Saturday, November 6, 2010

On Smiling for photos

Story #1

I smile often. All the time. However, in photos my smile looks fake. Here is how a typical photo goes for me: I pose for a photo. Clinch my teeth to "smile." Think in my head "cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese." My smile looks forced. The photo looks bad. I am angry that I am not photogenic. Repeat.

For the past few months I have been intentionally focusing on smiling like an adult...um...more naturally? While trying to look more like an adult in photos, my fiance has begun whispering funny things in my ear like "fart" right as someone takes a pictures of the two of us just so he can get a genuine smile. My smiles are definitely looking more real; however, the means of getting that real smile are far from mature.

We got engagement photos taken a few months ago and there was one pose where we have our arms around each other and are looking into each others eyes. We did a few serious faces in that pose and then when the photographer told us to smile, my fiance whispers "smelly farts!" I then broke out laughing so hard and tried to whisper shhhhhhhh! to him so the photographers could not hear our immaturity. Yet, after a two hour session and 300+ photos later, those photos with my arms around his neck, smiling big, are my favorites.

Story #2:
There are two types of photo smilers: show teeth vs. don't show teeth. Or open mouth vs. closed mouth (kind of like kissing). I don't show my teeth when smiling for pictures. My friends like to call it the "pout." Sometimes I even put my hand on my hip to add to my pose.

We got engagement photos taken a few months ago and the photographer had to say "OK now look at each other and smile." Takes a few photos. "With teeth, please." Takes a few more photos. "With teeth." I hate those photos.

My friends think this is hilarious and almost every time we go out and pose for a group picture one of them orders us all to do my pose where they over exaggerate my pout and hip holding skills. I blame my hip holding on being in a sorority for all four years of college. What's a good picture without a good pose (pout.)

Highlight the text after the star to reveal which story is true * The true story is number 1. Who has time to pout? My parents paid lotsa money in orthodontist bills for my pearlys.

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