A masked face in the crowd (IMG_3789) (Photo credit: Alaskan Dude)
OK, they say facing your fears is good for you. Let’s hope so!
Today I do something which many of you do happily and without thought often – as celebration, as memories, as fun – but for me it is a fear verging on the phobic.
Today I go to get my photograph taken. (shudder)
By a professional photographer – as I hope that has the best chance of avoiding the worst excesses of my terrible lack of photogenic qualities. I do it for the sake of my writing and promoting my writing. It seems it is pretty much essential to show your face to the world on sites like Facebook and Goodreads, and probably also on book marketing sites more generally, so I must overcome a lifetime of photo aversion and play along….
I have – successfully but with some difficulty nonetheless – resisted the temptation to buy a mask to use or a wig to wear….
The photographer has assured me he has Photoshop abilities to help with anything too disturbing – I think I frightened him a bit with how emphatic I was about how I am not photogenic..LOL…so let’s hope he is right about his skill in that regard. Still I don’t think anything is going to turn me into a supermodel (except that mask and wig idea…..)
Trust me – I am NOT photogenic. The camera does not love me. I think it actually dislikes me with the same passion that I fear it right back. And what’s worse than the output generally? The people who say ‘oh that’s a nice photo’ as though it actually looks like me!!! And well it might I suppose, but I am in complete, utter and happy denial about that and I intend to stay right there…I know what I look like when I look at the right angle, under the right lighting, in the mirror..and it is NOT how I look in photos…LOL so I really don’t like thinking people think the photos look good – that’s almost more traumatic than seeing them in the first place, LOL!
So…this is a trauma and a trial, but a necessary one. I shall hopefully find some that work for me and don’t disturb me quite as much as others, and those are the ones I will use. So, in a few weeks time when I have the final proofs you may see the face behind the dragon, so to speak.
If so, be kind. 🙂 🙂
Cheers Helen V
helenvalentina 