My new avatar...fact or fiction?

[Julia-Madrid]

I'm sure I'm not alone in having been bombarded all week by friends asking my opinion of Caitlyn Jenner and her photo shoot.

It got me thinking about how we all tend to distort the reality of how we present ourselves, and the Vanity Fair cover photo is a supremely relevant example of highly stylised fashion photography which does this.  I don't know how many of you girls have actually been somewhat affected by how brilliant Jenner looks in this photo - I was.   A month ago Jenner was just a slightly effeminate biggish guy during the Diane Sawyer interview; and now she's a 40-something bombshell.  (And I thought I was doing well...) 

Then I realised how artfully all of this has been contrived - by a skilled photographer, excellent makeup and wigs, a corset to provide a figure, and positioning of the body for optimal effect, all finished off with some excellent photoshop work.    In other words, a regular image of a cover model from anywhere. 

On this site, I started out with a cartoon avatar, and then became a badly-wigged woman as I advanced.  As soon as I could jetisson the wig and show who I really was, I did so.   And today, for a time at least, I'll show myself in a modest fashion shoot from last year, bewigged and lightly photoshopped. 

Let me say this: when I put my avatar photo on Facebook yesterday, I was bombarded with comments from stunned friends, and even my mother.  This is despite a number of pretty, natural, pictures I've put up there of myself in the past months.

Conclusion:  ir(reality) exists in our heads.

x
J

[awilliams1701]

I think you look great in your avatar pic.

[Jacqueline]

Julia

You could not put the description more accurately. Not to take away from Caitlyn. It has been quite a journey for her I am sure.

However, on the way in to work my wife said a couple things about that photo that you noticed as well. Annie Leibovitz is no fluke. She knows hers way around an image or two. Positioning, make-up, choice of outfit, hair all quite amazingly put together. Then my wife said, "Of course having the money allows one to look very good, much more easily. If I had a million dollars, I could look pretty great too." Then she moved on to a discussion a pastor had about her sister who had plastic surgery(and the pastor seemed a little envious). So, yay for Caitlyn looking so good and toughing it out this far and yay for Annie making a great avatar.  It is encouraging.

awilliams is right though. You look pretty awesome in your avatar. I would wish I could look as well but all things considered, I may not move beyond my webcomic avatar.

With warmth,

Joanna

[stephaniec]

I think you look great in your avatar pic.

ditto

[Emily R]

Julia,

You have not "distorted the reality of how you present yourself"!  You look like a very good looking young woman, which is what you are!!!

Years ago I remember on an afternoon TV show, I think it was Sally Raphael or something like that, there was a a well known, but not famous, makeup artist and he had a male model, the guy was in his late 20's but normal looking guy, one more in the crowd, he went to work applying makeup and a wig and after about 20 minutes, the model became a gorgeous looking woman from the head up. It was amazing and I was envious which which is why I remember.

I saw the commercial for Caitlyn's upcoming show on E! and her face looks very rough, not any different than the ABC interview, its all of the exposure to the sun while training.

If any one of us had the opportunity to have the right makeup, clothing, fitting, and specially photographer most of us would look at least as good if not better than Caitlyn, maybe with the exception of ME....

Abrazos,

Emily

[Emily R]

BTW, the corset is from a company called trashy dot com and it sell for $200.  It appears to be more of a costume for the boudoir and not a real corset.

Emily

[Julia-Madrid]

Julia,

You have not "distorted the reality of how you present yourself"!  You look like a very good looking young woman, which is what you are!!!

Hey Emily, well, your're half right and half...not right    I  put up this photo because it represents such an artificial reality of what I really look like.  Maybe it would be good main photo for a dating site, but the poor guys meeting me would be enormously disappointed by the reality.  And not because I look bad in real life, but because the manipulations of the image have made me look impossibly good.

Hugs
Juia

[Marly]

Hey Emily, well, your're half right and half...not right    I  put up this photo because it represents such an artificial reality of what I really look like.  Maybe it would be good main photo for a dating site, but the poor guys meeting me would be enormously disappointed by the reality.  And not because I look bad in real life, but because the manipulations of the image have made me look impossibly good.

Hugs
Juia

well Julia, there's nothin wrong with done-up, glamorous and photoshopped pictures. it just depends on the representation you want. Galleries are a good way to show other representations and even more "upped" ones.
My avatar? lol..well I did think for a second about photoshopping it. But my focus here is to really be who I am at this moment. So I didn't do anything to the picture besides cropping out unneeded background. But eventually I may have a few "upped" pics in my gallery shots. If one turns out to be super, I may, at some point, reset it as my avatar. Even honest supermodels would say "I don't normally look like all this" You've got a great looking avatar, and if that's what you want...to put your best foot forward graphically... then rock it girl