Foto Friday

Lookie Here! A Foto Friday post is ACTUALLY turning up on a FRIDAY! Wonder of wonders!

Don't get used to it though~next week I have to skip out on the post (I have an excuse, really I do!).

I have pretty much exhausted my meager photographic-know-how so I think from this point on, Foto Fridays will happen as I think of more tips, as I answer specific questions, and eventually-as more of a challenge to extend myself into areas I am not so good at by creating a subject assignment (that you all can practice on too---please?!?).

This week's Foto Friday is in answer to several questions I have received about the pictures of MYSELF on this blog.

I had grand intentions to do a "photo shoot" and take some recent pictures of myself to show you (you know, REALLY good ones!), but alas, didn't happen. You get the leftovers molding in the Picasa fridge. surry

99.9999999% of the photos I post on this blog of myself are taken by, none other than....ME.

Here is why.

I am horribly unphotogenic. It's true! Matt even says so. When anybody takes a picture of me I look ginormous and swollen and...hideous. H.I.D.E.O.U.S
(One particularly heinous photograph had me in tears and Matt said to me "Sugarbear, you just aren't photogenic. You don't look like that in real life." Still to this day I don't know if that comment made me feel better or worse.)

But, it was the truth nonetheless.

What?!?! You don't BELIEVE me?!?! oh man.

should I?

COULD I????

ok. you asked for it.



(and that one isn't even the worst of it, because it still lives in Picasa and wasn't destroyed immediately.) There. I feel cleansed.

I feel it is necessary at this point to include this disclaimer: "I have a very low-tolerance high-powered ugliness filter on this blog and therefore, any photos posted of myself on this blog have made it into the "nice" category. All other rejects are quickly ripped and burned. Ugly photos WERE harmed in the making of this blog. Thank you."

My hideousness behind the camera is in part due to:

1) Me being uncomfortable in front of the camera so inevitably, I wind up making silly, uncomfortable faces without even realizing it.

2) At six feet tall, I tower over everyone so people who take my pictures get a wonderful focal point of my double chin.

And okay...because I am the rest of those things too.

BUT. I have good teeth. I have that going for me.

I hated pictures SO much of myself and felt SO bad when I saw them, that I eventually began hiding BEHIND the camera and for a (blissfully) long time, I never saw myself or my insecurities.

Then one day, it hit me like a mac truck. I am the one who is with my children every moment of every day. They wake up to me singing "Good morning", they go to bed with my tucks-in and kisses and I am the one who shares with them all the moments in between. Every day. And yet: there was no PROOF of that. No pictures of us together. I found that to be incredibly sad and tragic. I wanted them to have more than memories to look back on.

So I began taking pictures of myself again. And it must have worked alright because several of you have asked how I take "such good photos of myself".

Here is how.



1. I have really long arms.

2. I wrap my camera strap around said arm so that on the off chance that the camera being haphazardly clutched by three fingers ends up falling, my life will not shatter along with the lens.

3. I always hold the camera HIGHER than my head (even just slightly) and point down (just a bit). This helps to thin a face.

4. I smile. I almost NEVER take pictures of myself when other people are around, so I don't have to feel all weird about it. So a real, live, genuine smile can happen without me feeling like a dork.

5. I pull my chin AWAY from my chest. Not a lot. Not like a turtle or anything but even a bit helps to eliminates a double chin.

6. I take lots. When you are as unphotogenic as I am, one picture usually doesn't end in a great shot. You need several takes to find one that is suitable.

7. Most of the time I use my own finger to snap the picture but occasionally~ I use the 10 second timer and set the camera on a rock or something. That is usually when you can see more of me than just my head, or if I have more than one child in the frame with me. No one is watching, so again~no need to feel dorky running to the "spot".



Most of all~ you just need to DO it. Because your loved ones deserve it. Besides, they see you every day- flaws and all. And LOVE you despite them (if they even notice them...)




But if these things don't work for you~ just purposely obstruct a view....

...or make a funny face.

Then at least they will know you TRIED.