Do You Hate Having Your Photograph Taken?

[brandyrose]

Why?

Why does having your photograph taken make you feel like that -what do you think it is that makes you like that?

I'm really intrigued especially as I find that people who dont want their photograph taken are often amazing characters.

(Some amazing people are missing off photos and I think its sad) I accept sometimes cameras are intrusive and they are a kind of gun!

Would love to hear your thoughts.

[FredPuli43]

So long as it's not me in a school photograph, with a circle round me, and in a tabloid, I don't mind any photograph appearing.

[brandyrose]

Fred - thanks, all is not lost 2 so far who dont mind having their photograph taken and 1 is fine with it when drunk.

[Slapshot]

Not everyone has a fisheye lens to get me all in.... ;0)

Seriously, I hate being in front of a camera, probably why I got into photography in a big way to start with, more difficult to get someone behind a camera

[Sir Alec]

I too hide from cameras and avoid mirrors. I've been told how ugly I am since being a child and developed dysmorphia.

[mibn2cweus]

I can't figure out for the life of me what it is about me and cameras that whenever someone takes a picture of me I'm invariably doing something incredibly stupid! :o/

[mikey4444]

I'm not very keen to have my photo taken at all, as the resultant photos make me look old and fat and none too pretty. I had no choice recently though as I needed one for my new Bus Pass. I now look like one the Great Train Robbers and I am frightened to go out lest I feel the long arm of the law on my shoulder !

[smoneybags]

I object to having my photo taken for two reasons, the first is that if the flash goes in my eyes it can trigger a migraine, the second is that I don't like having a camera thrust in my face. I think people should ask first if they want to take a photo.

[RATTER15]

I don't mind having my photo taken but I cannot abide the sound of my recorded voice on video etc, if I know there is a camcorder running I keep very quiet.

[boxtops]

I don't mind having my photo taken, but I don't like to see what I look like most of the time :-)

and me too, ratter, my spoken voice seems still to have a dreadful Surrey dipthong, despite living all over the country. I hate my voicemail messages, they sound dreary and as if I've got loose false teeth.

[RATTER15]

Boxy, this may help ;-)
http://compare.ebay.co.uk/like/161030591744?var=gv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar&_lwgsi=y&;cbt=y&device=c&adtype=pla&crdt=0&;ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=65

[boxtops]

Ratter :-)

[Oneeyedvic]

Most people don't like having their photos taken as most people take bad photos.

Photography is an art form and is a technical as well as artistic subject. Most people (after I have taken a photo in our studio) seem surprised that they look good. That is because a professional photographer will know how to pose someone well, elicit smiles and adjust the lighting to suit people.

[David H]

I find it a sign of paranoia, and the videos of my late family bring them back to life every time I watch them. People sometimes have a go at me for taking photos of their houses as well, as if when someone takes them they suddenly become visible to others as well. I'd say it's a psychological problem myself and I am qualified to say so.

[andy-hughes]

The reason why most people don't like having their photo taken is because they don't like to see themselves in photos.

If you look in a mirror, it is simple and subconcious action to zero in on the part of your face that you dislike the least, and ignore the remainder.

In a photograph, that is not possible, and the image that you see is rarely the image you like to have of yourself - ergo, a dislike of photos leads to a dislike of them being taken.

For some reason, I am missing the 'zero in' reflex, and can be genuinely startled by my own reflection, and see myself exactly as other see me, which of course I am not especially happy about.

As long as there are ladies who see men for what they are, and not what they look like, (God bless the present Mrs Hughes!) men like me will get by, but I yearn on a daily basis to be a handsome man.

[arwyn]

I'm so ugly I can never understand why anyone wants a photograph of me anyway.. Shoo Shoo away with you and your bl00dy camera :)

[brandyrose]

I bet none of you are as ugly as you think. Unconventional looks can be very attractive. Anyway I'd probably think you look great ...(even if you think you dont). Thanks all.