Is this the first business head shot?

This distinguished portrait of Abraham Lincoln was taken by professional photographer Matthew B. Brady during the 1860 presidential campaign. At the time, Lincoln was unknown to most Americans and the political cartoonists were depicting him unkindly – as a gangly, ugly country bumpkin. To combat this depiction, Lincoln hired a professional photographer, Matthew B. Brady, to make his portrait. Satisfied that Brady’s portrait did indeed depict him as an intelligent, distinguished presidential choice, Lincoln’s campaign distributed the portrait throughout the country. Meanwhile, the candidate gave a pivotal speech at Cooper Union, New York. After Lincoln won the election, he credited the photograph as helping him win the election; saying “Brady and the Cooper Union speech made me president.” Now, that’s the power of a professional head shot. If you’re running a business and not using a professional portrait as a profile picture, you’re not depicting yourself and your business as professionally as you could.

A properly made professional head shot, taken with the intention of communicating your message, can speak volumes about you and your business.