If you’ve ever been photographed with professional lighting versus, well, any other type of lighting, you’ll know how much well-placed shadows and highlights can change the structure on your face. Almost every time I look at a photo of myself, I’m bothered by how unphotogenic I am. “I don’t even look like that!,” I whine, thrusting the picture into the hand of anyone who will take it. “Tell me I don’t look like that.” When I look in the mirror, I’m often (but not always) content with the fundamental way I look: the structure of my face, the definition of my cheekbones, my almond-shaped eyes. My face in photographs makes me sad. I will never forget how sometime in elementary school there was a picture hung on the wall from our class Halloween party. Whenever I looked at it, I noticed a round-faced, unfortunate-looking girl who I didn’t know. She wasn’t in my class. Finally, sometime at the end of the school year, I asked someone who it was. “That’s you!,” they said. Oh. Keep reading »
