How You Can Be Cool

This does not mean “be good looking” or “have a nice smile”.  You’re going to get your photo taken hundreds of times this year.  You can’t be all smiley and happy in every shot, it reads as forced.  Likewise, you can’t always throw out a coquettish, sexy look all the time, it’s just not appropriate for a family Christmas card.

What you’re going to need to develop is a repeatable, non-committal facial expression that says “I’m having fun and I’m happy to be here”.  Generally, this expression  falls into the category of funny or surprised without being overly ridiculous.  It’s great for  when you want to stand out in a group.

The fact is, when somebody yells out, “Say cheeze!” it’s much easier to hold your “photo face” than it is to hold a phony smile.

Vincent Van Gogh painted many self portraits in a variety of different styles throughout his career.  As you experiment with your “photo face”, exploring it’s various subtleties and nuances with every pic, think of yourself as the Vincent Van Gogh of the Nikon Age.

This entry was posted on January 19, 2011 at 7:39 pm and is filed under style. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.