making nice with an old foe

One of the projects I'm working on mandated that I send in a head shot. (Which in a way sounds brutal, but I knew it meant they wanted a photo of my head.)

If you've been reading the blog for any length of time, you can probably count on one hand how many times you've actually seen my face amongst the posted photos.

It comes from a combination of being shy and...well, that's basically it. I've been working on getting over it, although I find it to be a somewhat mean process. I knew I needed a head shot, I knew it would become unavoidable at some point. So when the formal request for one came in, I sat down and gave it a little think.

Most of the head shots I've seen of other people are fairly formal. People dressed proper and pretty and smiling widely into the camera. They all look lovely. But in reality, the idea of it just didn't sit right with me.

I'm a casual gal. I couldn't see myself posing in a photo studio, looking all demure and frozen in a smile. I decided that if I was going to be comfortable with this whole taking pictures of myself thing, I was going to have to do it my own way.

In my studio.

Surrounded by printed fabric.

Dressed how I normally am.

So yesterday morning I worked at clearing off my design board (no easy feat, if you saw the state of that poor board, it borders on abuse) and digging through my fabric stash. Since I tend to print as I need things, it wasn't the easiest thing to dig out pieces big enough.

I set the camera on the tripod, figured out how to use the timer, and set about the task.

I'll be honest, there was cussing involved. I took photos of the top of my head, my neck, my chin. At one point the westie wandered into the studio and bumped the tripod so there is even one of me flying toward the camera as I attempt to stop it from falling into a pile of gook on my print table.

Its not as easy as I thought it would be. In the end, I came away with several that I thought came out okay:



See? I do exist.

I ended up going with the one on the far left of the bottom row. I still think I look goofy but less goofy then I normally think so that's probably a step in the right direction.

The camera and I are starting to play nice together. Which is a good thing because one of my major goals for 2011 is to set up online classes. I'm exploring a big website redesign (again, I swear it never ends) and that's a part I'd really like to add to it. I bought a flip camera, its a neat little thing. Packs a big punch for such a little object.

Maybe the camera and I can be friends after all...