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How To Create Biographical Archives for
Childhood Photo Media Requests to Your Mom, Siblings, and Best Friends
by Randi Reed
Those childhood photos
on American Idol, Behind the Music, and Oprah come from somewhere…usually
family and friends, and it’s often a surprise to the subject. If you’re
about to go national or be signed to a major label, it’s time to be ready
for anything. So, in addition to your regular photo and bio, help the media
and your Mom by assembling biographical photo collections for them. (Doing
it yourself also helps ensure the media gets photos you can actually live
with!)
Note: This article assumes you don’t yet have a professional publicist. When
you get one, be sure to inform him or her of the archive’s existence. If you
already have a professional personal publicist, ask what he/she needs and
follow their guidelines. If your publicist is through your label, assemble
the archive and have your manager keep it in the event that you change
labels.
What is a biographical archive or biographical photo collection, and why
should I make one?
A biographical photo archive is a collection of photos and video footage
that’s in addition to your regular head shot and bio. Its purpose is
to provide additional childhood and early career photos for the
media--usually TV shows--to use in personal profile stories about an artist.
Biography, Behind the Music, and Oprah are examples of
shows that request this kind of material.
The reasons to have the collections assembled and ready to go are twofold:
1. Everyone knows exactly where to find the requested photos and can get
them out quickly, 2. You have more control over which photos the media has
access to, so it’s less embarrassing.
Getting started: 4 Important How-to’s
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For each person’s
collection, make one hard copy collection and one electronic
collection, to cover media requests in both formats. In addition, your
manager should keep in a safe place a master archive containing
well-labeled copies of each person’s collection incase someone can’t
find theirs. (Copyrights of each photo remain with each photographer, or
with you if they’re family photos you’ve inherited, by the way…not your
manager.)
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When choosing
photos, remember the media’s purpose for each photo: to tell the next
segment of your story. Good biographical archive photos highlight
specific moments of someone’s life story or career story.
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Hard copy photos
should be professionally made, and should not be the only copy. (It’s
for your profession, so it’s tax deductible.) Printouts made at home
from a digital photo won’t reproduce properly on film, so go to a real
photo place and get the real thing. Digital images in the electronic
part of the archive should be of the highest quality possible.
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Don’t post these
photos in the public part of your website or otherwise share them
publicly; the media requests biographical or childhood photos because
they’re looking for pics the public hasn’t seen before.
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