Thursday, January 12, 2006

Picture Perfect

I've been looking for a picture of myself to put up on this blog. I think you can tell a lot about a person from a photo, so I wanted to find just the right picture. And of course I wanted it to be a good picture. So I looked though all the digital photos we have taken over the last two years and couldn't find a single one that I wanted to use. First of all there were very few of me at all--most are of our one year old daughter Nora. We are crazy proud doting parents who take lots and lots of pictures of our first and only child. And that's fine. She's a lot cuter than me anyway.



Nora--Thanksgiving 2005.
















In our photo albums there are some pictures of me with Nora. And some of me in various stages of pregnancy. But, as it turns out, in the pre-Nora era, Marcus and I didn't take all that many pictures of each other. I mean, why would you take pictures of the person you wake up next to every day when you can have a picture of the Eiffel Tower or 25 pictures of the Cubs/Cardinals game at Wrigley Field?


Wrigley Field, Cubs vs. Cardinals, August 2004.












And I am not very photogenic. I tend to blink every time there's a flash, and my smile is crooked. So even when I found a picture that had me in it, I would look at it and say, no, not that one. My hair's too frizzy...or I don't like what I'm wearing...or look at that big pimple--no way.

Most people don't like looking at pictures of themselves. We automatically focus on the things we don't like about ourselves--our hair, our weight, our skin, our clothing. Whatever it is. And other people might not see it, but we can be so darn hard on ourselves.

For Christmas this year Marcus and I had a family portrait and a portrait of Nora taken at a hoity-toity photo studio in Bethesda. It was hilarious. They told us what we should wear (jeans and a light colored, preferably pastel, shirt--to which Marcus replied you've got to be kidding). Then we went to this studio where they had a big white tarp suspended from the ceiling and spread out on the floor where they had us lay, kneel, squeeze in close, tickle the baby while the flash went off like the red carpet at the Oscars. We got our prints, and they were beautiful. But as we looked at them, we noticed they were touched up. The little bruise on Nora's head that she got from bumping into who-knows-what while trying to walk was gone. My skin looked better than it has for 15 years. And no frizz. They were really good pictures-- almost too good.

So I am posting a picture here of me. My friend Phoebe, who is 8, took it in Atlanta last fall. It's not a great photo. But it's real. And what I most want people to know about me... I'm real, too.


1 comment:

The Energy Coach said...

Rachel my sweet cousin (cousin's daughter anyway) I love your blog! I'm so proud of you. You might be surprised to know that I just finished a book about embodied spirituality! It's not out yet, but I'll keep you posted. Please visit my blog called Reflections at www.kimberlykingsley.com. Much love to you - would love to see you and meet your husband and Nora:)
Blessings,
Kim