So, here is a question, what crazy senior picture idea have you ever had, heard, seen, etc?

Please add to the comments below. As always, let’s keep the comments clean so everyone feels free to participate.

So the two nuns set about their task. They take their time. They put down tarps to protect the floor, masked the woodwork, and are careful not to get paint on their clothes.

About mid-morning Mother Superior stopped to see how they were doing. She praises the fine job they’re doing, but she sees they are never going to finish at their current rate, so she tells them, “There is a blind man coming. Feel free to have him help however he can.”

After mother superior left, the younger nun says to the other, “You know, if we took off all of our clothes, we could paint much faster and we wouldn’t get paint on our clothes.”

Appalled, the other exclaims, “But what if someone sees us.”

The younger one assures her that they will lock the door and that the blind man wouldn’t possibly care…or even know. With this reassurance, the other nun agrees. They remove their clothes, place them in a plastic bag, and resume their painting….albeit at a much more careless pace.

Around noon, there is a knock at the door. The younger nun goes to the door and asks, “Are you the blind man.”

A man’s voice on the other side says, “Yes,” so she opens the door to let him in.

The man looks her up and down and says, “Nice legs, sister, where would you like the blinds?”

What First Impression Are You Giving

You have to agree, that nun made quite the first impression on the blind man, but probably not the one she wanted. You may be exposing yourself in other ways that you, with a little thought, may find just as embarrassing. People make bad impressions online or at presentations without a second thought.

You’ve probably seen them too: someone needs a photo of themselves for a presentation or a social media site, and they invariably seem grab one from a beer party, day at the beach, or just rolling out of bed. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a guy using a perp-walk photo for their social media profile. But if you consider that people make lasting impressions of people they meet within the first two seconds, it can be embarrassing when looking back.

Maybe they think they can get around it by using a cute picture of their pet dog/cat/hamster/gila monster. Or their child. Or favorite cartoon/comic strip character. They think that it represents them better…it shows their personality. It probably does say a lot. But is that the message they want?

Another option I see people take, is just not putting up a photo at all. I would guess for the presentation, this is passable, but I don’t think it works well for social media sites. On LinkedIn, profiles with photos are more often viewed than profiles with no photos. People like pictures of people, and in the social media world this is critical when trying to make a good impression.

Is that shallow? Yes. Is it unfair? Yes. Is that the way it is? Yes. We can’t make the rules, so the best we can do is do the best with can with them.

I’ve been guilty of it bad decision making when it comes to photos on my profile. I’ve had photos of me in a Guinness T-shirt, holding a 40oz steak at a birthday party, and using the default avatar image on social networks for way too long.

I’m not suggesting you remove all the photos from the family BBQ from your Facebook galleries. I’m not suggesting you not be proud of your kids or pet or family. I am suggesting that thinking about that first impression people get of you from your profile photo.

Good News and Suggestions

I have been noticing a trend though of people putting more thought into the photos they use for their online profiles. In the last several months, the majority of the photo sessions I have had are for clients that need images for their profiles. Usually it is for LinkedIn, but they use them for Facebook and Twitter, too.

Here are a couple suggestions I think help make a good social media profile picture.

• Smile. You don’t have to have $10,000 worth of dental work or even show your teeth, but any smile looks better than looking like you’re being tortured.
• Look at the camera. Typically, in a social setting, people that don’t look at others can seem shifty or untrustworthy…generally, not good traits.
• Use head and shoulder shot. Profile photos tend to be pretty small, so maximize your real estate. Going full length doesn’t give anyone a good idea what you look like; too close crowds a person’s virtual personal space.
• Dress up versus down. If you’ve ever been to a party where everyone is dressed up while you’re not, you know how uncomfortable that can be. No one will fault you for doing the opposite (with maybe the exception of a tux or ballroom gown, but even that can work).

First Impression Are Often Non-Fatal

Certainly the nun in the opening story, suffered a bit of embarrassment, and a bad first impressions can sometimes be changed over time. I’ve only heard of one story where first impressions proved fatal.

There was a group of politicians traveling in a bus in rural America. On a very sharp curve, the driver lost control and went off the road. Someone dialed 911, but when the state policeman got the site of the accident, he found no bus. Seeing a local farmer working in his field, he walked across the field and asked, “Did you see a bus full of politicians go off the road up there?”

The farmer replied, “I sure did.”

“What happened to it,” asked the officer.

“I buried it,” the farmer replied.

The cop asked, “What?! Was everyone dead?”

The farmer simply replied, “Well, some said they weren’t, but you know how they lie.”

Now, go change your profile image.

As always, comments to this post are welcome.

References:

The Art of Online Portraiture: Wall Street Journal

Even If You’re Not a Fan Of New Year’s Resolutions, Resolve To Become More Social Media Savvy in 2012!: Jenkinson & Associates

Want to Know How to Make a Difference to Your Personal Online Marketing?: University of Minnesota

Teri Petrzalek, Architect

Morning Star Studio does commercial architecture, interior design and structural engineering. Banks, retail businesses, governments, healthcare companies and other industries make up some of their past clients. Because of their size clients have the advantage of working directly with the person doing the work. Morning Star Studio is located at 600 3rd Street SE, Studio 201 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa (319.362.5484).

Teri and Shanna are an architect and structural engineering team and were great to work with. They plan on using the images for not only their website, but for other promotional materials, too. The thing I’m most happy about the photos is that you get a sense of who Teri and Shanna are.

Shanna Duggan, Structural Engineer

If you need professional environmental portraits of your or your staff that give you more than just a plain headshot or that look more sophisticated that what you might get at a police booking room, give me a call.

Best of luck with the new book, Chicoro.

You can check the book out on Barnes and Nobel.

The Times article starts off about Maeling Tapp and her journey to grow her hair long in a natural way. It talks about several others that have been developing a cottage industry to help women with Afro-textured hair grow it long and healthy.

The book is the first in a series by Chicoro. I actually got to see the cover of the next book, which should be out in the next couple of weeks. I was honored to be able to shoot the photo for the cover of that book, too. Chicoro has been wonderful to work with. She is very gracious with her thoughts and her insights and passion are truly inspiring.

The main emphasis was on High School seniors, but we covered the latest in digital techniques and fine art photography, too.

An added bonus was that Lew Everling was in the class so we got a lot of exposure to social networking and the commercial work he does. If you’re not familiar with Lew, you should check out out on twitter.

The deadline is next Saturday, so you better get out to the senior picture survey now to win.

Of course you can also increase your chances to win by tweeting this post, liking it Facebook or leaving a comment. Imagine that quadrupling your chances with almost no work. How sweet is that?!

Welcome Angela!

First, we must start at the foundation of ones beauty: healthy skin.  I truly believe everyone needs a good skin care regimen.  This includes, but is not limited to, a cleanser geared towards your specific skin type: dry, oily or combination.  An exfoliant, whether a physical exfoliant (with granules) or a chemical exfoliant; a good eye cream and moisturizer.  One of the most important of these steps, which is often over-looked, and extremely important during the winter months and thereafter, is exfoliation! Dry winter air sucks the moisture from our skin leaving it dull and dry.  Most of us try to combat this by slathering on the moisturizer.  The problem with that is the dead, outer skin cells soak up all the great moisture and are left sitting there on the surface leaving your skin looking dull.  The trick is to first use an exfoliant to slough off the dead cells and then moisturize the fresh skin below.  You can use more aggressive exfoliants one or two times a week or a gental daily exfoliant.  Don’t forget to do this for your face, body and even lips.  You’ll be surprised with how your skin will glow!

My second secret for glowing skin this spring is a tint of tan.  I am definitely an advocate of the airbrush or spray tan.  It’s not damaging to your skin like conventional tanning and technology has much improved since this method of tanning first came out.  No longer do you have to fear being orange! Before you go, be sure to exfoliate, then just follow the directions from the tanning expert, when getting a machine version, such as a mystic tan.  You can also see a professional to get airbrushed as light and golden tan or dark and bronzed as you like.  Instant tan!

Now to focus on the face.  Rule number one: don’t neglect your eyebrows!  The first thing that people see when they look at your face is your eyes and right above those eyes are your brows.  I find that a lot of people really struggle with their brows, so I decided to talk just a little bit about them.  I’ve never met anyone with perfect brows that didn’t have to work at them a little.  Brow shaping is really an art and should be left to the professionals if at all possible.  If you have been blessed with thick full eyebrows, see an esthetician or pro waxing technician for a shaping and regular maintenance (no over-tweezing at home please!).  If yours are sparse or barely-there, you can have them tinted by a professional, but don’t go overboard…only one or two shades darker than your natural hair color.  If that seems a little scary, see an esthetician or pro make-up artist that can teach you how to fill your brows.  In most cases, all you need is an angled brush and the correct shade of eyeshadow. It just takes a minute to do, but will make a huge difference in your overall look.  You will be amazed with how your brows will frame your eyes and draw attention to them.

Spring will also bring fun new shades of eyeshadow to play up your eyes.  Blue eyes: try violets, purples and plums.  Brown-eyed girls should try bright blue or blue-green.  Experiment with touches of color, but don’t go too over-the-top.  Meaning don’t use the color from the lash-line to the brow bone and mix in some neutral shades like creams, browns, golds or grays.  Also, choose a nude or soft pink lip color when playing up the eyes with bright or intense color.  Or, try the opposite, a sweep of soft gold on your lids and a pop of pink or fuchsia on your lips with just a touch of gloss on the center of the lips. You can finish your look with a hint of soft pink or peach blush and black mascara.  The trick is to have fun with your look and make it uniquely yours, these are only suggestions, there are no set rules with make-up!

Angela A. Penhollow
Professional Make-up Artist/Esthetician

On my quest for such self-education, I stumbled upon this little blog (Smarter Fashion and Beauty Blog). It is written by four women. The thing that appeals to me most is that they are from all over the US, so they all bring something different to the site.

• Tiffany is from the Seattle area and petite young woman with really long, dark hair.
• Sharon is a fashion editor from New York. She looks like she has an edgier, but very cool, style.
• Belinda is a California girl and is a self-proclaimed “Carrie Bradshaw fan.”
• Jenna hails from Michigan and looks to be a reader of the blog turned contributor. She write about fashion online and in a couple magazines.

So, if you’re looking for some beauty tips (or maybe know someone in need) go check it out. If you do, I’d really love to read your reaction in the comments below.

The talent of the kids was just incredible. There was no doubt they they really put a lot of time into their displays and really worked to make them good. There is a gallery of the image available here: science fair gallery. Feel free to share this article on your favorite social network site.

If you got the chance to stop and see the displays, I would love to hear your comments about what you thought of them.

I’m going to be giving things away all year, so if you follow me on Facebook and Twitter, you’ll be one of the first to know.

Here is the survey link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LQDLGQG.

Mark Stanek, The Angry Man

The talent of the contestants each year on American Idol always amazing me. Needless to say, I’m a fan. I recently found a blog that is pretty good. If you’re an American Idol fan, you may want to follow it. He picked nine of the top ten contestants when they were paring them down from 24. Pretty good. He has some pretty funny, present accurate insights. I recommend American Idol fans check it out.

I’d love to hear your comments if you check it out.