In July of last year, one of our librarians, Arieh Ress, started a program called “Picture Yourself Online!” in which he took headshots of patrons (and some staff too) so they would have a decent photo of themselves to use online and while job-hunting. I’ve been the program’s assistant since day one, and I sat down with Arieh and interviewed him about the program we’ve been running for nearly a year now.

What made you decide to propose this program?

I have a photography background: I’ve been messing around with cameras since I was a little kid, and spent a lot of time in my high school's darkroom.  For three years I was a photo assistant in a studio in Midtown, and I took headshots on the side. So when I started working at Mid-Manhattan and saw a call for new programs I thought I could put those skills to use.

I teach several computer classes including Facebook, and I see people nearly every day using our computers who don’t have a good photo of themselves to use online. Either they don’t have a digital camera or a smartphone to take such a shot, or they don’t know how to get the pictures onto a computer or otherwise uploaded to the internet.

There was also a third category: those with the means and the knowhow, but who just don’t have anything appropriate for getting work. Working in that studio I saw a lot of models looking for jobs using club shots or poorly framed selfies, and now it’s not just models that need a photo to get a job.

I’ve seen this too in my Resume Open Labs. I was glad to see this program come together.

Right! Everybody needs a photo of themselves to get work and have a successful online life at this point. LinkedIn and other job sites have a place for a photo, and even Facebook now has a job seeking/hiring feature on it. If you don’t have a profile pic you look like you either don’t know what you are doing or don’t care. Either way you aren’t going to be considered above people who have one.

I was glad to have an assistant who understood why this was important too.

What did you expect from it when you started?

I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. I thought a few people might show up the first time and that it would grow from there. I thought it would mostly be regulars that came in.

Our first night we actually had pretty good numbers though. While we did have a decent patron turnout, a lot of the people who came in were our co-workers who were curious about the program. Also a request had just gone out for everyone to upload a photo to our work gmail accounts. The program was a good way to get this done.

It has taken off though. You even presented at a conference about it.

Right, I did a Cybertour at the Computers in Libraries Conference in Arlington last March. There were several people in the audience who came up after and said they wanted to try to replicate it in their systems. One was from Florida and he agreed that it’s hard to get a job, not just modeling but any job, these days without a good photo. In fact according to him —I haven’t looked into this myself—anyone looking to get a government job in his state needs a photo of themselves on a blue background, so he’s going to try to get his library to buy one and they can provide those photos.  It’s neat to think we might have started something that takes off actually changes people's lives across the country! *High fives interviewer unexpectedly*

In June, I will be presenting a short session at the American Library Association’s annual conference in Chicago. I think it’s really cool that people are interested in the program. The more attention it gets the more the NYPL and libraries in general get, and that’s an excellent bonus.

What do you hope the future holds for the program?

We've sent out close to 400 photos in the eight sessions we've had so far which is pretty great. I want to keep that momentum going for sure though maybe not just in this one location.  There are areas served by NYPL where many people have been left on the wrong side of the digital divide. I’d like to take the show to them: the equipment is portable enough I could bring it to the other branches and do the program there.

Maybe at first just a select few, but it would be really cool to visit every branch. I think if we played our cards right maybe a few local papers might pick up the story which would be excellent press for the program and for the library itself.

Another idea I had was a book. Library Patrons of New York or something along those lines. Headshots of willing patron participants along with a blurb about what The New York Public Library means to them.

I think it’d be pretty cool anyway, but for now I’m just happy the program has been doing well and that our patrons are finding it valuable.  

Any tips you’d like to give in regards to photography or getting great headshots?

I’d say take a look at what you have around you and go from there. We bought a pop-up background for the program, but I used to take headshots of people in the park or in front of buildings or even stairwells that had interesting walls. Good lighting is key, so invest in a flash that isn’t just the one that comes attached to the camera, and get a diffuser too. If you can bounce the light it will help even things out a lot, so a flash that can be aimed in different directions and a simple reflective or even just white piece of cardboard the subject can hold to bounce light up works wonders.

The other part of it, and sometimes the longer, harder part is the post-production work. I’ve been using Photoshop for half my life, so a lot of it comes naturally to me. We do have retouching classes available in the Mac Lab on the 4th floor of Mid-Manhattan. Usually I spend about 5 minutes on a photo (sometimes less, sometimes more) getting the contrast and levels just right and getting rid of any stains or lint on their clothes. To a point anyway: if they wear something covered in stains or something I’m not going to spend too much time on it. The actually tricky part is wrinkles though: no one wants to see themselves in true high definition because unless you have a baby-face you will have some circles under your eyes and crow's-feet and such. The trick is not removing them altogether which ventures into the uncanny valley, but in lessening them without making it look weird. If I do my job right no one knows I’ve done it at all.

Picture Yourself Online! Returns in one June 7th and 12th at 7:30pm.
Come to room 101 on the first floor for your free headshot!