choosing an Author Photo
This is hard! It’s made a bit easier because Ted has all our photos organized in iPhoto so that I can just sort for the ones with my face, but still it’s a tough decision. First, of course, there’s ruling out all the photos of myself that I hate. (I’m not very photogenic; any photo of me that you’ve seen is one I can tolerate, selected from among many more that I hated.) Then there’s ruling out the ones I actually like, but that are just not right for this purpose for one reason or another:
A very old photo, hiking in Big Bend, Texas. Braids are the best for keeping your hair controlled on a backpacking trip, but they just don’t say “professional”!
Paula as Godzilla, about to stomp the city. (It’s Madurodam, which contains all the significant buildings in the Netherlands, in miniature.)
Me at the Ice Hotel. That’s all vodka in the red sequined bottles!
Me having a rest on the Oregon beach. Again, probably not the alert and businesslike impression I want to portray.
Me crowned as Queen. (The crown is part of a planter in front of Copenhagen City Hall.)
Classic cheesecake pose.
OK until you look close - it’s a rowing t-shirt, and the caption says “Every stroke counts!” No double entendres allowed on my business book cover.
I was considering this one, taken at Taroko Gorge in Taiwan, until I looked closer; I’m wearing a Jewish star necklace (actually, a rowing necklace in which the star is made of tiny oars) and I think including a statement of my religion is more sharing than I want to do.
Me with my nephew, when he was two months old. I love the photo, but it’s also definitely *not* the image I’m going for here.
I’d actually planned to use this one, until I realized it’s too blurry - they asked for “high resolution”.
And here are the four I’m considering: respectively, at my brother’s wedding; on a tower in Lisbon, on the Oregon coast (same as the “cheesecake photo above, but zoomed in closer), and at a library in Helsinki. I put them up on FB and so far have at least one vote for each of the four.
ETA: I went with the fourth photo (in library, sunglasses on head). The issue I had with the first one (red dress) is that it’s formal but in a social way; somehow that feels less appropriate than the more casual shots.)
Mirrored from Dichroic Reflections.