

And ever since then, I've just been trying to improve upon that skill as much as possible because, like, like I said, I saw it for me, and a lot of times I can be the worst judge or critic.

So, like, when it convinces me, I'm like, okay, it'll be good for everybody, too.

That's kind of.

I don't know if that.

That's kind of how I thought about it, you know?

So just kind of dig into me a little bit.

Dig with me a little bit into what made the lessons you learned so different than what you were doing before.

Because you're talking about really capturing the essence of somebody in a headshot, not just taking a picture of their image of them, but you're really trying to capture the person behind the picture.

So what are some of the key things that you've learned to take it from that level of.

I just need a picture of myself for the website to.

Oh, this really encapsulates who I am.

Well, I would say generally, like, before I started doing headshots in a different way, I was, I think, shooting more where I was more concerned about my light setup looking as good as possible, which is not definitely something that's very important.

It's not something now that I take for granted, but I never, I was just so focused on like the technical aspects of the photograph, setting everything up, framing it, you know, all the stuff that I need to worry about that the, the client really doesn't need to worry about that.

I just had that on my mind.

I just wanted to perfect it.

I want it to be the best lighting setup, you know, all those kinds of things.

But until I started looking at it, where I'm working with this individual, not as, okay, step under my lights, but now it's more so like you still have to have that technical prowess and everything has to be as good as possible.

But now it's step under my lights.

Like now this is where the real work is going to come in.

And I like doing it.

And it takes a little more work.

It's not just stepping the camera smile or move your shoulders, tilt your head kind of thing.

It's really building that look.

So we start off and we do one little micro expression movement at a time and then we build on that.

And a major thing that's helped with this is, you know, I shoot tethered to a big monitor in studio.

So it's not like you hop under the lights, we shoot for an hour, and then I send you a gallery or something like that.

We go back and forth, you step out of the lights, we review what we've done.

I like showing people who are sometimes a little hesitant about the direction, the before and after.

And you know, I'd say like almost every single time, if someone's a little hesitant, you know, we, we shoot, we ease into it a little.

I do sort of, kind of what they were planning on and then I show them how the things that I want to do and we look at them and nine times out of 10, someone, you see their eyes light up like, oh, wow.

Like, you know, that felt really weird to do, but it looks so good on the, on the screen.

And I think once you kind of nail that with somebody, they gain a little more trust in you and they're more willing to not think and they just kind of do and they build the pose as we go along.

And I feel that it's sort of like a coaching relationship.

And I hope that once that they get that trust with me, it's easier for them to relax and then that means it's easier for them to take the direction and they see it as we go.

So it's not like I'm just asking someone to trust me.

I'm also showing them that it's working.

So before and after.

That's kind of the major difference.

And coming from sports, I see it as like a.

Not in the way that I shot sports, but just in the sports.

How an athlete, you know, kind of always needs a coach.

Wherever, whatever level you're at, you always need to have a coach, someone outside of you to show you the things that you can't see.

And just how I learned to trust the photographer who showed me this.

I see it work the other way around when I have a client.

And you know, coming from sports, I think it's just a great metaphor.

Is that like, you know, we're kind of switching where like now I'm your coach and you're the athlete, even though that's not what we're doing.

That's how I look at it.

So I love that, I love the phrase that you help clients project confidence before they even take a.

Before they even smile.

How do you do that?

Because I know when I take a picture, my first thought is, I just want to get this over with.

This.

I, I never like any of the pictures I've ever taken.

So how do you, how do you get a, a client to have the confidence this is going to be the best experience or the best photos they've ever been part of?

Well, generally just sort of what I explained, the, the back and forth, the buildup and the show, you know, showing the person the difference.

And a lot of times we're talking, you know, if you are just closing your eyes just a tiny bit, like, I mean it's, you don't even see a difference.

You don't feel a difference when you do it.

And when you see the before and after one frame to the other, you start to see like, oh, okay.

That you're obviously your eyes are such a big part of this shot.

And you know, if you're wide eyed or you have a nice little squint or a squinch, like we like to say it just show it's.

I don't know exactly what the psychology of it is, but you just sort of also know it when you see it between two.

It's.

I think body language is so like ingrained in all of us that we don't even like, know what we're looking at sometimes.

So the, the method that I apply, sometimes people, I guess, don't even really know what they're looking at, but they just see a difference.

And the confidence in the eyes, I think is everything.

So, you know, like, we could spend a lot of time getting your eyes set just right the squinch just perfect before we build onto anything else.

And after doing it a couple times, the clients generally get it.

And a lot of times I notice like, I'm not having to coach them on certain things because I just like will, you know, certain cues.

I'll just say over and over and over again, like every shot.

And I'll tell people ahead of time, you know, you're going to probably get sick of hearing this, but generally it's like they don't get sick of hearing it.

They just end up incorporating it into like what they do.

So it's just like one less thing that I have to help them with.

And I love that when we take a break and they step back in and I can just see them get back into all the poses and the cues that I gave them without me saying anything.

Why is, why is a headset headshot so important, especially for executives today?

Well, it, I think it just, you know, it kind of, it gives you credibility before anybody ever gets to meet you.

And nowadays I think it's pretty easy to say that, like most people have some sort of online presence and it's almost sort of odd if you don't now, especially if you're in the business world or in the coaching world or you're an athlete.

I mean, we're talking about a world where people are getting paid millions of dollars to play video games.

You know, like, it's a different world than it was before and everything is online and things that you didn't think were that important are now very important.

So to me, this is the first thing that people are going to ever see about you.

And when you are like the general counsel of a major law firm, you don't, I don't think you really want people going to your LinkedIn and seeing, you know, a headshot that was an iPhone picture from four years ago at a barbecue.

And you know, your uncle's in the background cooking and like, you know, it's not a professional setting.

And yeah, you're smiling and you look good.

It's four years old and it's not professional.

And I don't know, like, there might not be any.

Obviously this person could be great at what they do, but if you never, if people are turned off or find not turned off, but just like that's a very prestigious high end position.

And I just feel like your headshot needs to be commensurate to that level.

So I feel like it's a psychological thing where, you know, maybe I'm not like, oh, forget it, this guy is no good.

But maybe I just don't look any further because something's off with that photo.

So, you know, more than ever, I think it's important to have one, it's important to update it.

It's great.

I see a lot of people and I have seen in my business marketing days where, you know, I would not have met someone yet that I'm doing business with and they have no headshot on their LinkedIn page and they run a company that does like $6 million a year in sales.

It's.

It's weird to me.

And that's a little thing that can just enhance everything and change the way people see you, your business, your position.

If you're trying to command top prices for something and everything lines up, this could be the one thing that's, that throws it off.

So I just think that it's the most important, one of the most important business assets you can have, no matter what you're really doing online.

I think it just is applicable up and down the ladder of professions that a good headshot, it pays for itself, I believe.

And in the grand scheme of things, when you're in a position like that, headshot costing you business could easily cost you thousands, millions of dollars.

You don't really know.

So as your first kind of, it's your first impression really, before anybody ever hears you speak, sees you in person, watches any of your videos, like that's the first thing they're going to see.

So you want it to be as representative of you as possible and not just something that you're checking the box for.

You know what I mean?

I do.

What's the one person you wanted to get a.

You wanted to photograph that you finally got a chance to do?

The one person that I wanted to photograph that I got a chance to photograph was actually Peter Hurley.

He is probably the most, like I said before, one of the well known headshot photographers, if not the most famous one.

And in some of the training I've done with him, I actually had to shoot him pretending to be a client.

And it was completely nerve wracking because it's like, you know, imagine, I don't know, like, imagine you're trying to like learn quarterbacking from, you know, like one of the most famous quarterbacks in the world.

And now he goes, okay, you do what I just taught you.

And he's, it's just him and he's the judge and it's like nerve wracking.

But it kind of, once I did that, it kind of Made shooting anybody else really not that hard to do, just because it's like, you know, I've felt as awkward and as nervous as I ever could be.

And, you know, anybody that's not him is going to just be a little less for me, so.

He was one of the ones I never thought I would be giving.

Doing a headshot for the most famous headshot photographer in the world.

But as an exercise, it was probably.

It helped me so much in my craft, so.

So who's on your bucket list of who you want to photograph?

You haven't yet,

Definitely.

There's a.

A few.

There's a few athletes that, you know, I don't know how I'm gonna ever get into shooting NFL quarterback headshots, but McComb, is that the Chiefs?

I don't know.

I've.

I watched the show with all these quarterbacks, and he seems like such a cool, nice guy down to earth, and he's got cool hair, so I really would.

He's kind of, like, top of my list.

But realistically, lately, I really wanted to shoot my father.

He's retired.

You know, he doesn't need a headshot.

He doesn't have that much online presence.

But as I was saying before, you know, he's getting older.

I'm getting older.

I don't know how long he has.

You know, he.

He could have another 20 years.

He could have another five.

I don't know.

But I would like, you know, now that he's a little older, I don't think he's had a photo in a while.

And I think it would just be really cool to try and capture him, especially being like I'm his son, I feel like it would just be a really special session to do.

And it's definitely probably the most important one and maybe the most realistic one that I should do soon.

And I have to take my mother's advice on it and do it now, you know?

Yeah, that's right.

You do it now.

There you go.

I do, yeah.

So, James, I'm curious, for someone who's maybe trying to develop an online presence or even just a personal brand, what are some key things you would recommend someone to do to develop that if

you are just starting out or if you are already, you know, been online for a while, obviously, I think I'm going to recommend a fresh headshot.

And if you have one, I would recommend one.

Probably at least, you know, in my world, it would be every year, but at least every two years.

And I think that again, like, that's probably not a surprise, but I do think that is one of the most important and I'll say it how I think of it, it's a business asset.

So I think, you know, if you're going to have a website, you need to have the headshot.

If you're going to have Google or Facebook or Instagram be where people find you, you're going to need a headshot in there.

And I would say that, that I think is probably the most important thing before you really do anything, because every step along the way, whether you're already in business or you're building, is going to be a lot of things online.

And you want to connect with new people, especially starting off with that, that best, the best presence in your headshot, the shot that represents you the most, you looking as confident as possible, that puts other people at ease.

So I guess it's no surprise that, you know, headshot is going to be my advice.

And my other advice, I guess, would be to do and learn as much as possible yourself.

When you're first starting off, you're going to have to do everything yourself.

So unless you have these unlimited funds, you know, you're going to have to learn how to build a site, you're going to have to learn how to do SEO.

And even if you do have the funds to have someone else do it, you're still where the, the buck stops with you.

You gotta know how all these things work, or else you're one you could get taken advantage of in terms of, like, how much people charge you if you have no idea.

So, you know, as I'm a photographer and an artist and I hate doing all that stuff, but now that I do it for myself, I, I, it's not that I like, love doing it, but I just the motivation to do it because no one else is going to help me with it.

And in the end, you know, it falls on me.

So I've learned, you know, web development, some SEO, and you know, even as a photographer, I would say start learning AI as well, because as I do understand, it will probably take jobs.

I feel that in the future, the jobs that it's going to take are the people who don't know how to use or incorporate it into their job.

So I don't think photographers are going anywhere anytime soon.

But if you're not learning how to use AI, you're like, behind the curve.

And I think the advantage is going to go to the humans who actually use it in tandem with their own skills.

I don't think that we should be 100% scared of it.

I think we should embrace it a little.

And I think for me it's helped in all the things I'm trying to build right now myself.

You know, from website to posts on social media to doing research, it's just, it feels like you can have a staff when you're by yourself.

So that's like a big.

Besides the headshot in the tools, I think that is probably one of the most important things now going forward.

That's great.

If you were a young photographer just starting out, I know I've tried photography and I got my first EOS Rebel camera and I was out taking pictures.

But if you're saying you're just starting out, what would you say a photographer really needs to start out with in terms of equipment, mindset to, to be able to get into this, this area of photography and do it well?

Well, equipment is important, but as I've learned, I don't think there's any value to jumping in at the beginning and getting nuts with equipment or, you know, I think like, for me, I've, you know, over the years I bought so many cameras used, I bought a ton of lenses used.

If you can get it at a cheaper price and it's not the quality of the piece of equipment isn't affected by it being used, I would certainly do that.

And the, I guess overall, you know, spend the least amount of money as you get started, don't just, you know, that does not.

Over the years I've learned like, money can help a lot of things, but it's not the end all for getting started.

Just because you have a good amount of funds doesn't mean that it's going to work out the way you think.

And I think you learn more lessons by kind of, you know, going through it the hard way, doing things the hard way.

For me, unfortunately, I.

Most of the lessons I've learned that I've really sunk in are from mistakes.

And so they're expensive mistakes.

So that's why you want to just keep it a mistake and not an expensive mistake.

And I guess the next thing I would say too is to learn from the mistakes that you made and not be too afraid to make them.

So that's why I recommend like doing as much as possible yourself, not spending it, you know, spending the least amount of money as possible.

And I think I never really appreciated that grind until more recently.

And it sort of changed my mind set a little.

Is that, like, not.

I don't believe, like, I'm looking to lose, but I kind of like welcome that as an outcome because I know either way I'm going to learn something from it.

So, you know, I don't.

I try not to be reckless, but I try to.

To learn as much as possible.

And a lot of that comes from failing, and the failing comes from doing so.

It just.

To me, it just means that you're working on things and, you know, your first shot at something is not maybe going to be what works.

So don't give up and keep going.

I think part of the reason that I'm where I am now is just because I didn't stop.

I know a lot of people who started at the same time as me who, for one reason or another, are not in the same game that they used to be doing.

They're not doing photography, they're not shooting video, they're not on social media anymore.

And I think it's across a lot of different professions and things that you can do.

You gotta just have kind of guts to keep going when you yourself are saying, like, why am I doing this?

Or what's the point of this anymore.

That's been really, I think, great advice that was told.

Someone told me, and I've, like, my other mother's advice.

It took a while for it to sink in, but having done this for many years now, those are the few things that I think as a new person are probably the most important things to think about.

I love that.

And usually those cameras you buy from somebody who started something and then quit, and it's so.

Yeah, a lot of times.

A real lot of times.

Yeah.

So, James, I'd like to ask you my other favorite question as we wrap this up.

This has been a phenomenal conversation.

I really have enjoyed this.

What do you want your legacy to be?

Ooh, I would say that I would want my legacy to be something along the lines of, you know, I, you know, James Stewart did the most that he could do to help people, to cheer up people, to bring people joy.

And I hope that that's through art and that's what I do outside of my professional life still.

I would hope that it's something along those lines that I would be able to bring joy to people, help people with the art that I do.

And I think, you know, for the rest of my life, no matter what profession I'M in.

I'm always going to be doing some sort of art, whether it's photography, whether it's painting or, you know, any.

Anything creative.

That's what I would like my legacy to be.

Great.

So on season six, we have a new thing now, a surprise question.

Pick a number between 1 and 10.

For your surprise question, I will go with 7.

Okay.

What is the funniest text you've ever received?

The funniest text that I've ever received.

Trying to think.

It would probably be.

It would probably be more of like an inside joke that probably wouldn't be funny to anybody who didn't know.

But generally around the holidays, my family, we would all send each other texts about Happy Easter.

And somehow in our family, it became Happy East.

And, you know, and then over the years, it, you know, as you said it, it had some, you know, a different accent to East.

So every Easter, you know, there's all those texts come in.

And that really does make me laugh.

But there's also my family for Christmas time.

My nana always used to just, like, love fruitcake.

And we all just like.

It was literally like no one that wanted to eat it there.

And we all kind of just like pretended to get excited for it when she brought it out.

So that's another type of text that I get from my family.

And, you know, like, my mom's not around, my.

My grandmas and nanas aren't around.

So it, it reminds me of them and it makes me laugh.

So that's, that's what I would think about when I get a funny text.

That's so funny.

So, James, where can people connect with you and learn more about you?

I would be.

I. I am mostly on LinkedIn and Instagram and I would like to say, just sort of, if it's okay as a.

As something to give to your listeners.

I offer and I've.

I've developed what I call the Headshot ROI kit.

And it's just basic documents, you know, info type of things.

They're very brief, but they, they show you.

It gives you a different way to look at headshots.

Instead of like the box that is checked off and, oh, these are expensive.

It gives you a different way to look at it.

And, you know, it's sort of like what I was explaining goes into a little more detail about, you know, missed opportunities, what that can actually cost you.

And then I also, along with that, have two, you know, like a men's and a women's kind of prep style guide type of thing.

Basic things to how to prep yourself for the shoot and there's not much to do, but very little things can help you go into it with like a better attitude.

So I just want everybody to know that whether you're going to book with me or not, DM me the word confidence and I'll send that to you.

And I'd be happy to help anybody if they have any questions with photography headshots, but LinkedIn and Instagram is where you can find me, so please DM me on those platforms.

Well, James, thanks so much for that gift to my audience and I hope they look you up.

And James, thanks so much again for your time on the podcast.

Thank you Revan.

I had a really great time.

It was a great conversation.

So James, thanks for sharing your insights and expertise with us today.

Your perspective on confidence, presence and leadership is truly inspiring for our listeners.

If you want to learn more about James and his work, the links will be in the show notes below.

As always, thank you for tuning in to Trailblazers and Titans Podcast.

If you enjoy this episode, subscribe, share and leave us a review.

Until next time, keep blazing the trail that connects and inspires.