Charles-Manson-Eyes Don’t Inspire Confidence?

So my head-shot is outdated. It’s weird to me that this is an issue; a photo I had taken 18 months ago looks too little like me now that I can’t use it on advertising materials, but apparently it’s true. I went on a listing appointment a month or so ago that I scheduled because of an ad I run in a neighborhood paper. When I showed up at their door they looked at each other confused and said they’d expected me to look different.

The big problem is that I had just cut my hair short before I had that picture taken. I probably haven’t cut it since and now it’s pretty long. It makes me look younger, I think. On my business cards I can pass for someone who’s been in the biz as much as 10 years, I think (it’s a tiny picture) but in person I think I often come off looking closer to high school age.

I’m going to schedule professional photos, but until then, Jason and I tried to capture a decent professional looking photo for an ad he was putting together for my high school reunion’s memory book. It did not go well. I was conscious of the fact that when I smile big my eyes get very small, so I was trying to keep them open. It ended up looking a little serial killerish. Plus the flash and indoor lighting projected a sweaty sheen on to my face.

Hott, right?

It didn’t help that I had a little urchin clinging to my legs the entire time:

Man, I hate having my photo taken. Sigh.