One day, I’m going to write something really profound, or moving, or heartbreaking, or uplifting, or controversial, and BFD is gonna take off. I’m going to have to hire some of y’all to be my publicists, my personal assistants, and my media liaisons. When that day comes, I want to be ready, which is why I decided to get some professional photos taken. Or, alternatively, I thought it would just be nice to have some BFD-themed pictures of me to use on the site. Maybe both?
My fantastic and talented friends at ButtonWood Imaging, John and Andrea, were kind enough to do a little photo shoot with me last weekend. You know what, people? Smiling for a long period of time is hard! I don’t know how you brides and grooms do it on your wedding day – aren’t your cheeks killing you by the end of it all? The experience made me think: When was the last time I posed and had my picture taken repeatedly? Oh, yes… high school! Senior pictures. It’s not Thursday, but here’s a little throwback:
The over-the-shoulder pose illustrates what a serious academic I was at 17.
Okay, so aside from some shameless self-promotion (and showing off the hard work of ButtonWood Imaging), why am I telling you this? Why not just post the pictures on the About Me and Facebook and be done with it? Because I have to tell you about my train of thought leading up to the photo shoot. It went a little something like this:
What should I wear that won’t make me look fat? What if I have a double chin in all the pictures? Will my belly look huge? How can I hide it? Can I get them to take pictures from above, so I look skinnier? What if I hate all the pictures because I look fat in them? What can I wear, what can I do, how should I stand so that I look thin?
The irony of having these thoughts about a photo shoot for a blog about body acceptance and body positivity was not lost on me, trust me. Nevertheless, that’s how I felt. I wanted to look “pretty,” which is synonymous with “thin,” and I wanted y’all to love the pictures, which is synonymous with “think that I look thin and pretty.” Isn’t that ridiculous? Obviously, I still have a long way to go with being okay with what my body looks like, especially in photos. Well, it’s a process.
As they say in reality TV land, it’s time for the big reveal. Do I like the photos? Do I look fat in them? What’s the double-chin status? Here we go!
Showing off my eleven half marathon medals.
Posing with medals down by the river.
Full body shot. With neon trainers!
So, there you have it. What do you think? Do they do me justice? Do they do the message of BFD justice? Do you wish we’d thought to do an over-the-shoulder senior picture pose like I do?
A huge thank you to John and Andrea for taking these pictures (and more – I can’t very well reveal everything all at once, now can I?)! You can check out their Facebook page here. Oh, and if you’re interested in a future position on my BFD staff, just let me know. The line forms to the left.
