"Jinsey's got plenty of verve and so do her headshots. I wouldn't send actors to anybody else!"

- Camille Hickman, Associate Casting Director for
Lincoln Center Theatre, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Sex & The City

"By all accounts, Jinsey Dauk is one of the most successful
headshot photographers in New York City." 

-Eric Rudoph, Photo District News


"Jinsey's photos give a glimpse of the actor beyond a pretty face." 
Says Anita Guerrera,
Casting director for the Jordan, McGrath, Case & Taylor advertising agency.
"However she does it, whether it's by relaxing people or her use of lighting,
she seems to have an ability to catch people in a candid moment when they are relaxed
and their eyes, which have to communicate 90 percent of the personality,
have a bright and alert look to them even if the person is not smiling."
 

"Because I don't use flash I'm able to catch action a lot faster,
and catch a lot of spontaneity. That's why every one's eyes are so alive and awake. A flash makes it really difficult for people to feel at ease. They're sitting there with a smile thinking, 'Okay, when is she going to take the picture, 'then there's the flash, and they think, 'Phew it's done.' "The way I shoot,"she continues, "it's a succession."

--Jinsey, Backstage/Headshot Annual
 
"A lot of actors don't like having their picture taken because they think it's 
about posing," says Dauk."But it's not like that at all; it's doing and being.
Actors are really at home with doing and being because that's what they 
do on stage, and it's what I'm trying to do with my head shots."

 --Jinsey, Backstage/Headshot Annual
 

"Dauk strives for the active rather than the passive at a shoot.
The eyes have it!"

- Jill Charles/Backstage

 

"Jinsey's pictures are the best and are a great help in casting!
We can really judge the presence and spontaneity of the performer!"

- Geoff Johnson & Vinnie Liff, Johnson & Liff Casting & Associates
 ( Of Broadway Musical fame "The Producers","Rent", "Les Miserables", etc. )

 
The uniqueness of Jinsey Dauk's head shots is quite obvious.
Each photo emits a spirit, a personality, and a feeling. Jinsey uses a naturalistic approach in her photography. Instead of a studio with high powered lights, fancy cameras and the customary backdrops, Jinsey's Greenwich Village studio is simple and welcoming. For light, she relies on sunshine streaming in from two nine-foot-high windows with a view of the Hudson River, and for a backdrop, she simply uses the decor of her apartment. Jinsey tells her clients, "The only way you know I'm taking your picture is from the sound of the shutter clicking." Jinsey's naturalistic approach produces flattering, relaxed, and true representations of each person. "With a head shot you want the casting director to look at a picture and feel something -- the life and the spirit of the actor," says Jinsey. 

Read The Annual Headshot Issue in Back Stage Featuring Jinsey