Veterans Visit Pasadena’s American Legion Post 13 for Professional Headshots

By Alex Cordero

Many local veterans visited Pasadena’s American Legion Post 13 late last week to get their headshot taken for free. Digital career profiles are becoming more essential and including a photo on your profile is important if you want to stand out from the thousands of other profiles.

Members of American Legion Post 13 are targeting ways to help the local veteran community be better prepared for modern times. The ways we conduct business keep evolving and head shots, unfortunately, are not just for people trying to make it in the entertainment business anymore and they can be very costly.

Tiffani Patterson a Coast Guard veteran found out about the event and thought it would be a great opportunity to upgrade her LinkedIn profile to better fit her career search in leadership roles. “I brought an extra blouse just in case, which one do you think would be better for my head shot?” she asked me. And, as we confronted the never ending battle of the perfect blouse that screams leadership, together we decided the royal blue color blouse would do. Patterson works in the education field and is actively looking for leadership roles but felt that it was time to update her LinkedIn profile as her current photo is a selfie taken in her car wearing her seat belt like a beauty queen sash. She said at the time she didn’t really give it much thought when uploading a photo of herself on her career profile, but now as she is looking for more serious roles she feels it is important that potential employees take her more seriously and a professional head shot will help.

The American Legion Post 13 provided free head shots to help local veterans with career profiles/ photo by Alex Cordero

“I thought about how can I give back? What can I do? And since I’m a photographer and have the equipment I thought I can provide a service as simple as free headshots for local veterans, and we thought it would be a great idea and the turnout has been great” shared Michael O’Day, member of American Legion Post 13 and professional photographer who provided his services to help the local veteran community.

Members of the American Legion Post identify new ways of serving Veterans to fit modern times- Photo by Alex Cordero

Judy Welch, an Air Force veteran, was having her headshot taken to start sending her photos to businesses in the entertainment field. When her service in the Air Force came to an end she decided to restart her singing career and she is determined to follow her passion and make a new start. She recently moved from Nevada and is still trying to get acclimated to all the services available to her as a veteran in her new community and her visit to the American Legion was helpful—as members in charge of the event immediately started to provide her with information about the resources available to her.

For more information on how you can join, volunteer, or donate please visit pasadenalegionfamily.com/sal.htm.

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