# Hate having photos taken



## Tromboness (Feb 25, 2008)

Ever since I can remember I've always hated having my photo taken. Whenever I see someone with a camera I always avoid where the cameras pointing and I try and hide at the back for group photos. Only problem is I'm quite small so get pushed to the front all the time! I've no idea why I hate it so much. Thought it might be something to do with having SA. :stu


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## Ken_Noddy (Jan 31, 2008)

Tromboness said:


> Ever since I can remember I've always hated having my photo taken. Whenever I see someone with a camera I always avoid where the cameras pointing and I try and hide at the back for group photos. Only problem is I'm quite small so get pushed to the front all the time! I've no idea why I hate it so much. Thought it might be something to do with having SA. :stu


Yeah, I'm the same, I don't like having my photo taken as I feel everyone will laugh at how I look. It is strange, most of the time when I see myself in a mirror I think I look okay but if I happen to see a photo of myself I look completely different, horribly different. I reckon it is because in a mirror you see your back to front reflection which isn't the 'real' you.


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## nothing to fear (Mar 23, 2005)

yup, same here. if i see a camera i purposely position myself in the room where i know i won't be in the picture. i absolutely hate having pictures of myself. i cringe and i feel like ripping it up whenever i see one. sometimes family members are aware of that and try to get a picture of myself. if someone asks me then i always refuse, which kind of comes off as being a bit rude. whenever i do have to be in pictures for some reason i can't even look directly in the camera and i have to force a smile. ugh, i hate it.


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## njodis (Nov 8, 2006)

Yup.


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## IllusionOfHappiness (Sep 6, 2007)

Unless I'm the one taking the picture, chances are it's going to turn out horrible. So yeah, I really hate it when people are all like, "smile!!!". No, **** off pls.


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## Just Lurking (Feb 8, 2007)

Not so long ago I could've been the one to make these posts. I used to hate it too. Now, I don't mind so much.

I got a digital camera of my own and, through a series of family get-togethers, have since learned my "camera smile". Now I get a camera pointed at me, I paste the "smile" on my face, and that's that.

I think you just need to figure out your own camera smile. Just about everyone should already have a good picture of themselves that they like. What's your pose in it? What's your smile? Practice in a mirror and duplicate it. Then remember it for next time you have a camera in your face. If you think you'll look at least OK, it should help alleviate some of that camera-hate.

And I may be one of those people saying "smile!!!" to you. That's because I've also learned to take pictures. They are permanent. People are not. Embrace the camera!


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## Polar (Dec 16, 2006)

I hate it too. Being behind the camera is much more fun.


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## mooncake (Jan 29, 2008)

Same. I struggle greatly with accepting the way I look. So, when I'm finally feeling as though I'm overcoming the hatred of my appearance, only to have a camera shoved in my face, I'm quickly brought back down to feeling low about myself again. I can semi-cope with mirrors now but photographs are a whole different story... it's difficult to believe that the images I see in the mirror and in photos of myself can look so strangely and grotesquely different.

I went to a party not long ago and felt I was doing pretty okay, anxiety levels were fairly low etc. Then, joy of joys, the cameras came out and people were taking scores of pictures without giving me a chance to get away. That really put a downer on the night for me, as silly as it sounds. The only time I can even start to feel comfortable in my own skin is when I begin to forget how I must look... I know that's topsy-turvy and I should be trying to accept myself the way I am. But to be honest, I don't want to. And so seeing 'proof' of my appearance only serves to bring me back down to earth with a bump because I'm being hit with the reality that I put so much effort into trying to avoid.

Truthfully, I think it's the incongruence between how I actually look and how I often feel I should look/would like to look (and by that, I don't mean model-like or anything, just a version of myself minus my scarring and the odd tweaks here and there) that causes the brunt of my social anxiety.


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## Mc Borg (Jan 4, 2008)

That's why I was always absent when we took school pictures. I'm only in my 7th grade year book.


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