"My third grade photo"
Don't forget the press kit.
My wife, (MP) and I got into a discussion the other day about official (and not so official) campaign photographs. She was noticing that a friend of mine has a campaign photo that's getting a little dated. It's not that it's bad, but the hair doesn't look "correct," and the suit is looking out of style. It's not that he'a bad dresser, but you would think that from the photo.
I was looking at photos for another political figure for the new blog design I'm working on, and I noticed a different politician's current publicity photo was clearly taken in about 1988. He has much, much less hair now. I hope the suit (and tie) he was wearing in the photo have now been burned by his spouse.
For some odd reason, many politicians seem to be trying to hold on to their youth through campaign photographs. Despite the fact that you might see a publicity photo for an event, and when you show up, you wonder "Who is that? That's not the person in the photo."
It's not always their fault. A officeholder friend of mine would wince everytime he read the Argus Leader and he was in it. They kept using a dated file photo that he had sent out when he first ran for office. And it wasn't the most flattering photo. Since, he had sent them replacement photos two or three times. Yet they kept returning to the photo he hated.
I think he finally got them to quit using the old one. But he prepares to wince again every time they call him on a story.
An interesting study in campaign photography is our current Congresswoman, Stephanie Herseth. I've seen newspaper photos where she looks very plain, and bookish. I've noticed photos where she looks a very professional attorney. And I've also seen newspapers run file photos of her with windswept hair, where I almost expect her to start getting written letters of proposal from computer geeks and prison inmates.
Sometimes when a candidate visits the small town newspapers, they just stand you up against the wall and click with the kodak disposable, and you are at the local editor's mercy.
What's the answer to the outdated, inconsistent and just plain bad photos? When candidates run, I try to always tell them to prepare a press kit for distribution as they travel. It's not a bad idea for an officeholder to have copies of it with them at all times.
A good press kit should have a hard copy of your current 'official' campaign photograph. Anymore, I tell candidates to also include a computer disk with the same photo, and possibly an alternative, more casual photo.
A press kit should also include 2 resume's; a formal "job application" type resume - and a less formal biography written in paragraph form. If you're making the rounds to newspapers to speak on an issue, include your press release(s) on the issue, along with supportive documentation. If you're speaking on an issue, that's going to be more important than the photo.
Keeping a press kit with you might not completely stop bad and outdated campaign photos, especially when the candidate can't come to grips with the fact they aren't twenty anymore. But it goes a long way to ensuring that your photo remains fresh, current, and you are portrayed as YOU see fit.
I was looking at photos for another political figure for the new blog design I'm working on, and I noticed a different politician's current publicity photo was clearly taken in about 1988. He has much, much less hair now. I hope the suit (and tie) he was wearing in the photo have now been burned by his spouse.
For some odd reason, many politicians seem to be trying to hold on to their youth through campaign photographs. Despite the fact that you might see a publicity photo for an event, and when you show up, you wonder "Who is that? That's not the person in the photo."
It's not always their fault. A officeholder friend of mine would wince everytime he read the Argus Leader and he was in it. They kept using a dated file photo that he had sent out when he first ran for office. And it wasn't the most flattering photo. Since, he had sent them replacement photos two or three times. Yet they kept returning to the photo he hated.
I think he finally got them to quit using the old one. But he prepares to wince again every time they call him on a story.
An interesting study in campaign photography is our current Congresswoman, Stephanie Herseth. I've seen newspaper photos where she looks very plain, and bookish. I've noticed photos where she looks a very professional attorney. And I've also seen newspapers run file photos of her with windswept hair, where I almost expect her to start getting written letters of proposal from computer geeks and prison inmates.
Sometimes when a candidate visits the small town newspapers, they just stand you up against the wall and click with the kodak disposable, and you are at the local editor's mercy.
What's the answer to the outdated, inconsistent and just plain bad photos? When candidates run, I try to always tell them to prepare a press kit for distribution as they travel. It's not a bad idea for an officeholder to have copies of it with them at all times.
A good press kit should have a hard copy of your current 'official' campaign photograph. Anymore, I tell candidates to also include a computer disk with the same photo, and possibly an alternative, more casual photo.
A press kit should also include 2 resume's; a formal "job application" type resume - and a less formal biography written in paragraph form. If you're making the rounds to newspapers to speak on an issue, include your press release(s) on the issue, along with supportive documentation. If you're speaking on an issue, that's going to be more important than the photo.
Keeping a press kit with you might not completely stop bad and outdated campaign photos, especially when the candidate can't come to grips with the fact they aren't twenty anymore. But it goes a long way to ensuring that your photo remains fresh, current, and you are portrayed as YOU see fit.
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