I enlisted my friend Jenny to come over and help me take the pictures. She has this impeccable style that I can only dream of, and I was really excited for her to help me with this project. What I failed to remember was the fact that whenever Jenny and I get together, silliness typically ensues.
I caked on the make-up, like I always do when I'm nervous. I even watched a tutorial on YouTube about how to properly apply bronzer to contour your face. Yes, I'm 34 years old and I still am not that great at applying make-up; I don't see it as an issue. I flat-ironed my too long hair and tried to make it look less hippy-chic. I put several tops out for Jenny to pick from and all my favorite jewelry. She even liked what I had picked--bonus points for me!!
We finally found a window with somewhat good light and put me in a croppable position to have a blank wall behind me. This is how things started:
Can you see that I'm actually wearing yoga pants? Hello, it is a HEAD shot, butt not to be included. Naturally I have on a scarf I bought at the Turkish Market in Berlin and some chunky funky jewelry. I mean, how else would you know that I'm an anthropologist? This was embarrassing. Jenny kept clicking.
Oh yeah, this one is totally flattering:
This one would have been ok, if not for the fact that you can see my shamrock earring. It was St. Patrick's Day, and some details fell through the cracks...obviously.
This is when Jenny told me to stick out tatas...
"Seriously Jenny, I need some direction here. I'm not a model."
Crazy eyes!
Jenny really liked this one. She called it my Dr. Seuss face.
Here's my smolder.
Smoldering makes me laugh.
In the end, this is the cropped final picture we both agreed was the best.
The biggest lesson I learned: I'm so screwed if I ever have to get an actual head shot for a book jacket!
Less than 10 minutes after Jenny left, this is what I looked like:
I took off all the make-up and was already back at my laptop dissertating away. I paused briefly to take these pictures. This seems more like me, but I wanted to be all professional looking in the head shot.
Look back at those pictures up there: Do you see how ridiculously long my hair is? I'm really starting to hate it. That's why I'm going to chop it off in May and donate it to Locks of Love. Please please go to my Pinterest Page and come back to vote for how I should cut my hair. You can vote right up there at the top right side of this blog. Thanks so much!
If you live near Indianapolis, you should also come see me in the inaugural Indianapolis Listen to Your Mother show on Thursday May 2nd. It will be a great night, and I promise to make you laugh.
