Having a high-quality headshot for your LinkedIn profile can be the difference between
piquing an employer’s interest and your page getting passed over.
In the past, the Fleishman Center has hosted LinkedIn Photo Booth events with a professional
photographer, since a well-lit photo can be difficult to take on your own. Time slots
for the event would fill up in mere days or less after a new session was announced.
With each semester, the demand for LinkedIn headshots continued to grow.
Julia Sullivan, the Fleishman Center’s marketing coordinator and previous organizer
of the photo booth events, noticed it became increasingly difficult to accommodate
every student who needed a headshot, which is so important for marketing oneself for
work.
“The photo booth events have always been super popular because they give students
an edge online,” she said. “When they are creating their LinkedIn profiles, Mentor Match accounts, and other professional profiles, having a high-quality headshot helps the
accounts to look more polished. It also gives students a confidence boost to put themselves
out there and network with professionals.”
To ensure that no student, staff or alumni would have to go without a good photo,
the Fleishman Center and the Alumni Office cosponsored the installation of the Iris
Photo Booth in the Fleishman Center office. The Iris Photo Booth allows users to step
inside for a private photoshoot—the booth is completely self-service. Binghamton University
is one of only three college campuses in the U.S. with this convenient photo tool.
“The Iris Photo Booth is a fantastic addition to our office because it gives students
the ability to take unlimited professional photos and helps them put their best foot
forward online,” Julia said.
Any time that the Fleishman Center office is open, students, staff and alumni can
come for a session and take three headshots, with no appointment required. The booth
totes a studio-quality camera and lighting, and the ability to crop photos, touch
up blemishes, whiten teeth, apply filters, and retake photos. The Iris Booth’s digital
platform allows you to access all the photos you’ve taken over all of your sessions.
As of the beginning of November 2022, over 720 unique users have taken 3,498 photos
since its August installation.
Fiona Guo, a student staff member at the Fleishman Center sees that taking a professional
photo can be anxiety-inducing for students. The Iris Photo Booth helps ease some of
that pressure.
“It’s a great tool for all students and alumni to use,” Fiona remarked. “The booth
is private, the pictures always come out really good because of the lighting, and
it’s something that you can keep using; so if you don’t like the photo, you can just
go again.”
Alumni are also able to use the booth, even after they leave campus. As news about
this resource is spreading, more alumni have come to use the booth while visiting
town, with a few former students popping in during Homecoming Weekend.
“It’s really cool that the Fleishman Center brought this here because it makes it
accessible to take professional headshots for people to whom it may not be otherwise,”
Joshua said. “They come out really good, you can take as many as you’d like, and it
really just gives the opportunity to pretty much anybody on campus”
All Binghamton students, faculty, staff and alumni can take free, studio-quality headshots
in the booth during office hours (9 a.m. to 4 p.m.). Learn more on the Fleishman Center website.
by Erin Zipman
