I often have my characters flashing smiles. Perhaps I use that phrase because I’d love to have the ability to flash a smile. Not just any smile, but one of those natural smiles brimming with sincerity. My daughter can do it. With ease she takes great selfies—great photographs in general. She has straight white teeth, a beautiful smile and big brown eyes. 

As for me….meh on all three.

I used to think I had good teeth. I never needed braces. But we live in an era when people can whiten their teeth, and white teeth do brighten a smile and makes a person look younger. I suspect that’s one reason my mom at almost 92 can pass as a much younger woman. She’s always taken good care of her teeth,  and she whitened them some twenty years ago, before it became fashionable.

No teeth whitening for me. My two lower, front teeth are caps. When I was in grade school I was playing tag with a little boy. He caught me and wouldn’t let me go. I did the only thing I could in the situation—I bit him. Pissed him off, and he picked me up and threw me to the ground. I landed on my face, on the only patch of dirt and rock in the school playground. Knocked my two front-lower-teeth out.

So now, I have caps. And unless I want to go to the expense of replacing those two caps (which have already been replaced at least once) I can’t really whiten my teeth. Another issue, my upper teeth have worn down some with age. These are the reasons I simply can’t smile at will for a photograph. I am too self-conscious.

As for my eyes. When I was younger people said I had nice eyes. But I am sixty-five now, so I suppose the healthy thing would be to embrace all those wrinkles and imperfections that show up so clearly in my photographs.

In general I am not a vain person. Not until I need to take a picture for my social media accounts. Being an author, I have a number of social media accounts that need profile pictures. I’ve been trying to take one that I don’t hate.

Above is a sampling of some of my profile pictures I’ve used over the last eight years.

The bottom row: The photo of the far right, me reading, that’s the oldest, one taken over twenty-five years ago. It was back when I was in my voracious romance reading phase. I use that for my Anna J. McIntyre profile picture. It just seems fitting, considering the contents of the McIntyre books.

The other photo on the bottom, me on our boat with the London Bridge in the background, was taken within the last five years. Until recently, I used that photo on my Twitter account. I rather like it only because the smile is genuine. And even though my teeth are not sparkling white in it, I look happy.

The most current photo is the one on the upper far right. That one was taken today. It’s the one I will be using for all my social media accounts for now.

The one right next to it was taken two years ago. We were on our boat that day.

The two upper photos on the far left were taken about eight years ago. That is just a guess. But I am pretty sure the one on the end was taken at a house our daughter lived in at one time and the other was taken in front of our house, and my granddaughter, who turns ten in May, was just a little tyke at the time, looking out the window when the picture was taken.

I suppose the professional thing to do would be to hire a photographer and get a professional business head shot. One day. Maybe. Probably not.

7 comments on “The agony of profile pictures…or if I hadn’t bit that little boy…

    1. Bobbi Holmes Post author

      Bob, I look deranged when I grin.

  1. Marlene Rasmussen

    Very nice pictures. I like your new one for your social media accounts. You look amazing. I hope your mom is doing well.

    1. Bobbi Holmes Post author

      Thank you. Mom is doing pretty well, thanks for asking. She is no longer in physical and occupational therapy; they said she did really well and got her to where they felt she needed to be. Much improved from when we first brought her home after the stroke. Like all of us, good days and bad days.

      1. Marlene Rasmussen

        I am glad to hear she is doing better

  2. Susie

    I hate taking pictures. That said, not everyone can be a beauty queen. I think we all have our inner beauty.
    The perfect look, the perfect smile? That is only skin deep. It does not reflect our inner selves. When I see perfect selfies, my mind thinks yeah they’re fake.
    Impromptu pictures are the best. They are genuine. A picture of you relaxed & smiling will always affect (effect? senior moment) me more than a posed one.

    1. Bobbi Holmes Post author

      I think my best pictures are the ones captured when I wasn’t looking. Of course, some of those are also the worse. LOL

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