#reverb10: Photo - A Present To Yourself
Today's #reverb10 writerly prompt is: December 25: Photo - A Present To Yourself. Sift through all the photos of you from the past year. Choose one that best captures you; either who you are, or who you strive to be. Find the shot of you that is worth a thousand words. Share the image, who shot it, where, and what it best reveals about you. (Author: Tracey Clark)
Given that I’m usually the one behind the camera (save blog conferences, where people are always passing cameras around), I actually don’t have a ton of photos of myself. In fact, I just looked through the photos I shot today (Christmas) and I’m not in a single one of them.
But hands down, my favorite photo of myself this year was taken by my friend Gabrielle Blair. There are so many reasons I love this image. First, I adore Gabby; her positive energy is an immense gift to the internet. Second, I love where the photo was taken; it was my first time attending Mom 2.0 and this photo was shot at the art exhibit -- I was surrounded by amazing people and beautiful photography. It was utter awesomeness -- which, incidentally, I had the lovely Katherine Center paint on my arm. Third, it was such an unusual pose for me; normally I’m beaming a giant smile and have a hand on my hip, but when Gabby asked to take my picture, I wanted to show my arm paint. And that moment seemed better suited to something other than a big toothy smile. I think that might be the only time I’ve ever been photographed with that expression, and I must admit, I love it: I think the image exudes confidence and calm and happiness. Along with, well, a dose of hotness. Aw, yeah.
After Gabby shared this image with me, it quickly became my avatar, most commonly used head shot, and most recently became the inspiration point for my new banner here at Pop Discourse. And it never escapes me when I look at this photo -- or attempt to become more facile as a photographer -- that it is utterly wonderful how fleeting moments captured on film can endure and conjure emotion and memories so well.
