Meet the Review Crew I

Content Coordinator for Poetry and Nonfiction: Ashley Maul

Once, she was asked to list five books she’d bring with her on a deserted island and without fail her answer remains: Harry Potter and the Goblet of FireThe Scarlet Letter, a collection of Allen Ginsberg’s poetry, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Billy Collin’s The Trouble with Poetry. Her favorite reading reflects her own writing style – a combination of youthful fancy and shenanigans mixed with sarcasm and adult confession.

Like many students so close to graduation, she is unsure of where the future will take her, but she is very interested in the publishing industry and imagines a career that allows her to telecommute as an editor for a posh literary magazine or book publishing company. With a history in bookstore management and an avid thirst for reading and writing, there is little she can imagine that can combine her interests so perfectly.

Art Editor Arjun Chopra

Arjun started working with Superstition Review over the past summer as a guest contributor with his blog series, “Dispatches From Delhi.” Despite being relatively new to the world of editing/publishing, Arjun finds his position intellectually stimulating and instrumental in giving him his first glimpse into the actual working side of writing. He finds his work to be a comprehensive learning experience in meshing creativity with professionalism, an invaluable skill of those who strive to make a living through their writing, a skill he is glad to have the chance to practice.

When not in class, doing homework, or compiling graduate application materials, Arjun enjoys spending his free time reading novels and poetry collections, writing, watching movies, skateboarding, and listening to a wide variety of different music.

Advertising Editor Brooke Passey

Along with her reading load for class, Brooke tries to read one recreational book a week. To stay motivated she posts weekly book reviews on her blog brookepassey.wordpress.com. She also loves horseback riding and spends her spare time training and teaching riding lessons. In the 15 years that she has been riding she has only fallen off a horse once—when she was reading a book while sitting on her horse bareback. Although she loves both hobbies she has since decided to keep them separate. After graduation she plans on pursuing a career where she can use her writing skills during the day and her riding skills in the evening.

Fiction Editor Abbey Maddix

Superstition Review is Abbey’s first experience working with a literary magazine and hopefully the first stepping stone to a career in the editing and publishing world. She finds the position demanding but educational, particularly informative when it comes to thinking about her own future career as a writer. Her work centers on fiction of all forms, exploring genres and forms and her own limitations. She enjoys pushing the boundaries of her comfort zone and enjoys exploring the question “What does it mean to be human?” from both a literary angle and a scientific one.

On Abbey’s “favorites” bookshelf there are the works of Kurt Vonnegut, Neil Gaiman, Italo Calvino, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, although she’d like to expand her experience with contemporary literature. Although she has a difficult time understanding poetry, the works of Pablo Neruda and Tomas Tranströmer have managed to win her over.

Guest Post, Ashley Maul: What Makes a Good Headshot?

I bet when you’re submitting to a magazine you read through your piece checking for all the usual suspects: grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Those are the easy things for us, a practice engrained since grade school. Then it comes time to write your bio and select – ah! – your headshot. It’s frustrating enough to sort through computer files for a picture we actually like of ourselves, or to pose in a never-ending photo session while feeling like Ralphie from A Christmas Story in his bunny outfit. A headshot is not the same as our Facebook profile picture; it’s a professional image used to build our brand and it’s often the first and only visual impression readers and editors have of us. Yikes, no pressure…

Randy Susan Meyers has many excellent tips in “Look Great in your Author Photo!” on The Review Review. Here is a Superstition Review spin on headshots that will help you be ready for publication in our journal:

  1. Know the specifications. Here at SR we require a high quality headshot with the following specs: .jpg format, minimum 300 dpi.
  2. Know your colors. We tend to convert photos to black and white here, so be careful to select a picture that isn’t too dark, or too light – we’d like to actually be able to see you.
  3. Dress to impress. Try to “match” your personality, but do so practically. Just because your smile looks great in it doesn’t mean you should send the pic with you wearing a Family Guy t-shirt. As Meyers points out, “Make certain your clothes send the message you want to project.”
  4. Know how the picture will be used. We crop every picture at SR into 197×197 pixels – a perfect square. Avoid cropping the pictures yourself, especially if you’re cropping someone else out. That tends to make a rectangle picture that we can’t use. We want you to be the center of our reader’s focus, not the empty space next to you.
  5. Make use of the space you have. Since you have a limited space to present yourself in it’s important you do it right. A good headshot is generally from the upper chest up – get it? A headshot. While we’re sure you have lovely feet, we’d rather see your face.
  6. Be aware of your background. Usually, a solid background works best as it means you are entirely in focus. Try to avoid other people/general disarray from showing up in your picture and stealing your thunder. Don’t be afraid of using a different background, just make sure it doesn’t pull a viewer’s focus.
  7. Be careful of phony or cheesy poses. Steer clear of the “Sears Studio” look. This is not easy to do, especially if you are taking the picture at home. I find this is best neutralized by not trying too hard. There’s a lot of pressure to take a classy photo, but remember, with the internet being the way it is, it’s likely this photo of you will remain in cyberspace forever. Make it timeless. Remember, “Photos freeze you in time. They can’t show all the good (though they can certainly reveal plenty of bad).”
  8. Practice your smile. How often do we come across old photos where we’re clearly grimacing instead of smiling as Aunt so-and-so snapped an obligated pose? “Smile with your eyes. That’s how you can project warmth,” says Meyers. Keep it light and natural. Show teeth or none, but make sure you decide before you snap the shot, it can mean less “re-dos” on your quest for the perfect shot.
  9. Be aware of your lighting. Inside is nice because you can control how much light there is, but natural lighting looks wonderful if the picture is shot at the right time of day. There’s no right or wrong to this, only common sense. Don’t wash yourself out.
  10. Build your brand. This is not always something artists/writers remember. Think of yourself as a creative company and your work as the product. What sort of tone should your “company” have and what sort of impression do you want to make? Make it a clear representation of yourself – no one wants to be lied to, even visually.

A great headshot is possible, just take a deep breath and make sure to think before submitting! Have a look below and see some of the great headshots we’ve had here at SR.

Look at how Kamilah Moon (issue 10) remains professional, but her personality isn’t whitewashed. She’s in focus, the lighting is great, and we get the feeling she’s looking right at us.

Kamilah Moon

Check out Tania Katan’s photo from issue 4. She’s engaging the camera even while hiding part of her face. More than that, she’s not covering her face for the sake of it. She’s making a clear and creative statement that is a part of her brand.

Tania Katan

There’s nothing fake about Colton Brock’s smile in his shot from issue 2. This photo is focused solely on his face and his expression looks very genuine.

Colton Brock

These guidelines are great, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun. We’ve had many creative headshots here at SR and we encourage everyone to think outside the box – just make sure you can fit inside our 197×197 one. And Meyers has one other great tip I’d like to leave you with: “Look on professional photographers’ sites for hints on make-up, clothes, and other facets of preparation for a photo session.” It’s not cheating if you research before taking a picture and you’ll feel more comfortable by having a better sense of what to do.