Selfies and Authenticity

One of my goals for this project is to become more comfortable with having my picture taken (by non professionals, which means pretty much everyone.) I don't consider myself naturally photogenic and I tend to freeze into what I call the "robot with the potato face" when there's a camera around. Add to that the fact that I'm so much taller than everyone around me (meaning the photographer is at the oh so flattering "shooting from below" angle and.....ugh.

However, one of the reasons I wanted to do Project 333 is to push myself past my plateau, to challenge myself in new ways. And being more comfortable in front of the camera is a must in 2015. Everyone has a camera phone and FB, Instagram, blogs, and Pinterest run on photos. Plus, with fashion or clothing, it's so much better to see than read about only.

Today I wanted to talk a little bit about selfies and authenticity. The shots I take of my outfits myself look GREAT (or at least really good). The shots taken by others look (in my mind) merely okay.

Let's compare:

Taken by me:

Taken by my workmate (same outfit, and I did not suddenly gain 15 pounds in 4 hours)

There's a few things going on here, but the main thing is *I can't see what's going on in real time and adjust it to look better* and *my workmate is not at a straight angle from me holding the phone straight out*. So my feet look super teeny tiny, making my upper body look gradually bigger and bigger, since my body is not a straight line in space starting from my feet. Real flattering.

It's so hard to let other people take photos (and believe me when I say this one above is the best of about 8) and then use them when you feel they aren't that flattering, or they aren't "the real you". I love this outfit and as I move around in front of the mirror, I can see all the ways it does flatter me--but in a flat photo it looks....not as flattering as it does in person.

So what is the best practice? To be "authentic" and allow all-thumbs shorties to take pictures and gradually accept that this is what I look like in candid photos? Or to mix selfies where I look pretty good with "ok" candids and hope the candids get better?

These are the type of questions that I actually enjoy thinking about with this project. Which is more real--the photo that I feel shows how the outfit makes me feel? Or the photo that shows the way it looks "in real life"?