Your Author Photo Session With The Knife-Juggling Photographer

by Marissa Maciel

Photo by Bia Sousa.

Congratulations on finishing your book! Now that you’ve reached this epic milestone you’re ready for another epic experience — a photo session with our knife-juggling photographer! Many of our customers have questions about what the session will be like; we’ve got answers in our FAQ.

Will the photographer be holding the camera while juggling knives?

Yes, the photographer will simultaneously be throwing knives in the air, catching them, and also taking your photo.

Why does the photographer have to juggle knives while taking my portrait?

Regular photographers rely on you to understand their verbal cues for finding a nice-enough pose for your Author’s Photo. The knife-juggling photographer gets the most authentic, hardcore Author’s Photo by tapping into the writer’s primal reaction to having knives thrown around their head and body.

What kind of ‘primal reaction’ do authors have to the knife-juggling photography session?

Some authors react by looking tense and serious, which looks great on the back cover of any piece of literary fiction. In other authors, the knife-juggling portraiture method can trigger a dissociative reaction which results in a steely, “come at me, bro”-esque, Author’s Photo. Some laugh uncontrollably which makes them seem wildly fun, and others cross their arms looking world-weary and avoiding limb damage. It’s a collaborative experience, with everyone bringing something to the session — faces, knives, fight-or-flight response, etc.

Do the knives appear in my author photo?

The knives are purely a part of the photographer’s process and will not appear in the actual photo.

What if I don’t want the photographer to juggle knives during our session, can I opt-out?

For less-confident authors too scared to have a professional photographer throwing giant blades of steel around their heads, while they just have to sit still and look at the camera, we recommend not becoming a published author yet.

I’m ready to be published; I just don’t know if a knife-juggling photographer is really the best thing for my author’s…