A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words

It is now a well known fact amongst my friends that I do not consider myself photogenic. I came to this conclusion about a year ago when the ugliest picture ever taken of me was posted on our internal company website. I am not kidding. It was the worst ever. It was a lovely snap of me mid bite of pizza. My eyes were closed, my mouth wide open, and worst of all, it was in profile. I looked like a monster. After a few panicked calls, the offending photo was promptly removed.

A couple of months later, I was visiting my mom in Florida. We were looking at some old pictures and I let her in on my shame. Even though I should have known better, I was still slightly stunned when she agreed with me. The nerve!

Anyone who knows my mother will not be surprised by this. She doesn't sugar coat anything. She's been known to point it out when I've put on a few pounds. She certainly doesn't hesitate to point out a zit or any other imperfection.

When I showed my mother the best picture ever taken of me (which was a completely candid snap from N's wedding), her response? "Great photo! You look so beautiful... You know it was the professional hair and makeup." I can't win with the woman. Mom giveth; and mom taketh away.

Recently, I was talking to S, another one of my internet loves on the phone. We hadn't met yet and we were talking about our photos. S told me that most women he had met online were more attractive in person than they had been in their photos. Which, if you think about it is good, right? I mean when you meet someone, wouldn't you rather be pleasantly surprised than disappointed? I know there have been a couple of times where I have found that meeting a guy in person did not quite live up to his photos. (Don't tell S this, but he was one of those guys. Dude takes a good picture. Don't get me wrong, he's cute in person, but way better looking in photos.)

Anyway, I shared my non-photogenicness (is that even a word?) with S. I wasn't fishing for future compliments or anything. I just figured I'd lay it out there. It is likely you are going to be pleasantly surprised. I do not take a good picture.

S and I met up the next night. We had a drink at a bar close to his house. (Don't worry. I took him to my bar, the one where they think I'm a total slut, on our 2nd date. I'm a classy girl.) So, we're sitting there, chatting away when all of a sudden, out of nowhere S looks at me and says, "Wow. You really do not photograph well."

Even though he assured me that he meant it as a compliment, I didn't know what to say. I mean, really? What do you say to that? Thanks?

I know this is kind of rambling and all over the place. Where am I going with this? Am I owning my beauty? Or am I putting myself down? I'm not sure. But I think what I'm getting at is that it's time for me to stop being so hard on myself. From now on I'm just going to enjoy being a pleasant surprise.