In the Photos of Family on Desk thread, it was mentioned that having photos of yourself, just yourself, not you and a friend or you and your family, was narcisistic or “creepy”.
I, personally, agree. I have perhaps one photo with only myself in it, on top of a mountain leaning against the elevation sign, and it’s not displayed, it’s just in my photo album. It records a (very minor) accomplishment and I like to remember that date.
On television shows, crime shows especially, there’s plot points that center around photographs and frequently there’s head shots of the, usually, deceased. It’s not about the place the person was in, recording some event, it’s the kind of photo you’d keep of your wife or kids on your desk. Just a head in a frame so you can see how pretty you are.
So - do you do this, have pictures of just yourself being beautiful? If so, why? If not, do you, like me, find this narcisistic or creepy?
I have a picture of myself in my Navy dress blues at 19, standing in front of an American flag.
This picture is on my office bookshelf, next to two photographs of the Nimitz (one of the hanger bay and one of an F-14 coming in).
Of course, I do have a nice picture of my wife on my desk and an 8x10 picture of Stonehenge on the bookshelf as well.
I wouldn’t consider it - too creepy, and I’m nothing much to look at anyway.
But I hear William M. Gaines kept on his desk a pair of photos, of Fatty Arbuckle and that poor young acress he is said to have killed with a coke bottle. He would tell people they were his parents.
I have a friend who keeps a framed photo of himself and his wife over their mantle. This photo is updated regularly. And I never can figure out what the point is, exactly.
“If you’ve broken into this house and are stealing our stuff: this is who you’re robbing!”
A friend of mine is a Photoshop™ genius, and once morphed my head from my high school graduation picture onto the body of a bodybuilder. It was good enough to put on my desk. I was in my late 40s at the time, about 50 pounds overweight, pasty and stooped from working in a call center. It looked great!
But creepy, yeah, definitely creepy. I didn’t keep it around long.
My wife insists that we keep a framed 8X10 portrait of ourselves displayed at all times. I’m of the same mind as **KneadToKnow ** – what the hell is the point!? I think maybe Razorette hopes that, by seeing a photo of my fat self every day, I’ll stop eating three-cheese-and-chocolate-chip pizza. Fat chance!
I have large eyes. MY BIL took sent me a picture of myself where he’d photo-shopped the eyes to look like this. I thought it was hilarious. It was tacked to the board behind my desk for a while.
But a serious picture of me alone? Nah. I know what I look like.
I have a really cool picture from back in college. My friend (hot friend) was taking a photography course, and had me model for her. At 22 I was in my prime, lean, and buff as can be because my course load left me with a lot of extra time to work out. Oh, yeah, she made me look like a Calven Klein ad. I’m too sexy! Look. At. Me!.. Except my head isn’t in the picture. You can’t tell it’s me.
I’ve thought about displaying it, but people would wonder why I have a sexy picture of a man’s bod in my living room (not that there’s anything wrong with that!) and explaining that “It’s me! It’s me!” seems even more awkward. To be honest, it really does look like one of those beefacake pictures you see on posters in the Village. I’m not even sure where it is anymore.
P.S. And I’m so NOT in that kind of shape anymore. :: sigh ::
My desktop wallpaper is a really nice photo of me from one of my last snowcamping trips. It was a ton of fun, it’s a nice pic and it reminds me of a good time. This replaced the previous pic of me & my (now ex) G/F.
Also a framed shot of me hanging from the wing of an inverted biplane at the WFFC many years ago. It’s just a cool photo, tucked away towards the back of my office.
I don’t think it’s creepy or narcissistic, just fun photos I happen to like.
In my home office I have a framed snapshot of me kissing my husband outside the door of our first home, right after our wedding in 1980. The picture was taken by my brother, who is now deceased, and my sentimental attachment to it is considerable. My husband and I look absurdly young and happy, and I miss my brother.
I also have a framed snapshot of my dad holding me when I was a toddler. Although I had some really rough times with my father in later years, this picture strikes a chord, and looking at it gives me a warm, happy feeling.
A photo of myself would be of a particular event I enjoyed remembering. So in itself not creepy in my view, unless one was trying too hard to look purty rather than record an event.
Its kind of cancelled out in my case by having trauma from being photographed every 10 seconds for the first 5 years of my life, so I dont particularly like seeing pictures of myself. Being the first born son of a photographer can do that to you.
I don’t have a desk at an office, but I have some photos of myself in my home. My husband and I have several pictures together, including two wedding collage type thingies. And there are some sexy pics of me in our bedroom. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it if you have some nice photos you are proud of.
We have wedding pictures and family pics ‘n’ stuff at home, but the ones that really get me are (usually) single guys in decent shape with a picture of themselves rock climbing/para sailing/kayaking, etc. Pathetic cries for attention, I feel.
“Hey everyone! Look at me! I do dangerous things because I’m cool! Slow down and I’ll tell you all about me! Look! It’s me!”
A prominently displayed picture of yourself is kind of sad.
I have 3 solo pictures of myself- both are in neat frames that hold several pictures (one is a collage, the other is a box where the frames are on a track so you can slide them and change the photos).
Anyway… one is of me as a kid- maybe 4 or 5, that my dad took. I’m on the swingset out back, not looking at the camera (I doubt I knew I was being photographed). It’s a great composition and generally just a great photo, and I threw it in the collage frame because I needed a photo that size and orientation to fit in the frame. However, I like it so much because I have gigantic platinum Shirley-Temple-ringlet hair. I mean, that’s the way my hair always was but it is particularly large in this picture so I think it’s funny.
The other I took of myself as a teenager when my dad let me play around with his ridiculously expensive cameras. It’s an artsy-fartsy B&W shot of me looking away from the camera that I took using a tripod and timer. It too is a good pic, but the only reason it’s me and not someone else is that I was too embarassed to ask someone else to be my subject.
The last one I just remembered is a pic of me sitting on a rock in the middle of a river from a vacation in the mountains. I am dwarfed by the majesty of the scenery so it’s almost like I’m not there.
Damnit, I just remembered another one from that collage frame. It’s an adorable picture of my cat sitting on my shoulder. My eyes are closed because of the wind and my hair is blowing all over. That’s another “I didn’t know I was being photographed.” It’s the only good shot of my cat’s (different cat- no corpse on my shoulder) Viking funeral, which of course took place at night. Somehow the idea of cremating my cat on a giant floating funeral pyre seemed the sort of thing you don’t want to call attention to.
So maybe I am narcisistic. These are all small photos in collage frames so it’s not like a prominently displayed 8x10 GlamourShot. I do have other pics with me in it, but they include family and/or friends as well so that’s not creepy, right?
