Rannie posted a great photo he took of me on our Island jaunt last weekend. I like it because it's a good photo, but also because I'm doing something. I hate posed photos of me. I get uncomfortable waiting for the shutter. I end up looking goofy or fake. When I'm doing something, I look like me, being me. I'm making normal facial expressions. I'm being myself as I am without the awkwardness.

I also blame not having a "photo face". I swear to god there are people who develop this by practicing in the mirror. They go over various smiles and facial expressions until they find one or two that make them look good. This is one of those crazy things I've learned about people that I wouldn't even think of. You can really see it in action sometimes too. I was in a wedding party once... which means lots of posing for photos... among other things. And damn, the second the photographer said "okay" a sea of fake, but totally perfect smiles and expressions sprung out of thin air. And then there was me straining to create a genuinely pleasant expression when I clearly was not genuinely pleased.

I was joking to Mr. Risk last night that, that's what I need to do. I need to pencil in some time in my busy schedule to develop a photo face. Then after I've got that very important project sorted I can work on my behind-the-camera face. Rannie's photo is an exception because normally when I'm taking a photo I make the dumbest-concentrating-really-hard expression. I don't think I do it with the box cameras, just the cameras that require fiddling with focus and various other bits. Mr. Risk has taken enough photos of me looking like a fool that I know this is true.