Gulp.
I was asked that question twice this week. Once for a new gallery web site and once for an upcoming article in an annual Island Institute publication. I’ll be sending jewelry photos to each, without feeling the least bit of stress. But a picture of myself? Yeesh. It’s quite hard to find a picture of myself that I actually like. The photo I’ve been using as my identity for FaceBook, Blogger, and Pinterest is one from our son’s wedding a year and a half ago. It’s one of the few I don’t mind, but it is time for an update.
That was my project this afternoon. To take a photo of myself that I didn’t hate. One that looks like me to me. So I went to my studio and set the timer on the camera. I took quite a few pictures, each one seemed to emphasize the things I don’t like about myself in photos. It took a few tries to figure out where to put the camera to get the right angle.
Too low and too much light from the window:
A better angle but I sure hate seeing the effects of almost 60 years of gravity on my neck. My least favorite thing about photos of myself.
Maybe a scarf would help…and a prop to hold, like my saw…and some makeup wouldn’t hurt… (Earth to Barb….. I think I look like a dork space cadet in this one.)
Maybe a picture of me actually doing something….
Maybe it would look better without the scarf… Ugh. My neck. My jowels. Gravity.
Maybe if I moved to a different part of the studio without a window behind me. Oops. Guess I still need the flash.
Too far away…
Dazed and confused…
No, no, and no for obvious reasons:
Finally, two that look the closest to how I see myself:
It was a pretty interesting exercise for me. With so many different shots to look at, I got a little desensitized to how I look in a photograph. When I was downloading them onto iPhoto, I could see family resemblances that I had never taken time to notice before. And you know what? All of these photos look like me.
Barbara S Fernald Jewelry 