It's in every room before you are
Your LinkedIn photo is one step ahead. Connection requests, email signatures, Slack profiles, Zoom tiles, company bios. It's out there shaking hands for you hundreds of times a week and don't even know it.
Most professionals treat their headshot like a filing taxes. You do it because everyone agreed to do it, not because it seems like it helps. But just like everyone likes their roads clean (and potholes filled), every recruiter and every client forms an opinion from an inch-square thumbnail before they ever read your words.
What works now
The crossed-arms power pose is finally dead. So is gloss. The day couldn't come fast enough. The most effective corporate headshots today are clean, warm, and approachable. You are someone worth having coffee with, so why don't you look like it?
Good light helps. And your clothes say a lot. But your expression—that's the star. When you feel comfortable, you look capable. I photograph executives, founders, and creatives across Oakland, Berkeley, and the East Bay, and the ones who leave happiest are the ones who walk in nervous and realize five minutes in that it's just a conversation. When was the last time you did something for your career… that turned out to be genuinely fun?
The cost of "good enough"
You can spot a bad headshot from across a chat. Cropped wedding photo. Ring light selfie. Arms-crossed-brick-wall-style, as if it to say "Just relax and go away, you're getting nothing here." If that's the vibe you need to give off, thanks for reading this far.
A great headshot disappears. The viewer doesn't even really see it; they see you. That's what I do. I don't make better pictures; I help you make better connections.
When to update
If your headshot is more than a few years old, it's out of sync. Your face changes. You did a lot in the last eight quarters and that confidence is in you now. Using a sharp headshot from 2024 is like saying "I haven't done anything good recently, so look at this instead." Even if you're in a role that's holding you back, you wouldn't be reading a headshot photography blog if you didn't have the ambition to kick ass. Tell your next connection what you want.
From oil changes to portfolio overhauls, I've taken my turn as the procrastination king. It never helped. Doing it before active pitching, networking, auditioning, or hunting does so much. The power of feeling good about your picture is far-reaching, and you'll walk into every room more confident, because you know you're owning your story. And the sooner it's up, the more heads it can turn. The more movers and shakers see you from across the chat and think, "I need to get coffee with that one. They could really get something done."