Thanks for all the well wishes everyone. This has been a long day. I had to fly to Baltimore today for a meeting tomorrow, so I had to pack for my trip and leave straight from the photo shoot. My morning started very early with me, not by choice, reverting to what seemed like elementary school. I started to get dressed and my wife comes in and says, "You're gonna wear that?!?!". Ok, whats wrong with this, I've worn it to work many times before? "But I like this shirt". She proceeds to lay out my entire outfit and tells me this will look good. And all this time, I thought is was me and not the clothes that made me look decent. oh well, reality hurts...
I met up with the three other people in our lobby that were schedule to be photograghed waiting for the vans to take us to the photographer. Understand our dress code is business casual. While we were waiting, there were about 12 other people dressed up in suits. I thought, uh-oh, maybe I over looked an email that said wear a suit. Turns out they were employees from our HR and pubic affairs group that were asked to participate in the photo as extras.
We ended up at this warehouse in downtown Houston, where the photographer has each one of the four of us stand in the middle looking up with a company hard hat on with the extras all around us but facing the opposite direction. When we weren't the one in the middle, we also turned around and participated as extras. The person in the middle was focused and bright, everyone else was darker and not as focused. The photographer was up about 25-30ft and shooting down on the scene. He took about 50 shots each with each one of us in the middle. All morning, I was practicing my smile to try to get the most normal smile possible. It was my turn now. I never made mention of my condition and the photogragher had no idea. But he kept saying, "Ok smile", "Bigger", "Say YES!!!", "look happy", "SMILE!!!"... It took all I had to refrain from saying, I am smiling.
That's all you're gonna get unless you want a severely crooked smile. After it was all said and done, my company will look at all the photos and select the best one for the cover. Kinda like the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, but no where near as glamorous.
I thought about it and realized that the chances of me being the one on the cover as the person in the middle is pretty slim. One guy out of the four of us was just much more photogenic and just fit the mold. I think he is a natural and will be most likely be selected as the cover shot. He's a very good friend of mine and use to work for me. He deserves it. I would be proud to see him on the cover because he exemplifies all the good things that makes our company "the company of choice"....it's people.
It was an interesting experience and am thankful for even being asked, even if they don't pick my photo. Who knows, regardless of which photo they pick, I am positive your gonna see my back and the back of my head as one of the people turned away. Heck you may even see my retrosig scar if you look hard enough.
I had alittle time afterwards before my flight to Baltimore, so I stopped by the house to say bye to my wife. She askes me, "How was the photo shoot?" and then it happens. I reverted back to what can only be described as a 2nd grader coming home after school photo day. My wife hugs me and says "even if they don't pick your photo as the cover, you're still beautiful to me honey..."
yep, that's why I love her... that's why I married her... she loves me for who I am.
