Ok, I have to chime in here.
I'm a retired model (Ford Model, cover of Cosmo, in SI Swimsuit edition-qualified to opine here), and the makeup artists and photographers they're using at Glamor Shots are, well, um, the bottom of the barrel.
You can go to a "real" local photographer, who will hook you up with a "real" makeup artist for about the same price as glamour shots, and you'll have a photographer who can look at the planes of your face and see where you're beautiful and where you're not (everyone has good and bad angles), he'll (or she'll) light you properly (incredibly important!!!), and the makeup artist will know what the hell they're doing!
In every one of the shots you guys posted, a real photographer would have made you look better. The lighting was flat and all wrong; they're not airbrushing you, they're using a special lens filter to fog out the lines, and if you use cheap lens filters, like gs does, you're going to get that weird blurry effect.
I can tell you that what I look like in real life with no makeup on would scare you at the grocery store, and what the makeup artists and photographers can do when they know what they're doing is FANTASTIC.
Has anyone watched America's Next Top Model? Man, those girls are not beautiful, but the photographers and makeup artists make them look stunning.
Here's what you do: look up a modeling agency in your local yellow pages, find one that doesn't have an ad, just a listing (because they're the real ones), and say, can you recommend a photographer to me that can do a nice head shot. They'll give you a couple of names and numbers, call them and tell them what you want and how much you have to spend (always negotiate this up front) and see if they'll work with you. They know the good makeup artists, they'll be happy to set it up and show you their book so you can see what type of photography they do.
So then, ten, twenty years down the road, you'll have a photograph that'll be a family heirloom instead of a family embarrassment. It's worth the effort, and as a hobby photographer and an ex-model I can tell you a great picture is just a wonderful thing to have and look back on.
Yes, I agree! I did it about 10 years ago and I too looked like a hooker. It was way too much makeup and of course there was some serious big hair still going on in 94 so it looked terrible, lol.
