Photogenic or not?

When you look at a photo of yourself, what do you see? Do you generally like or dislike photos of yourself? Most people I know are not fond of seeing themselves in photos and it made me wonder why.  Is it the lens, the camera, the lighting? Then in a flash, the reason came to me. It is because what we see when we look at a photo of ourselves is a reverse image of what we are used to seeing in a mirror! Conversely, what you see when you look at yourself in the mirror is the reverse of what other people see when they look at you. The part in the hair is on the right rather than the left. The corner of the mouth that turns up slightly more when you smile is on the opposite side. Your (very slightly) crooked nose has the reverse bend. All of these things make for what many consider awful portraits. 

The next time you have a photo of yourself that you do not like try this. Hold it up to a mirror and look at it in reverse! Does it look more like you...to you? It probably does. I suppose you could reverse the image in a photo manipulation program like Photoshop (http://www.photoshop.com) but then it would look odd to others that are used to seeing you the other way around.

Most of us see ourselves for a relatively small amount of time in a 24 hour period. I mean, how long does it take to shave, brush your teeth, comb your hair and if you are a woman, put on makeup? Even if you add the few minutes here and there throughout the day that we "freshen up" it still adds up to a small portion of a day.

So unless you are extremely narcissistic and spend a lot of time in front of a mirror, your friends and family actually see you more than you see yourself. The best thing to do is to trust your loved ones when they compliment a picture of you.