Kasia May 14th, 2009
Our parish has decided to do a photo directory.
May I just say that I would like to smack whatever brainiac came up with the concept of photo directories? I thought I’d finished with yearbooks when I graduated high school.
OK, so I’m complaining more than is warranted. Here’s the real crux of my angst: I don’t like the way I look in photos, no matter how good the photographer. The best you can hope for is that I’ll be tepid about the shot, especially if it includes my face. (Sort of a, “Well, that’s about as good as a picture of me gets” kind of attitude.)
I realize that such a notable lack of self-confidence and self-appreciation is less than ideal (and less than attractive). But there you have it.
So I was thinking of ways to make the experience more pleasant, and more likely to result in a picture that I’m moderately happy with. (In addition to the photo being preserved for posterity in the directory, we are given a complimentary 8×10 or somesuch for participating. I am assuming the photo company more than recoups its costs by people ordering photo packages, “because it’s so much more convenient” than wrangling the kids into yet ANOTHER family photo to send to Grandma and Aunt Martha and Cousin Mae.)
The photo company suggested that some groups choose to go for a “unified” look by coordinating their colors. My first thought, honestly, was that that sounded kind of creepy. Well, maybe “creepy” isn’t exactly the word, but…how about “artificially uniform”? You know, like when the whole family’s names (right down to the dog) all start with the same letter and they run around in matching outfits every day? Not “creepy”…just perhaps excessively cutesy, and definitely not what I’m used to.
But then I thought about the picture Jaibee so kindly took of me and Canuck at a parish function, in which I’m wearing a burnt-orange turtleneck and brown sweater, and he’s wearing a blue-and-white button-down shirt. (We weren’t expecting to have our picture taken.) The background is blue. I look conspicuously out of place. My outfit looks great on me, as his does on him; but together we look…odd.
And I thought about our wedding pictures, in which everyone in the bridal party coordinates except my poor cousin, who was pressed into service as a groomsman after my friend who was supposed to serve got a horrible, nasty ‘flu. My friend still drove in from Chicago for the wedding, despite my arguments; but I told him he was NOT going to seat guests or stand up when he’d had a 103-degree fever twelve hours earlier. So my cousin Peter, bless his heart, borrowed a gray suit from my father and stood up, for which I was and am profoundly grateful. That said, because my dad’s suit was a blue-gray and the other suits were charcoal…well, you know. It’s one of those things I’m glad I didn’t notice on the day of the wedding, because there was nothing to be done anyway. And I’ll always be able to laugh and relate the story when I show people the pictures.
Then today I was looking at Michelle’s post of her family pictures. I like how each sub-family (as it were) chose a color or set of colors to wear. It gives a tied-in look without screaming “OSMONDS!” – each person is wearing a shade and style that suits them, rather than being all matchy-matchy bridesmaid-perfect.
So in short, I now see the wisdom of the photo company’s advice. Now, the real challenge begins: choosing a color that both Canuck and I can wear and not hate, and finding us each something to wear in said color.
Did I mention the photo is May 30?
I’m going to be a busy bee…
