Draper Studios · Downtown Denver

Fifteen years directing actors in Los Angeles. Now photographing Denver.

Portrait photographed by Matt Draper at Draper Studios in Denver

Headshots, portraits, and personal branding for actors, professionals, founders, and teams. Every session is fully directed — you'll never be left wondering what to do with your hands.

5.0 from 77 reviews Same-day proofs Finals in 48 hours

Downtown Denver studio On-location available across the metro

Selected Work

Different people. Different jobs. One standard.

A casting headshot, an executive portrait, and a brand library shouldn't look the same. What stays constant is the direction behind them.

Choose Your Session

Start with what the photograph has to do.

A casting submission, a company directory, a website launch, and a hundred-person team are four different problems. Pick the one that sounds like yours.

Not sure which fits? Tell me what the photographs are for and I'll point you at the right one — including the smaller one, if that's what you actually need.

Meet Your Photographer

What fifteen years with actors taught me about everyone else.

Matt Draper, Denver headshot and portrait photographer, former director and audition coach

Matt Draper Photographer · Director · Former audition coach

Actors are trained to be looked at, and most of them still tense up the moment a camera comes out. Everyone else — the executive, the founder, the person who just needs one good photo for a company directory — arrives with exactly the same problem and none of the training.

The fix is the same either way. Direction. Specific, continuous, playable direction: where your weight goes, where you're looking, what you're thinking about a half-second before the shutter. That's the difference between a photograph of someone posing and a photograph of someone present.

I spent fifteen years in Los Angeles learning it — coaching auditions, directing scenes, cutting demo reels, and making films — before I opened a studio in Denver.

Your job isn't to perform for the camera. My job is to create the conditions where you can stop thinking about it.

Every session is photographed by me. Not an associate, not whoever happens to be free that week.

Photographed for

  • Danone North America
  • Intel
  • Emirates
  • University of Colorado Boulder
  • TD SYNNEX

Client Notes

People come back. And they bring their teams.

The finished photographs matter. So does the hour it took to make them — especially for the many people who arrive certain they aren't photogenic.

5.0 77 Google reviews Not one below five stars
Professional, fast, and the quality is unreal. I booked him for my team after my session — everyone loved their photos.
Katherine L.Professional + Team Headshots
Within days of my updated headshot, I was able to secure a modeling gig with a new client. He makes you feel incredibly comfortable in front of the camera.
Amanda H.Actor · Model
Our firm hired Matt twice to shoot our staff photos — he did phenomenal work. He made sure all our members felt comfortable and that everyone was satisfied with their pictures. Matt's our guy.
Elvin M.Office Manager · Team Headshots
★ 5.0 · 77 reviews Downtown Denver studio
Sessions