A New Look

Yesterday I did something I haven't done in quite awhile. I actually paid a professional photographer to take pictures of me. In preparing for the ACFW writers' conference in Dallas next week, I needed to make updated business cards and one-sheets. I wanted to put my photo on them, and frankly, since I've started plastering my picture all over the place, I decided I needed all the help I could get. In other words, I needed to consult a pro.

Seventeen years ago, a wonderful photographer named Ken Hill photographed my wedding. I didn't run into him again for over a decade. Then my husband and I moved to my home town, started going to a new church, and found our wedding photographer in our Sunday School class. He very politely told us he remembered our wedding and how beautiful it was, but none of us could keep a straight face. This man photographs weddings all the time, and since ours was a tiny wedding with punch and cake for the reception, I doubt it made that much of an impression. I, of course, thought it was the most beautiful thing I ever saw, but it's the only wedding I've had!

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I asked if he would take headshots of me and allow me
to use them on my blog and business cards. He graciously agreed and charged a very reasonable fee. So there I was, posing for dozens of shots for over half an hour. (He really gave me my money's worth.) I decided I would hate to be a model or a celebrity, which doesn't seem to be much of a threat right now. I was looking through all those shots awhile ago, trying to choose a new one for the blog. You start to examine yourself more closely than you should--unless it's your soul you're examining, of course. In some shots, I decided he had made me look really young, probably by putting my face in almost total shadow, but then my teeth looked dark. (I asked if he could photograph me in candlelight, since I look stunning in really dim lights. He said no.) In some pictures, my ears were sticking out through my hair like an elf. A deformed elf. I mean, Orlando Bloom and Liv Tyler looked great with ears like that, but me, not so much.

Anyway, I finally chose one. You can see it on the opening page, over there on the right. No ears sticking out, can't see the wrinkles too much, teeth aren't too prominent. Although I do sort of look like I'm up to no good. Maybe I better go examine my soul now.