Head shots and Tiny Prints and cute blogger babies.

I hate to have my picture taken. 

If you ask many photographers, they will tell you the same thing. "There's a reason I stay behind the camera," is a common theme, or, quite simply, "Hell no." 

And mostly it's easy to avoid it. When I'm with friends or family who consider me the designated shooter, other people slack off. Occasionally they'll force me into a group shot or catch  me doing something stupid, or in a moment that they think is important enough to document and share.

Like my birthday.

Like for instance, my mother was so entertaining, taking pictures of me in the emergency room this weekend and texting them to my family as "Laurie on Morphine." Haha. Ouch. My side.

Pretty! (Ugh. Obviously I have no remaining pride where it comes to posting unflattering photos of myself on the internet.) 

But for the most part I can count on staying under the radar. 

This of course does not count times when I'm with bloggers. If you've hung out with bloggers, who you know are obsessed with capturing every moment, every facial expression, every unfortunate eating photo, every ill-advised late night gang sign you're way too old to throw so it shows up on Flickr and now Instagram and maybe therefore Twitter and sometimes randomly on a PERSONAL WEBBLOG and so when those blogging events both large and small throw down you just practice the chin tuck Carson Kressley TRIED to teach you in Chicago in '09 and hope for the best. 

Sometimes with little success. 

Sometimes with a little bit more.

And some people? Should just always be in the picture.

A couple of weeks ago it occurred to me that I was going to need a new website soon and that for that site I might need a shot or two of myself, not the self-portrait variety, although I can handle those pretty well too at this point.

(That one was a lot harder than it looks. It's good to have goals.)

So thanks to the lovely Leticia Barr, I scored an invitation to a truly lovely evening at Mary Gardella's LoveLight Studios in Savage, Maryland (one of the coolest spots within driving distance from my house, a place that has good restaurants and fun shopping, and also artist studios/residencies on site, which is where Mary works.) 

I got to hang out with some bloggers, talk about Tiny Prints (no hardship at all because I've used them before and was very happy with my holiday cards last year) and also have Mary work her picture-taking magic. 

It was a lot of fun. 

And Mary took my picture. She made it less painful than it usually is, because I especially freak about portraits. I feel weird. I obsess about my lipstick, and my hair (oh dear God, my hair.) This particular day I had come from a sad family event, so my eyes were puffy and my sweater was wrinkly and...and...whatever. 

I like this one. 

I even posted it on Facebook, where it has a number of "likes" that I'd like to share with you because I think it's hysterical, but I am not the kind of girl to be liked and tell. 

That is Mary's way, it seems -- to make the picture-taking process as relaxed and low-pressure as possible, which is not only gerat for a person like me, but works wonders in family and child situations, too. I enjoyed it, and I feel good about the images. (There were more, but this is all I feel like posting.) And besides this particular picture, what it did was force me out of my comfort zone, with a person who knows perfectly well what she's doing, in a place with blog friends who when it comes down to it are very, very supportive of all of us feeling good, and feeling comfortable in our skins, both in the moment and on the screen. 

I think that's pretty cool. 

Plus I got to spend some time with my new friend Huck, who is wonderfully good for any picture-taking nerves. (Babies!) Thanks to his mom Stephanie for letting me borrow him for half an hour. He's a lover, not a fighter. 

Here are Mary's photo tips, mostly for working with kids, but I always assume this can be transferred to grownups, too. We're not much different, really. And thanks to Leticia and Tiny Prints for giving me a nice night out at the end of a very sad day.

Things can swing back into balance from unlikely places and things. Thats my favorite. 

Comments

[Roberta]

Lovely portrait! The other photos are great too, for so many reasons - mostly, the happiness/silliness/love emanating from you. And FWIW, you are quite cute on morphine. Aww.

[laurie]

Roberta was not compensated for this comment. (Thank you, Roberta. You're the best!)

[julianna]

Hot damn: those shoes! Where did you get them?!

[Suebob]

I think you're cute in all the pictures. But that portrait is really nice.