Final month at my native comedy membership, I settled in for what the poster promised could be a four-act night. One face regarded notably recent and youthful. When that comedian took the stage, although, he had an additional 20 years, 40 kilos and considerably much less hair. In reality, I did not acknowledge him in any respect – and questioned if I would turned as much as the incorrect venue.
This sort of temporal whiplash is not new to me. As a journalist, I have been ambushed by outdated headshots extra occasions than I care to recollect. I am going to prepare to satisfy somebody for an interview, armed with their social media profile pic, scan the café for that face, solely to understand the particular person waving at me bears solely a passing resemblance to their official picture.
Is that this as a result of individuals cannot afford a brand new photoshoot? Typically, possibly, however positively not all the time. Once I used to work on mass-market print magazines within the Nineties, PRs for celebs of their thirties and forties would constantly ship me headshots that had clearly been taken of their twenties. These stars have been family names, consistently on TV and everybody knew what they regarded like. So who have been they making an attempt to idiot?
All of us do it
Earlier than I get too high-handed, although, I ought to admit my very own sins. Sure, I used the identical profile image throughout social media for seven years. Once I lastly up to date it, somebody commented, “Oh, you’ve got modified your hair.” Reader, I had not modified my hair. I had modified my face. Time had modified my face, the best way time relatively insists on doing.
So what’s truly occurring right here? A part of it, I believe, is straightforward vainness dressed up as pragmatism. That shot from 2008 actually was relatively good, wasn’t it? The lighting was excellent. We regarded energised, about ten kilos lighter. “It nonetheless appears like me,” we inform ourselves, squinting a bit. “Primarily.” This is identical logic that retains unused health club memberships energetic and expired passports sitting in drawers.
There’s additionally a curious sort of model anxiousness at play. We fear that altering our picture means altering our id; that folks will not acknowledge us, will not discover us. As if we’re Dorian Grey in reverse, and updating our portrait will someway age us in ways in which merely current hasn’t already managed. By no means thoughts that folks we truly know have been watching us age in real-time.
Feelgood issue
The quick model is that this: in the case of representing ourselves, we choose comfy fiction to uncomfortable truth. We select the picture that makes us really feel good over the one which’s truly correct. We berate influencers on Instagram and TikTok for making an attempt to current an ideal, idealized model of themselves, however we’re truly doing the identical factor – simply with much less Facetune and extra time journey.
So possibly it is time all of us took a great, onerous take a look at our profiles. To not obsess over each new line or gray hair, however to ask ourselves: would I acknowledge this particular person in a crowded café?
If the answer is no, it is time to replace. Your viewers deserves to know who’s truly turning up. Even when – particularly if – that particular person appears a bit extra lived-in than they used to.
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Able to replace that pic? Be sure to’re utilizing one of many finest cameras for portraits and the finest lens for portraits. And take a look at our portrait pictures ideas, too!