The profile photo: This photo is 16 months old. It was taken at my Aunt's engagement party, i've cropped my cousins to my left out. It remains my profile photo because i like it. My face is clear of blemishes, i look happy and relaxed.
The cover photo: This photo was taken during the winter break while road tripping in New Zealand. Where my other cover photos have featured US monuments while on exchange there, or of The Great Hall set up in exam mode many decades ago while i was studying for my exams, this photo is just fun. I chose it to be my cover photo because its fun and happy.
The album cover photo: This is the only photo i haven't selected, it's been selected for me (ie. the most recently added photo of me). The photo is of a few pieces of furniture - odd? Very. But what very few people could be able to tell from the photo is of the story behind it. When i was packing up my apartment last year upon nearing the end of my semester exchange in North Carolina, i gave my housemate my black lamp. Boring right? This photo, however, is of my housemate's new apartment and she's tagged me to show that she's still using my lamp. Yay!
So they're the 3 photos people come across when they look at my Facebook profile. Are they representative of me? Sort of. They show that i've been travelling - a Giant Kiwifruit one could assume is a tourist attraction. My profile photo shows a happy and relaxed self. Is that me? Currently no. At the moment i'm tired, stressed and my skin's not terribly clear. Why haven't i taken a photo of myself of that? Because i don't want people to see me like that, or think of me as grumbling. I don't want to grumble, although tired and stressed i know it will soon pass and why drag down the mood of an online identity that shows me happy and enjoying myself.
But I wonder why we do this? Why do we only choose the pretty photos of us, the one's we show us as happy. I know you asked this Anna in your post. I wonder if this is something we should explore? On what grounds do we choose our profile photos? Perhaps how do we construct our online selves in relations to photos? I'm sure this can be put together in nicer words, but it's a good question.
I guess online media has given everyone a chance to pick and choose their "prized" moments- as translated into a facebook profile pic- and try to pass that off as the big picture, or the whole story. So the bad can be filtered out and make way only for the happy.... but why? Still trying to figure that out...
ReplyDeleteWill look at this idea more through my iPhoto journey, Nicola, and hopefully answer this question for you! :)
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