[Greatest Hits] Episode #276: Focus and Attention to Detail with “The Headshot King” Peter Hurley

Welcome to this edition of the Million Dollar Mastermind podcast. This is where we pick the brains of high achievers from all walks of life and get their hard earned real world insights on winning. I'm your host, Larry Wydell.

I'm here with Peter Hurley, the Headshot King from New York City, founder of the Headshot Crew, New York City portrait photographer and a sailor US Start out and almost made the Olympics with the US Sailing team. But he's still got sailing in his blood. If we talk to him in another year, he might be world champion from this upcoming competition. Heading this way. So, Peter, I wanted to follow up and ask you about focus and attention to detail you see when you're looking through the lens. Would you expand on that?

Sure. I mean, I think that I found that when you're looking at, I mean, at least when it comes to photography, and I think you can look at this in all aspects of life when you look at, like, I'm trying to be the best photographer I can be. I mean, I never point the camera at anybody and, like, try any hard. Less, you know, than I. Than I would. I mean, I'm always trying to take. Capture a moment, an expression, get the best light on somebody, that kind of thing. You know, I've. And people really care. I mean, I've never had anybody, you know, come in and say, oh, Peter, we know you're really good, but with me you can pull back the throttle a little bit. Like, nobody wants that. They all want to look their best. So I think I have to find a way to make them look their best. And I think that the human face is such an interesting thing. I don't think there's anything more interesting on the planet. I guess that's why I enjoy my job so much. But the way we control it and the way we create expressions and the nuances in each person's face are extremely interesting to me. So I could light somebody perfectly. I could, you know, I've got great equipment and I've got great makeup artists and I can make people look fantastic, but if they're not with me, mentally, it's just not there. So a lot of photographers feel that pressing the button's their job, lighting the subject and pressing the button. And I feel like my job starts when I start directing them on what to do with their face. And I think that that kind of detail is really what it's about. And it's very. It's not the easiest thing, but it's really what created my career. It's the Only there's only a few things that I can pinpoint that helped me propel me to where, you know, where I got with this. And it's definitely the attention to details one, but it's also, you know, sticking to my guns and doing things that kind of outside the box. And having, you know, in New York, it was really about actors for headshots. And now it's, you know, now I'm doing global stuff and doing corporations and, you know, shooting CEOs and people flying all over the place. And I work with. I train photographers. Now I have a company where I give them jobs. We work with companies all over the world and stuff like that. So it's not just actors, but when I started, it was just like, I was just photographing actors. So I being one, I kind of knew, you know, how to get to them, and I figured out ways to get them. I still try to apply the thing that. There's a quote from Albert Einstein that I love, and he said he never made one of his discoveries through the process of rational thought. And I was like, okay, how do I think outside the box on this? What's. How do I turn this thing upside down? Like, what could I possibly do that's different? And the biggest thing for me was the expression. I did this thing called. I called it squinching. And I did this video, and I said, it's all about the squinch. And what I found was that because when I was modeling, we were trying to figure. I remember talking to a buddy of mine who was a model. He was a Ralph Lauren model and a Abercrombie Fitch model, like me. And. And. And we were on. We were together one time, and he said, well, what do you do when you look like. How do you look cooler in the camera? I was like, I don't know. Do you squint or something? And I was like, I don't know, but. And it went. Then Tyra called it, like, smizing. And then I was like, that doesn't make any sense to smile with your eyes. I don't get that. And then I was like, well, confidence comes from the eyes. So what. What is it? What do the eyes do? And they can only do, you know, only open and close. So I. I ended up trademarking squinch, and I defined it. And it's narrowing the distance between your pupil and your lower eyelid. So it's your lower eyelid moving up. And when you look at somebody that's doing that, there's more confidence coming out from them. So I'm now working with some. I'm working with an ex Secret Service agent who was doing polygraph testing. And I photographed her for headshots. And she was just amazed at what I could read on people's faces that they got trained to do in the Secret Service that I, you know, do instinctually through seeing what the human face is doing. So this is the kind of stuff that, you know, gears me up. I love that. And that's the attention to detail that a lot of photographers don't even. They did that just passes them by because it becomes. It's a different job, or at least other photographers think it's a different job. For me, it's my job, you know.

And for people who are hearing this first time, describe the squinch again.

The squinch is a maneuver that we do when we're. When we appear confident and we do it naturally. Our subconscious actually generates it for us. But in front of cameras, you have to concoct it a little bit sometimes, and it's narrowing the distance between your lower eyelid and your pupil. So you're bringing your lower eyelid up towards your pupil, but top eyelid is not going down. So it's not squinting, it's squint. I called it squinching. And there is a video out there that you can look at that I did. They had me on Good Morning America with it and everything. It was really fun, and I use it every day. I think confidence is just a huge part of life and being successful. And I think we all gain confidence through. You know, I gained it through trial and error. I taught myself photography, and I gained the confidence through doing. I did that when I was training for Olympics. When I first started sailing and I first started going for it, I didn't know that I had it in me to do it. And through. I remember going to. I love this story. Different. If you look at whatever you're doing and everybody has gone through this, whatever it is that you do or whatever you're doing, you know, you look at your strong points and your weak points, and when you're training for the Olympics, you really. If you have weak points, you're in trouble. So my weak points, I started to look at, and I knew that the biggest gains can be made downwind. In this boat I sail called the Laser. So downwind sailing, you get around the first mark, you go downwind, and the fastest guys would crush you on that point of sale. So I was really slow. I was terrible at it, and I. So I decided to move from. I was living in. I was living in New Jersey, and the fastest guy in the United States was living in California and training out of the U.S. sailing center in Long Beach, California. So I decided to pack up my boat, I threw it in a van, I drove across country and started training with that guy. And I got my butt kicked for probably the first three months of work working with him. Him and another guy, they both killed me down when. Anyway, long story short, I caught up to them, and then I got as fast as them, and then I got a little faster. So I was one of the fastest in the world downwind. And I think that goes to show. And I know you've done this on winning that. That if people do that and you start to nip in the butt, the little, you know, where you feel you're the weakest, eventually that'll become your strong suit. And then the other stuff that you're already good at, it's just like you're over the top and you're going. And there's another quote that I always kind of live by, because I always felt like I was beating myself. Like I would be. Like. I never felt like the guy. Like, yeah, the world champion was amazing, and he's, you know, how am I gonna ever beat that guy? I. You know, I always. There's a big head game when you get to that level, too, but I think there's a. Bill Gove said, amateurs compete, professionals create. And I was like, I don't want to compete with anybody but myself. I'm going to create. And that was the thing that I brought into my photography, and I brought it into my sailing. And that was probably one of the main things that made me excel to where I was able to do the things that I did in a boat and do the things I did with a camera.

Well, if I made the statement to you that, you know, I've always felt like there's no real confidence that comes without achievement. In other words, there's no way you can really be confident unless you prove to yourself you could do something. And the only way to do that is to get out there and, you know, prove to yourself you could do it.

Absolutely. I think confidence is learned. I mean, I'm proof of that. I mean, I definitely experienced that all my life.

And when you. Probably now, when you're out there training with the best in that downwind.

Phase.

I've always felt like your eyes, you know, if you want to make the fastest progress, I've always said, find the best. Whatever it is you want to be good at. Find the best in that arena that you possibly can and get as close to them as you possibly can and lock in on what you see, you know, because greatness is caught and not taught. And a lot of these things, you need to, like, see it with your own eyes and, like, realize it so you can internalize it. But your attention to detail had to pay off for you when you were going through that experience.

Yeah, it's amazing. I mean, it amazes me and to go back and think about it now. I was curious while you were saying that. I was wondering, because I don't remember how much I actually watched what he did or just was with him and trying to figure out on my own, how much did I actually apply from his body movements or the way he trimmed the sail or steered the boat. I was wondering if it was just being with him and getting beat so many times that I had to try so many different things till I figured it out or if I was watching him. And I think it was a combination of both. So interesting.

I think it's a combination of both. It's, you know, it's learning, observing, doing, hearing. It just takes a while for that to get into because it's got to, like, get into your brain, into your. Your tissue, you know, these things, you know, so your tissue, so muscles that you gotta learn different ways of moving. But, you know, the brain's gotta govern it all. So it's. It takes up. But if you're around it and that. And by the way, Peter, that's why I do these podcasts, because when you come to greatness, you know, you could. People can actually teach you fundamentals, but they can't teach you greatness. You know, greatness is doing things with fundamentals. And you got to go to. If you're going to go to greatness, you got to go by yourself.

And I love that you got to.

Create, you know, and what inspires you or what. You know, the great thing about the great role models is they give you a direction, they give you a picture that, you know, you're never going to be exactly like them, but you can pick up a picture of the missing pieces. Because the thing is, again, the reason for this podcast and other other things that I do on a weekly basis is the fact that I never know what somebody's missing. Usually they don't know what they're missing. And the only thing I can do is get them around, keep them close to me, and it give them enough exposures and we just go through things from different points of view where sooner or later the light bulb will go on to them about what they're missing, you know what I'm saying? And piece by piece, they could put it together, but they're not going to learn. You know, you were never going to overcome that weakness if you hadn't gotten around somebody who had mastered that skill. And, you know, in the sailing. And so these things, you have to put yourself in a position if you want to improve your weak areas. And so this. All of this is really fascinating. And you're like, you say you're still improving, you're still in the game and still pushing yourself in the sailing side. And what's that like for you right now? How much of an obsession is it? Sounds like it's a lot of fun.

I love. Yeah, I love it. It's my outlet, I think. You know what the funny thing is, is that that weakness became my biggest strength. So it was. It was not only taking a weakness and getting rid of it, and it wasn't even getting it to, you know, to be average at downwind speed. I became one of the fastest in the world, and that was. And I loved it. It became an obsession, and I was just so into that. I couldn't wait till I got to the weather mark to go downwind, and that was amazing.

Can you describe. I mean, do you specifically know in your mind what it is you picked up during that three months that took you from being. That being a weakness to a strength? Is there a way of describing that, or do you have to just grow into it?

I think you kind of hit the nail on the head that there's so many variables that, you know, obviously you've got to do it and you've got to, you know, get to. I guess I got to the point where I got out there and I was doing. I'm in the middle of the ocean and these guys are going faster than me, and I'm like, okay, well, they're in the same boat. We weigh close to the same amount. Like, there can't be that much going on, that I must be doing things terribly wrong and then just trying to pick them off one at a time. And what it was, it was the. A lot of times when I'm, you know, lately I've been trying to, you know, I take big breaks with this sailing stuff. This we're talking about. I was training with him and 1994, like, that was like, you know, that was for my first Olympic campaign for the 96 Olympics and that one, I didn't make the team. I sailed a really bad race in the last race and didn't make the team. But. And then I took another break for four years or three and a half years, I guess. Three years. Well, I got back in a year before the Sydney Olympics. And then I stopped, picked up a camera and when I turned 45, I looked at my life and I was very successful at photography. And however, I was out of shape and I had a pinched nerve in my neck. I couldn't really sail very well. I was like. I was a mess and I was like, I got to get in shape. So I weighed like 230 pounds on New Year's Day, I remember. And the world championship for my age group, which was. I had just turned 45, so it was 45 to 55. It's the same age group I'm in now was in July in Canada in Kingston, Ontario, around July 10th. So I was like, I'm 230 for the boat. When I trained for the Olympics, I had to weigh 185. So I was like, okay, I'm going to weigh 185 on July 10th. And from January 1st to July 10th, I went on this major weight loss and working out. I had a trainer and I made it and I was 185. I went and sailed the regatta and I finished second. So I was second in the world. Yeah. And that was it. And then since then I've been second again. I was second another time. I've been. I think I've been fourth, fifth and sixth. I've been, you know, I hurt. I sprained my wrist like a. I was not very smart. I arm wrestled a friend of mine and he was much bigger than me and I tried too hard and I. And I. He sprained my wrist. So I had to sail world championship with a sprained wrist last time. But this time I'm ready, I'm geared up. I've been winning regattas and I'm practicing and I think it's the time in the boat and the timing of the waves and the back to the original thing. It's a, it's a whole, it's. It's getting, it's not just mental, it's what your body does with the, with the wind. There's such a combination of things that, that you have to do to get the boat to be in sync with the waves, the wave pattern and in order to go downwind fast and laser. So. And it kind of became my thing, like one of my favorite things to do. So, you know, and.

Winning, winning at the highest level, you're making, you know, you're usually, you're moving fast, you're making a lot of decisions in a short period of time. And it's got to be, you know, you've got to, you can't be posing. That's why these guys, you know, I'm all the time busting the nuts with the life coaches and the people who professors and the interviewers who've never done anything other than sip coffee and have interviews with winners, you know, and they think they know it. But the thing is, you got to grow into these things. You learn things and people can tell if you know what you're talking about.

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