A Question on Author Photos

i don't enjoy author photos at all, kind of the same way that i don't enjoy seeing 378926478328426378 photos of a band in their liner notes or lame portraits in artists catalogues. i've just always felt like the work should speak for itself, and i enjoy the wondering about who the artist is/what they're like much more than i enjoy actually knowing.

(but to actually answer the question, i think that if i were to publish and some kind of image was needed, i would get someone that knows me really, REALLY well to do a portrait)

Hi, Arithmetock. Thanks.

It's seldom a pleasant experience, but it's necessary. I know what you mean though. Sometimes you have a personal image of someone that you enjoy and actually seeking them just obliterates the image (which is often much better).

I think that was the problem with my last set. It was a *professional* photographer in a studio and I'm just not that kind of person. The photographer I want to use this time is someone who I grew up with, she is heavily into graphic art and photography. I trust her to be accurate, I just don't know what to do.

I know more about what I don't want than what I do, as luck would have it.

maybe you should just let her take pictures of you the way she wants to and see where it takes you. the people who know you well can recognise things in you that you didn't know were there.

That is a good point. Thanks.

I always hate the idea of having to take posed pictures that don't feel like "me". So, I usually have someone take pictures of me.. and I instruct them on how to do it. I also like taking snapshots and photoshopping my head on someone else - but that's just me. I like my pictures to be silly and humorous, sarcastic, and not at all what I am expected to do. In essence: mine are never serious.

If I had to take an author photo, it would probably be me behind a desk, with a pipe, wearing a turtle neck and in front of an old fashioned typewriter, with a bottle of gin half empty and a full glass. In black and white.

But that's just me!!!

Your pictures should reflect you! what do you think represents YOU best? Maybe a picture of you actually writing? Do you have a cat who could be in the picture with you?

Hee-hee. I like the "out there" ones.

Maybe with a pipe and a pencil moustache? Oh, and a top hat would be required.

I live in the Appalachians. I could always wear overalls and a straw hat...lol.

I'm going through a mood right now where it seems the older you get, the less you really know about yourself.

I suppose there's also the "Stepford wife," idea. You could look absolutely 1950s, starched dress with beehive, and have antenna?

Oh! Or in the kitchen with a blue hand sticking out of the refrigerator...rofl. How's that for freezer burn?
:twisted:

I know how you feel. Hitting my 30's has really taught me that I have no idea who I am.

Appalaichans, huh??? Awesome. I'll bet autumn is gorgeous.

I think the straw hat/overalls/banjo idea is great! Maybe we could photoshop you on the exterior of the shack from beverly Hillbillies?

With a quote under the photo of you saying "Thank ya'll fer readin this here mess of words!"

LOL. Yeah!

It's twisted to live in the Appalachian region. Actually, the people are completely normal, but the leaders make such a profit off of selling the "hillbilly" image that no one ever knows the difference.

Honestly, we have people who drive through just glaring at houses. They honestly believe they're going to find people like on that show. Makes you want to say "Law... We even got shoes from that thar mer-ken-tile. Woncha come on down and sit aspell? Ma can cook the possum. Bubba woiuld welcome ya, but he's still pullin' 24 in Brushy Moutain fer shooting the mailman... Well, ya seen one revenuer, ya seen 'em all. He didn't know he was just agettin' the light bill..."

Anyways, I'm in my 30s, too, just turned 33 Sept. 6.

It is an amazing place to live. I adore the mountains. I usually end up incorporating that into what I write. There are so many stories and legends that are never discussed on paper or in a "formal" setting. It's just sad because all that is dying and so few are documenting it.

There's no telling how many stories are already gone.

It's a really interesting region. There's so much history - I'd love to learn some of it.

One of the websites I'm building right now is going to have a list of stories from the region. It will be pretty basic as some people involved in the tales have descendants alive today :oops: , but the gist of the story will be there. I'll let you know when I'm finished with it.

Awesome! I especially can't wait to read some Appalaichan ghost stories!

My icon on this forum is a cropped and reduced author photo of me. I had a bunch taken in a local cemetery and I got all dressed up for it, too. One of my best friends is a photographer and he does amazing work.

What and how you do it I think depends on what you write and how you are as a person. I tend to lean goth in clothing style, so me taking shots in a cemetery wasn't completely out of my element.

Hi, Adrianne!

Thanks. I just couldn't stand the thoughts of the studio thing again. I live and write about the rural Appalachians so I'll probably do something with a related theme. I love the Gothic look, too, but it doesn't fit what I write. Naturally.

There's an old house that's for sale nearby, I thought of using that for a backdrop. I would love to be a "vampish" character, but with my luck, it would be much more akin to Ellie Mae...lol.

Yeah, you gotta take something that suits the genre. Given what I write, I can get away with it. LOL

If you have any friends who are into photography, I'd recommend getting their advice and experimenting. It's an art form like anything else.

I find skulls at every convention I go to. I got some great ones with the severed heads at the Shroud room party at CONtext this year. A couple years ago I took some with a glittery skull at Romantic Times. And I get shots of whatever creepy thing I find throughout every day life. Usually at least one comes out that I can use as an author photo. Skulls are sorta my thing.