How often do the standards and expectations for headshots, resume formats, reels, etc. change? How is what is expected now different from say 4-5 years ago? 10 years ago? How do you think they might change in the next 4-5 years? I always read here and have learned a lot, but I wonder how much of it will be relevant when I finish school and start beating the streets.

What a excellent question, gyokoren.

The answer is: There is no answer.

I've been in this field most of my working life and if I knew the answer I'd be a psychic, not a photographer.

The only thing that I'm sure of is that EVERYTHING CHANGES. But probably the two most visible changes in headshots are full color photographs and the Internet. Black-and-white was the industry standard that I thought would never change but it did, and almost overnight. I think that this was primarily a result of the Internet and email-- we have simply improved on relying strictly on hard copy 8x10's and snail mail. Although I think we'll always have need for actual photos, electronic submissions have now taken a large share of the market.

As far as stylistic trends go, however, there will always be what's more popular at the moment and "what's in."

That said, I think that one of the reasons I've been able to succeed all these years is because I was never a slave to all of the trends that may be "in" today and "out" tomorrow.

www.robertkim.com