Brazen naturalness

Alice Bachini-Smith, a longtime friend of Jack & Hill, joins us as a guest blogger today. Welcome, Alice!

One of the many things I hate about the internet is blogs with a picture of a big grinning ninny in a corporate suit on the top. Glistening helmet-hair and blinding Hollywood Grand-Canyon grins really are outdated now. The only people who should look like newsreaders in 2008 are newsreaders, and possibly not even them. So when you need a portrait for your résumé or profile, please do not pay someone to photoshop away your entire personality- the idea of a potrait is, and always has been, to look impressive, cool and nice. Not lobotomised.

I am a huge fan of the Brazen Careerist blog by Penelope Trunk. The way Penelope puts opposites together and gets away with it while still running a business is dazzling, and makes me wish I'd watched her beach volleyball skills in action, back in the day. Divorce and entrepreneurism, sex and investors, farming and fear- in Penelope's hands, all these things are related. She could probably divine career advice from your grandmother's freshly-knitted dishcloth if she wanted to. The woman has chutzpah!

So I was thrilled to see some new lovely, real and gorgeous Penelope pictures on her blog, ones which do true justice to the personality of the writing. And it's no surprise to learn that the Yahoo company and photoshopping were both involved with the traditional, more dentally-oriented one we are more used to seeing, on the header.

Here we have the old Penelope on the left and the new Penelope on the right. One is terrifyingly pale, and the other is either nonchalantly bored by the tedious elegance of the whole media hoo-hah or thinking about sex. And I think we all know which looks most utterly fabulous.

Of course, Penelope's new pics are a highly professional job. But in these digital days, you don't need a 4-hour studion session to come up with a good portrait. Good light, an outfit you love and a friend with an eye for photography can achieve more than the professionals you can't afford. This is something that is really worth spending a bit of time on, especially if, like me, nearly all the pictures you have of yourself were taken by a cross-eyed husband.

Comments

[Jacq]

Both photos are very nice, but I agree - the more natural one is the best by miles. And I think one of the reasons is that Penelope's skin looks both real and gorgeous, instead of the hyper-retouched skin the the smiling photo.

I have noticed a great improvement in the quality of photos of me, since the advent of digital cameras. I am a ruthless editor of shots and love my delete button!

[Nancy Rommelmann]

She looks ten years younger on the right.