Yes, that is right, are you thinking about who is looking you up online?
Because this is the digital age and that is what almost all of us do when we looking for someone or something. And lets be honest, we are all pretty judgemental when it comes to what we see in the first few minutes when we are on the search.
People lead busy lives and now that we a click away from finding what we need, we need to see what will deliver in our search criteria pretty quickly or we are onto the next link in line...
This is where my opinion on corporate portraiture comes in, but before I get into it, I want to point out that this is not a pitch for me as a photographer to lure you into my studio, I am talking generally speaking... because there are still too many people out there with an online profile photo that is a selfie, or worse even a selfie from snap chat and then enhanced with apps that make skin look plastic.
Don't misunderstand I think these apps are fun and definitely bring value to phone photos and the like and unless your business can benefit from those sorts of images, other than that its not ideal for your corporate photo on you business website or linkedIn, neither is having a holiday snap with your other half cropped out, or ex, photo of your cat, shoes or even random shot someone else took in the office that you converted to black and white.
I still see so many people on LinkedIn who are looking for work or employers looking to hire people in their business who themselves have not taken the time to present themselves professionally. Moreover often employers or HR people with these bad headshot may also end up judging a prospective candidate because the person applying has a bad profile photo!
The reality is, there are so many photographers out there offering a pro-head shot, it does not have to be a shot on white in a studio with big lights, it can be a well taken environmental portrait in your work space that reflects who you are and what you do. In fact I very rarely shoot headshots in my studio with lights these days unless its a requirement the client has for a particular purpose.
And while we are at it, I think its time to end the crossed arms in front of the chest, it is mostly an unflattering pose for the regular person. There is a realtor in Montreal who once upon a time had all her staff photographed standing at a slight angle all of them with their arms crossed, absolutely dreadful, most of the images made the candidates look aggressive and unapproachable which is definitely not what a realtor wants to convey to the aspiring buying clientele out there. So lets end the crossed arm trend.
But what about the expense I hear you say? Well yes there are cheap photographers and expensive ones, however you must not underestimate the power of the image you are conveying your target market whether you are looking for work or an employer looking to hire.
Personally I have seen people starting off on the career ladder with better headshots than managers and CEO's of companies. The cost is something you should think of as an investment. Corporate headshots don't take long and with a good photographer you should have your image delivered in less than a week and ready to go.
So go and get your hair done and hop down to your local photographer and make an amazing impression on the digital world with your new profile photo... you'll thank me for the advice :D
Lawyer Nadine Touma, taken for National Magazine, Yulian Pugachvsky YUL Yummy, DJ Alex Pycke.
