The free portraits project

It's been two years since I was laid off, joining the ranks of the many newspaper folks who found themselves mid-career and with few options other than reinvention. Along with my colleagues, I applied for jobs and put more effort into my professional presence online. New bloggers were born, people who wrote and edited for a newspaper became online writers and editors. Everyone realized the value of LinkedIn if they were searching for a new job.

In the interest of trying to do more for my friends & former colleagues than just forwarding them links to job openings, I thought of other ways to help. What is it I do again? Oh right, I'm a photographer.

So I started offering free portrait sessions to people who needed them, people whose online identity was defined by a bad cell phone photo, or no photo at all. These days your photo for LinkedIn & Twitter & a blog is how so many people will form an impression of you. So I'm dragging friends out for a quick shoot, and giving them social networking portraits, two of which are below. Some of them are unemployed and searching for work. Some have found jobs where their online presence has gone from Facebooking with friends to representing a company or communicating with students and fellow faculty members. Some are putting their effort and time into blogging, and reaping a reward there.

All of us are moving on from what we used to do at a newspaper, seeing ourselves and each other in new ways.
Journalist David Gaddis Smith writes about Mexico. You can find his work here. His site is being redesigned and as of this writing the portrait is not up yet, so check back.

Jerry McCormick is an Associate Producer at NBC 7/39 in San Diego. He also teaches journalism at Southwestern College.