Photogenicity

A photogenic subject (generally a person) is a subject that usually appears physically attractive or striking in photographs.


Sometimes I look terrible in pictures. I don't know why. I friend once said to me that a good thing about not being photogenic is that people will be pleasantly surprised when the meet me in real life (after just seeing pictures beforehand). I like to think I'm pretty normal looking, but then I take another bad picture and I start to wonder. Here is the latest. This photo was taken at a recent Royals game. Unfortunately for Melanie, I am not the only victim in this pic. It looks like she has a huge gap between buck teeth. (She normally has a beautiful smile.) Oh Sluggerrrrrr, you bring out the worst in us.


So yeah, I was looking at this picture this morning and I got to thinking, What is it about me and baseball games and terrible pictures. This picture was taken at a Cardinals game last August when I was 5 months pregnant. I freaked out when I saw it and spent the rest of the game, I am ashamed to admit, snapping random pictures of myself from different angles trying to see if my nose really had grown in the past hour.


Why am I not photogenic? What makes a person photogenic? Why does Lady Gaga look better in pictures than me?

So, naturally I turned to the source of all knowledge, Wikipedia. I am glad I did. Thank you Wikipedia for doing what Anthony has not been able to do for almost 5 years. You convinced me that just because I take an ugly picture or two, I'm not completely unfortunate looking.

Allow me to quote part of the entry:
*I have made bold the most important parts of the article.

The state of being photogenic may or may not necessarily be related to one's physical attractiveness in real life. Models are usually described as photogenic. The bone structure of their faces may represent something that is not generally pretty or may be even unattractive or frail looking, but when photographed, their features can turn into something that is physically attractive.

There are a few different possible causes for this. First, it is important to understand the difference between looking at someone with two eyes and through a single camera lens. With two eyes, the human brain is able to see the three dimensional aspects of someone's face, even when viewed directly from the front, and it gives much more information than most cameras. With a camera, the subject is viewed through a single lens, and thus much of the three dimensional qualities of the face are lost. . . .

Another explanation for the fact that attractive people are not always photogenic is that part of their attractiveness may be due to the charisma they bear in real life due to the way they move, express, and carry themselves. While this will positively influence the subjective appearance of that person in real life, a still photograph usually fails to reproduce these attributes, possibly rendering a picture of the person less attractive than the real-life perception and contributing to classify that person as less photogenic.

The lighting when the shot is taken can also have a large effect on a person's perceived attractiveness. Also a person's face may look different depending on the angle and intensity of the light being reflected off the face. This effect is magnified when a flash camera is used and may cause undesirable features, such as ridges or bumps to appear more pronounced then they otherwise would. Also lighter skin tones and features may appear washed out when taken from a flash camera.

So who knows. Maybe it's the bad lighting. Maybe I just have a lot of charisma. Maybe I have bad luck. But at least I don't have to let my lack of photogenicity get me down.


Here is a cute picture of Will, to comfort you, after viewing the pictures of me. He is adorable from every angle.

Clean Slate

I've been meaning to update this blog for so long, but I keep putting it off because there is so much I could blog about, or at least, there are so many cute pictures of Will I could post. I get overwhelmed by how behind I am and instead of just updating, I continue to put things off. This has been a problem for me throughout my life. It is something I would really like to overcome, so if any of you have any tips of how to overcome chronic avoidance and/or extreme procrastination, I'd love to hear them. Yes, I am soliciting advice.

On to bigger and better things....

Items of note since we last blogged:

• I finished a class (so much harder with a baby than I ever would have imagined). I am 6/7 finished with school! And now I am taking the summer off.
• For Mother's Day my whole family got together and my sisters and I worked to clean out the stuff we have stored at my parent's house. I found some great treasures--like my first Troll, my middle school yearbook (where I edited out all the swears) and my first (and only) softball uniform (can you consider a t-shirt a uniform?). It was great hanging out with my sisters. Will got non-stop attention. We ate lots of good food. I was sad to say goodbye.
• We spent a fun-filled weekend in Springfield visiting friends and introducing them to Will. When we moved we left in kind of a whirlwind fashion and didn't get to say goodbye to most of our friends. We had such a great time. It felt like we were back home. The only frustrating thing about the trip was Will. We wanted to show him off, but he was soooo fussy all weekend. Which leads us to the next item of note.
• Will has cut not 1, but 2 teeth. The day after we got back from Springfield I felt like I wouldn't be able to handle Will any more. He was fussy, irritable, and hard to soothe. I told Tony I was at my wits end. I prayed that tomorrow would be a better day. And it was. Will slept 6 hours straight (great for him) and was so much happier the next day. At one point I notice Will put something in his mouth and I swipe my finger to make sure he didn't have anything small in there and I feel something hard. A tooth? Isn't he too young to cut a tooth? A few weeks before at Will's 4 month appointment his pediatrician told us that he was pre-teething, and it would most likely be months before he cut his first tooth. I guess he's an early bloomer? Only time will tell. And just so you know, I sacrificed a finger for this shot.
• Baseball games. And lots of them. Since Will's first baseball game TJ has been to a game in Atlanta, we have gone to another game as a family, and Anthony and I went with his coworkers last Friday. That's a lot of baseball. Plus the countless hours of baseball at home via MLB.tv.

• Out and about! With the nicer weather we have been having lately Will and I have been pounding the pavement and I love it. There is a walking trail near our home and we are getting to know it well. Sometimes I sing to Will. But only if no one is there. My voice is the type of voice only a baby can appreciate. Sometimes we take a break and Will swings.

• Will is five months! He is turing into such a little kid. Sometimes I think I miss the crazy days when he would just fall asleep in my arms and snuggle into me (which is obviously my memory being selective, but at least I am selectively remembering the good times). He doesn't really like to snuggle these days. It's like he always thinks I am trying to get him to sleep. He's probably right. He has the cutest smile. It takes over his whole face. I can't imagine my life without my little buddy. He makes me happy.

There are probably more things I could say, but my memory struggles when I am tired. Here's to better blogging in the future.