Photos of Me, and the Dilemma of the Forced Smile

At work, a lot of the management was asked to have their photos taken for inclusion in an upcoming PR book about our company. Ben was kind enough to serve as photographer, and snapped photos of everyone.

Here’s me, smiling a bit for the camera.

I should point out that I have a hard time holding a smile for long. If it’s not genuine, my muscles tend to relax and my smile drops.

If I try to fake a smile, it’s as though my face can sense it… and immediately it starts to droop. I can usually tell this is happening, and my impulse is to try to “push up” the smile so that it doesn’t sag as much.

This is usually the result.

And to further prove my point, check these out:

Me forcing a smile with Billy Collins.
Me forcing a smile with Lucille Clifton.

Every freaking time! I’ve learned to not try to force a smile anymore, unless I want more photos of me looking like I’ve got a mouthful of peanut butter.

You can see a lot more of Ben’s photos on his Flickr stream.