Sweet Self-Acceptance

A friend asked me to take some head shot portraits for him. He needs some professional-looking images to use for all the social media necessary for his work. I was happy to do it, for he is a dear friend.

I asked only one thing in return, to turn the camera around and take a couple shots of me. I just wanted a nice new shot for F@cebook and other sites as well. I configured all the right settings on the camera and handed it over to him on autofocus.

Considering he's not a photographer... we got really lucky with one beautiful shot.

(Well, luck and my instant critiques that he should shoot me from above - always more flattering!)

I decided to make Christmas cards and everything!

As I was editing the photo and creating the card (design courtesy of my photographer friend Keli, Keli Anderson Photography) I had plenty of opportunity to stare myself in the face.

I considered photoshopping the lines around my eyes. I decided not only do the lines not look that bad, but in fact, I'm proud of those lines. They're smile lines mostly. A sign of joy. Happiness, smiles and joy etched on my face.

Yeah. No need to photoshop those. I've earned them. Then, even that thought surprised me a bit. Am I really okay with those lines? Proud of them? Sure.

But heck if I'm going to publish any unflattering shots here!
So there is a limit to my self-acceptance!

The bottom line is... proper posing and carefully chosen angles can disguise some signs of aging but not all. Accept what you can!