The Argument You’ve Already Been Having
You lost an argument this week. You didn’t win it. You didn’t walk away from it. You lost it, and the person you lost it to was you.
It started the moment someone said the word headshot. Maybe your manager. Maybe your executive assistant. Maybe the voice in your own head that knows you can’t launch the new firm, update the LinkedIn profile, or replace the photo on your bio page one more month. The decision was made. You have to sit for this. And the moment you knew that, the argument started.
I never look good in photos. My hair does something weird. My smile looks forced. I don’t have the right jacket. I have a lazy eye. I’ve put on weight. I’ll just look tired. I’ll look like I’m trying too hard.
Psychologists have a name for the voice running that loop. They call it the inner critic. And for most people, most of the time, the inner critic is survivable — because most decisions can be put off. A haircut can wait. A dentist appointment can be rescheduled. An uncomfortable conversation can be avoided.
A headshot can’t.
The company wants it Monday. The website launches Friday. The speaking event is in two weeks. You can’t cancel the argument. You have to show up to it.
And here’s the part that makes it heavier than a normal photo session: this image isn’t going away. It’s going on your LinkedIn. Your firm bio. Your email signature. Every article you write. Every conference badge. Your peers will see it. Your clients will see it. The person who didn’t hire you will see it. The rival down the hall will see it. For years.
That’s the weight you’re carrying when you walk into a headshot session. My job — the whole reason I’ve spent forty years with a camera in my hands — is to make sure you don’t carry it back out.
I’m Aric Hoek. I own Solaris Studios. I’m a Houston business headshot photographer, and if you book an in-studio session with me, you are going to leave with a finished, retouched, approved headshot in your hands before you go back to work.
If Your Company Sent You Here
Good. This is the easy version. You’re here because someone at your office booked you an in-studio appointment with me, or because you’re the one trying to find a Houston business headshot photographer for your own team. Either way, here’s what you need to know before you read another word:
- You can see availability and book online — no phone calls, no email chains, no quote requests.
- You’ll be in and out in about an hour — your image lands in your private download gallery within another thirty minutes.
- Your finished image is retouched the same day with Collaborative Retouching.
- You approve the final look before you leave.
- Your image stays in a private download gallery for ten years.
If you’re the executive assistant or office manager booking for a team, and you’d rather I come to you, start here: On-Location Headshots.
Table of Contents
- The Chair, The First Three Minutes
- The Shoot
- Image Selection, Together
- Collaborative Retouching — The Centerpiece
- The Upside-Down Check
- Delivery, The Ten-Year License, and The Image Bank
- What to Wear
- Pricing
- Referral Rewards
- Frequently Asked Questions
The Chair, The First Three Minutes
When you walk through the door, I’m not thinking about the camera. I’m reading you.
Are you talking fast because you’re late, or because you’re nervous? Are you quiet because you’re focused, or because the argument with your inner critic is still running? I’ve sat across from thousands of professionals in this chair, and I’ve learned to listen for it. If you come in quiet, I’ll slow down. If you come in energetic, I’ll meet you there. I mirror where you are so you don’t have to travel to meet me.
We’re going to talk for a few minutes before we make a single photograph. Not because I’m stalling. Because those minutes are the difference between a headshot that looks apprehensive and a headshot that looks confident, relaxed, and unmistakably you on your best day.
The Shoot
What happens next depends on who you are.
If you’re here because your company sent you, my first job is consistency. You’re part of a team page, and the last thing I want is for your headshot to stick out because the lighting is different or the background is a different tone. I’ll use the same lighting, the same background, and the same posing I used on everyone else from your company. The shoot moves fast — usually under ten minutes of camera time — because the goal isn’t variety, it’s harmony with the team around you.
If you sought me out, the shoot looks different. You’re an attorney launching a firm. A business owner updating a website. A consultant whose LinkedIn has been lying about their age for eight years. You don’t need to match anyone. You need options. So we’ll work through two, three, sometimes four distinct poses — each one with a different lighting approach, a different composition, a different center of gravity. One for the homepage. One for the about page. One for articles and bylines. One for social. That’s why the three-for-two and five-for-three packages exist. They’re not upsells. They’re built for people who have more than one job to do with a single session.
Whichever path you’re on, I’m posing with intention. I use a slight wing in the shoulders to slim the line. I build posture around what Michelangelo called the contrapposto — the quiet S-curve that makes a still body look alive. I place you in the frame to leave room for the eye to travel. Nothing in the composition is accidental.
Image Selection, Together
When the shoot is done, I pull the card out of the camera, import the images, and pull up a chair for you next to my workstation. You sit right next to me. We look at every frame together.
Here’s why. If I send you home with a gallery and tell you to pick your favorite, you’ll spend a week staring at every pore on your own face. The argument with your inner critic will come back in full volume. You’ll pick the image you dislike least instead of the image that’s actually the strongest.
So I don’t do that. Instead, I walk the images in my own way first. I mark the ones that stand out to me — the ones where the expression landed, the pose clicked, the light caught the right angle. Then we look at the marked images side by side. You tell me which one you like better between two. I tell you which one I’d choose. We narrow until we’ve got the strongest frame of each pose.
After forty years of making portraits, I can usually see the finished piece in my head before I take the shot. When we’re comparing two frames that look nearly identical, I can tell you which one is going to be stronger after retouching — and why. I ask you to trust that. Most clients do, and they’re glad they did.
Collaborative Retouching — The Centerpiece
This is the part no other studio in Houston does the way I do it. You stay in the chair next to me, and I retouch your headshot in front of you, in real time.
I’ve been using Photoshop since the mid-1990s. Thirty years. I work with a Wacom tablet and a pressure-sensitive pen, not a mouse, because the pen gives me the finesse of a brush. My keyboard is mapped for shortcuts. My body, the tablet, the monitor, the light in the room — all of it is arranged so I can work without thinking about where anything is. It’s become muscle memory the way a musician knows an instrument.
I start close. I remove stray hairs one at a time. I take out the individual broken blood vessels in the eye one at a time. I address small acne. I reduce fine lines — I don’t erase them, because a face without lines is a face without a story, and I never want to hand you back a headshot that looks like a false narrative. A male lion has scars. A real person has the evidence of a real life on their face. You still need to look like you.
Then I zoom out and work the shape — the light falling across the cheek, the shading along the jaw, the way the shoulders sit. I refine the clothing. I flatten wrinkles in a jacket lapel. I rebuild a tie that slipped during the shoot. I close a collar gap. I smooth a shirt that’s pulling under a blazer. When the jacket doesn’t quite fit, I make it fit.
And because you’re sitting next to me, you’re watching every decision. After the first few minutes, most clients start to relax — they can see that I know exactly what I’m doing, and they start speaking up. Can you soften under my eyes a little more? Not too much — I want to look my age. Can you darken the shine on my forehead? My hair is fighting the Houston humidity — is there anything you can do about it? I listen. I make the changes in front of you. If you ask for more, I do more. If you ask me to pull back, I pull back.
This is what I call Collaborative Retouching. The name isn’t clever. It’s accurate. I’m the artist. You’re the client. The final image is decided by both of us, in the same room, at the same moment. You can see examples in the retouching portfolio.
The Upside-Down Check
After thirty or forty minutes of retouching, there’s a problem I’ve learned to respect: my eye goes blind to the image. It’s the same thing that happens when you smell too many perfumes in a row. Everything starts to blend.
So I do one last thing before I call the image finished. I rotate the whole portrait a hundred and eighty degrees. Upside down. Suddenly the brain stops recognizing the face and starts seeing the picture — a specular highlight on a necklace we missed, a bright button on a jacket, a hair light that crept too hot on the top of the head. We catch what tired eyes couldn’t. Then we flip it right-side up, fix it, and we’re done.
I don’t know another headshot photographer in Houston who does this. It takes two minutes. It saves a week of regret.
Delivery, The Ten-Year License, and The Image Bank
Before you stand up, I walk you through how you’re going to get your image. I pull up the Solaris Studios website right there on the screen next to you. On the top of every page on my site, there’s a button that says Download. You click it, choose “Corporate,” choose “In-Studio Headshot Session,” and log in with the email and password you used to book. If the appointment was made for you by your office, there’s a link to create an account — it takes about twenty seconds.
Inside the gallery, you’ll find your headshot in multiple sizes and resolutions. And at the top of the page, in a big orange button, there’s a link to the Revision Request Form.
I make sure you know that button is there. I know we just spent forty minutes getting this right. But life happens — you get home, your spouse asks one question you hadn’t thought of, or you catch something under different light. If that happens, click the button. When it’s submitted, both my assistant and I get a distinct alert, and we move fast. Your project is not going to wait because I was slow.
Your image typically lands in your gallery within thirty minutes of you leaving the studio. Many clients receive the email before they’re back at their desk.
Your Headshot Stays In The Gallery For Ten Years
Here’s what most headshot photographers will never tell you: when you pay me, you aren’t really buying a photograph. You’re buying a ten-year non-exclusive license to use the image as many times as you want, anywhere you want.
Your headshot stays in your private gallery on my server for ten years. If you leave the company and start a new job, you can come back and re-download it. If you lose the file — and people do, constantly — you can come back and re-download it. If your marketing manager is building a press kit and needs a fresh copy, they can come back and re-download it. I see clients use this over and over because they misplaced their headshot somewhere and need it again. I built the system exactly for that.
The Solaris Image Bank
Behind all of that is something most clients never realize exists. I call it the Solaris Image Bank. It’s the studio server that holds every image I’ve delivered to a client since 2002.
Every image I deliver is titled with a structured serial number: Solaris_1234_Smith_0001.jpg. The first part is the studio name — useful when I’m one of several photographers at a corporate event and the client needs to separate my work from everyone else’s. The four-digit number is a unique session ID. Smith is the client or company name. The last four digits are the frame number. Behind those filenames is a database that maps every session ID to the year, the company, and the subject.
What that means in practice: a client can call me with a ten-year-old file number, and I can pull the image out of the archive in less than a minute. Press releases, annual reports, marketing materials — they happen, and they don’t happen on convenient timelines. I built the system so the inconvenience lands on me, not on you.
For Repeat Corporate Clients
If your company is a repeat client — oil and gas firms, accounting practices, and law firms make up a lot of my book — there’s a private section on my site just for you. Every headshot, every bespoke executive portrait, every annual report image, every safety documentation photo I’ve ever delivered for your company lives in one password-protected gallery. Your office manager gets notified when a new image is added. Everything is always there, always ready, always one click away.
What Happens If You Go To Any Other Studio
I want you to understand why I built the process this way. Because the alternative is not hypothetical. I hear about it from new clients every week.
You find a photographer online. There’s no “book now” button. You fill out a contact form. You wait. Hours pass. Maybe a day. When they reply, the pricing is vague and the scheduling is a back-and-forth. By the time you lock a time, your calendar has shifted and you’re rebooking again.
You finally show up. You do the shoot. Then they send you home and promise to deliver the retouched image in one to two weeks. I’m not exaggerating. I’ve been told this by clients who were furious by the time they found me.
A week later, the image arrives. You didn’t see the retouching happen. Your teeth are too bright. Your eyes look unnaturally lit. Your lazy eye is still there. Your skin looks plastic. You want to ask for changes — but now you have to put those requests in writing to a stranger. Some of those requests are personal. Can you make me look thinner? is a hard email to send. So you don’t send it. The inner critic wins. You accept the image. You tell yourself you just don’t photograph well.
That is not what happens here.
You book online. You arrive. You sit down. We talk. We shoot. We pick the frames together. I retouch the image in front of you to your satisfaction. We flip it upside down. We flip it back. You approve it. You leave with the file in your gallery within thirty minutes. If something comes up later, one button fixes it. Read the reviews — clients regularly book a same-day appointment in the morning and walk out with a finished headshot before lunch.
If you want the full list of reasons people keep picking me over every other studio in this city, here it is.
What to Wear
Wardrobe has one job: keep the viewer’s attention on your face. I’ve written the full guide separately — colors that work, textures to avoid, necklines, jewelry, industry-specific notes — so you can read it at your own pace before you come in: How to Dress for Your Headshot.
A Note For Company Employees
If your office told you to show up in a jacket and tie and the last time you wore a tie was two years ago, don’t worry about it. I keep a small collection of ties at the studio for exactly this reason. I also keep a small supply of collar extenders for shirts that won’t quite button at the neck. If a shirt is too tight and folding, I fix it in Photoshop. If a jacket is too loose, I fix it in Photoshop. You don’t need to show up perfect. You need to show up.
Pricing
Transparent. No hidden fees. No “we’ll tell you later.”
- In-Studio Headshot Session — $295. One finished headshot, retouched and delivered the same day.
- Three for Two — $595. Three finished headshots for the price of two. Built for the attorney, consultant, or business owner who needs different looks for a homepage, an about page, and a byline.
- Five for Three — $895. Five finished headshots for the price of three. For people with a website, a LinkedIn, a press kit, and a social footprint to feed.
- On-Location Team Sessions. When you’d rather I come to your office. See on-location headshots.
Referral Rewards
Before you leave, I’ll also mention this: if your office brings me in on-location to photograph the rest of the team after your in-studio session, you get a 15% discount on your next booking — and the team gets 15% off theirs. It’s called Referral Rewards, and it’s exactly as simple as it sounds. You refer someone. They save 15%. After their session, you save 15% on your next one. No tracking codes to remember. No guessing whether the referral counted. The link to the form lives at the top of your private gallery too, so it’s always one click away.
Frequently Asked Questions
Usually, yes. In-studio sessions are bookable online and availability is shown in real time — if you see a slot, you can take it. Many clients book in the morning, sit for the session, and walk out with a finished, retouched headshot before lunch.
No. In-studio headshot sessions are fully self-serve — no phone calls, no email chains, no quote requests. Pick your date and time and you’re booked. A consultation is available if you’d rather talk first, but most people book directly and meet their photographer when they walk in the door.
At the Solaris Studios location in Houston. You come to the studio, sit down, shoot, select your frames on the spot, and watch the retouching happen before you leave. The address is sent in your booking confirmation.
About an hour in and out. Camera time is usually under ten minutes — the rest is wardrobe check, test frames, image selection, and collaborative retouching at the editing station. Most clients are back at their desk before the next meeting starts.
It depends on the package. The base In-Studio Headshot Session is $295 and includes one fully retouched, high-resolution headshot. Three for Two is $595 and includes three headshots — built for attorneys, consultants, and business owners who need a few different looks. Five for Three is $895 and includes five headshots — enough for a website, LinkedIn, press kit, and social profiles in one sitting. Every image is retouched collaboratively in the studio before you leave.
Your finished, retouched image is typically in your private download gallery within thirty minutes of leaving the studio. Many clients receive the email notification before they’ve returned to their office.
Most people don’t. It’s the reason I built Collaborative Retouching. You don’t have to hope the image comes back right — you watch it happen and approve it before you leave the studio. If you want a line softer, I soften it. If you want it left alone, I leave it alone. You are part of the decision.
At the top of your private gallery is a large orange Revision Request button. Click it, tell me what you want, and my assistant and I are alerted immediately. We turn revisions around quickly because the whole point is that your project should not be waiting on me.
Ten years. Your headshot lives in your private gallery for a decade — re-download it whenever you need it. See the image license for the details.
Yes. I bring a full mobile studio to your office for teams of five or more. See On-Location Headshots.
End The Argument
You have three options.
You can keep using the photo from your cousin’s wedding five years ago.
You can try another car selfie and hope the light is kind.
Or you can spend about an hour in my studio and walk out with a finished, retouched, professional headshot — approved by you, ready to use, already in your gallery — before you’re back at your desk.
I treat every client who sits in the chair the same way I’d treat a CEO. Same lighting. Same attention. Same forty years of craft. Same commitment that you are not leaving until the image is one you’re proud of.
The argument with your inner critic has been running long enough.
Let’s end it.
Or call 281-477-7222 to talk it through.
