Photos eat my soul

You could call me unphotogenic, you could call me shy, or you could just say that I really freaking hate having my photo taken. I've hated cameras for most of my life, I attribute that to the ridiculously long awkward phase I had growing up. Sometime between 4th and 5th grade, I got ugly, and it didn't stop until after high school graduation. It was an unfortunate time for me, and thankfully, all evidence of my previous medusa-face years are locked away.

It didn't occur to me until a few months into the planning that I was going to have to have photos taken. It was nerve-wrecking. I didn't want to smile, or have photos of me looking wistful and in love. Honestly, the best photos of me are candid shots with my fingers in my nose or drooling. Mr. GB would mock me, laughing that there would soon be proof that I was alive. So when booking a photographer, I had very important criteria: to have as few posed photos as possible.

I'm paranoid of parents and family pressuring me to take a billion photos by a tree, trying to look my best in a fake smile. Taking the same photo over and over because they didn't know if it was a good shot or not. That is my worst nightmare. So when we met with who would be our future photographer and he said, "If you want, when anyone else comes up to me to tell me to take a photo, I will tell then 'I don't do that'"

YES. This is what I wanted, someone who would ignore other when they wanted more posed photos, who would play bad guy so I didn't have to look like the raging camera-hating monster that I am. A sweet sigh of relief. He is actually a photo journalist and does mostly candid photos, all with real film. GASP! film-film? like the olden days? Sounds good to me! It doesn't hurt that he's really easy to talk to, comfortable, and seemingly an all around relaxed guy.

We booked him, anyone who could make me feel comfortable with the idea of having my photo taken, and also promised not to listen to people forcing me to pose was a winner. Oh yes, and his photos are also beautiful, just in case you thought I booked a terrible photographer that was going to cut my head off in every photo... hm, maybe that would have been better.