Because of the competitive nature of the job market, many recruiters are suggesting employment seekers include a picture on their resume or beef up their social networking profiles on Facebook and Linked-In with more of a business professional look and feel with a portrait. As you troll through profiles, it’s pretty obvious that most people do not have a professional portrait of themselves. I will add that the free offer could also benefit small businesses, struggling with the extra costs of publicity staff shots either online or in print materials, including business cards.

Michael was laid off from a large Philadelphia firm in February 2009. Up until that point photography was just a part-time venture. But the bad job news has allowed him to pursue his photography passion full time. His business has just begun to take off and he wants others to have a fair shake at employment. Says Michael:

If a simple headshot is going to do that then everyone should have the chance to get one done.

The beautiful thing about a giving heart? Others will follow. On Michael’s blog  www.zhounder.com, photographers from New York, California, and Pennsylvania talk with him in the blog about making it a nationwide effort.

If interested if either donating your time or reserving your spot for a free portrait, email Michael at bizshots@magickmichael.com. His free portrait session will be held August 26, 2009, from 10-4 p.m. in the offices of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, 200 South Broad Street, suite 700, Philadelphia, Pa 19102.   —Alysha Sideman

The PMDA Soldiers’ Angels Portraits of Love project is a great volunteer program within the photo industry that we here at Picture Soup wanted to share with our visitors. The PMDA (Photo Manufacturers and Distributors Association) has partnered with the Soldiers’ Angels volunteer organization to create the PMDA Soldiers’ Angels Portraits of Love Project, with the goal of taking the portraits of 10,000 families of service men and women who are serving abroad this September and send both the families and the service men and women a print by the holiday season—at no cost to the families.

You can find out more about this great volunteer effort within the photo industry by going to the website www.pmdaportraitsoflove.com. You can also sign up to volunteer as a photographer via the website; or as a military family, you can find a participating photographer.

As an industry we think this is a great way that photographers can share their talents while bringing families of those serving in our armed forces around the world a little closer for the holidays.

Along with PMDA, Fujifilm, SeeHere.com, Independent Photo Imagers (IPI), Nikon, Canon, Tamron, Samsung, Pentax, Olympus, Microsoft, HP, GE, Casio, ArcSoft, National Geographic Magazine, Cameo Style, Popular Photography magazine, Photo Industry Reporter, Tiffen, and American Photo magazine are also sponsoring this program.