Local photographers join nationwide effort for professional headshots

If you recently lost your job because of the coronavirus pandemic and need a new profile picture to update your online resume, you're in luck.

Four professional photographers from the Cincinnati area will take headshots for free on July 22 at Kenwood Towne Centre as part of the nationwide "10,000 Headshots'' initiative launched by photographers Peter Hurley and Tony Taafe.

More than 200 photographers across the country will be participating in the single-day photoshoot designed to help Americans get back to work.

It's open to anyone who is currently unemployed, but participants must pre-register to reserve a 10-minute time slot for a one-on-one complimentary headshot session.

Headshot Booker - a headshot photography booking agency - is coordinating the event and accepting registrations on its website.

Social distancing, mask requirements and other coronavirus prevention measures will be enforced at every location.Participants can receive their images on the spot through contactless photo delivery provided by SpotMyPhotos. The photos will be formatted for use on job sites such as LinkedIn, which states people who include headshots with their resumes receive 21 times more profile views and nine times more “connection” requests. Locally, four professional photographers will be shooting headshots at Kenwood, including Kim Dalton of KDalton Photography in Bridgetown. Dalton said a good quality headshot would normally cost around $250 or more. But a lot of people just don't have that kind of money these days because of the historic job loss stemming from the pandemic, she said." This is just our way of giving a little hope back to everybody who is hurting,'' Dalton said, referring to herself and the other photographers dedicating their time and talent to the headshot initiative.