{"id":3960,"date":"2013-10-20T08:00:39","date_gmt":"2013-10-20T07:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/janetgover.com\/?p=3960"},"modified":"2013-10-20T08:00:39","modified_gmt":"2013-10-20T07:00:39","slug":"the-dreaded-author-photo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/writing\/the-dreaded-author-photo\/","title":{"rendered":"The dreaded Author Photo"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"This<\/a>
This is the sort of photo I usually have – me at Glastonbury Festival.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

I am sure I am not alone in hating the words \u2018author photo\u2019.<\/p>\n

We all need them \u2013 for our websites and blogs and other promo work \u2013 and to put in our books.<\/p>\n

The problem is, these photos never go away. They stay out there forever.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s just horrible hearing a whisper from the audience during an appearance –\u00a0 \u201cShe looks NOTHING like her photo!\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

With this in mind (and remembering my last author photos were done in 2009), I decided it was time to grit my teeth and face the lens again.<\/p>\n

Getting ready for the shoot involved trying on every item of clothing in my wardrobe to decide what to take\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Luckily<\/a>
Luckily I had an episode of Strictly to watch as I did this load.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And then it all had to be ironed.<\/p>\n

There were accessories to consider as well \u2013 but not shoes. This was to be a head and shoulders shot only.<\/p>\n

I duly presented myself for sentence \u2026 sorry \u2026 for photographing by the wonderfully talented Marte Lundby Rekaa<\/a>.\u00a0 Marte takes photos for RNA events, so we already knew each other. That helped a lot.<\/p>\n

We did the shoot in Marte\u2019s office cum small studio. I liked that \u2013 big studios can be a tad intimidating.<\/p>\n

\"Marte<\/a>
Marte was full of good ideas – like using a textured rug for a backdrop.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She was incredible patient \u2013 making me laugh…\u00a0lying though her teeth by saying a shot or pose was gorgeous.<\/p>\n

The shoot was scheduled for an hour, but it ran over \u2013 due to my nervousness and Marte\u2019s generosity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The next day \u2013 there was a web galley of \u2013 wait for it \u2013 348 photos for me to select from.<\/p>\n

That was almost as tough as the shoot itself.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Somewhere<\/a>
Somewhere there HAD to be a shot where I didn’t look like me – that is to say, where I looked good.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I am the world\u2019s most un-photogenic person \u2013 and traditionally hate any and all photos of me.<\/p>\n

But this time \u2013 well.. let\u2019s just say I am not too afraid to have this photo out there\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Thanks<\/a>
Thanks Marte – great job.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"My<\/a>
My shot of Marte is not nearly as great as her shots of me.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  I am sure I am not alone in hating the words \u2018author photo\u2019. We all need them \u2013 for our websites and blogs and other promo work \u2013 and to put…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3960\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}