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Say (I’m not) Cheese!

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The moon has finally been given its closest close-up ever – a technicolor shot that shows all its ridges, pockmarks and wrinkles in startling detail.

The magazine Wired says the map was created with a camera that you could hold in the palm of your hand.   If your hand was orbiting the moon (along with the rest of you) by going round and round over the poles. Probably not worth the trouble, since being thrust into such an inhospitable situation would make the size of the camera in your hand the least amazing detail of your airless, murderously cold, suddenly off-planet world.

The different colors are an alarming feature of this shot. They depict elevation with the white sections being highest.  Altitude then descends through the red, orange, green and blue areas, all the way down to the lowest of the lowlands – shown in violet. I don’t mind it that the moon has different elevations, but to see it looking like a hippie’s tie dyed bandana is unsettling.

Standard moonly gray goes well with all the settings on Earth and with each outfit in every wardrobe. That’s why our “traditional” moon is welcome everywhere as a nightlight or a backdrop. The gaudy moon we see in these new photos clashes horribly with … everything. You have to wonder if we would feel differently about our moon if it really had this electric beach-ball look.

And that complexion – Oh My! It seems as though Mr. Moon has not been spared a single cosmetic trauma. It makes me happy to have an atmosphere!

Would you sit for a close-up portrait, knowing it would show every flaw?

71 thoughts on “Say (I’m not) Cheese!”

  1. Good morning to all. Posing for any kind of a portrait is a problem for me. I don’t mind having my picture taken. The problem I have is trying to smile. I think I’m smiling, but I’m not. I usually have some kind of a painful expression on my face. A close up would probably not be a good think because that painful look is bad enough from a distance and would be very scary up close.

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  2. Mornin’ baboons.
    The short answer is, NO. An emphatic NO! I’ve had enough horrible pictures taken of me to last a lifetime. I’m not photogenic, and have never figured out why that is. Whether I smile so you can see my teeth or with a closed mouth, makes no difference. Maybe its the eyes? Inevitably the camera captures that I’m not comfortable in front of it. To get a decent picture of me would be a challenge even to Oprah’s photo-shoot crew.

    That said, I actually find that picture of the moon both interesting and beautiful. I’ve never been particularly interested in astronomy and would be hard pressed to identify more than a few constellations in the night sky. The few times that I’ve been to a planetarium, I’ve managed to doze off in those reclining seats as soon as they dimmed the lights. Now if they could bring everything in the universe to life in that kind of color, I’d sit up and pay attention.

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    1. You might be surprised that folks looking at an up-close picture of you could find it to be interesting & beautiful as well, PJ! 🙂

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  5. OT 1 Linda in St. Paul (West Side): I salute your deductive skills. The three old ladies in the bathroom were doing watercolors. One is an excellent painter and was teaching the other two. I am suddenly reminded I used to know a song called “Oh, dear, what can the matter be, seven old ladies locked in a lavatory.”
    OT 2 For those who are following this: my daughter’s kidney donation has been postponed until after 1/1. One of the five recipients cannot now do it. The woman for whom my daughter is doing this is very stressed out, and who would not be, by the delay. This will be better for my daughter however.
    OT 3 Just got a flyer from the Arb. They are doing teas from 11/26 to 12/30. I will take my wife despite the fact I will not be able to eat any of it. But I thought some of you may wan to know about it.

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    1. whats the arb?
      glad to hear the kidney donation is working well for your daughter. one of the five recipiants? are they splitting it up? i didn’t know they do that.
      linda does pay close attention doesn’t she. i missed the entire offering. watercolor painting in the bathroom…interesting still lifes?

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    3. While I am sorry for the recipient who is stressing (as you say, who wouldn’t) I’m happy for your daughter. The time between now and the first of the next year is not really a good time for a pastor AND mother of young children to be doing one more thing, especially not something that is going to lay her up for some time. I am not sure I could do what she is doing.

      Am I guessing correctly that she is part of a “chain” of donors/recipients, like this :

      http://articles.cnn.com/2009-03-11/health/kidney.ten.transplants_1_kidney-transplants-altruistic-donors-organ-sharing?_s=PM:HEALTH

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  6. Would I sit for a portrait showing every pore and mole? I wouldn’t want to, but I’d try to disregard that as a silly exercise. Who cares what the outside of me looks like? But a portrait of the inside of me–my personality and character–that would be a different thing. It would scare the hell out of me to have that photographed with unflattering precision, and yet that is the portrait I most care about.

    Have a wonderful weekend, baboons. I mean to drive my car today–with my arthritis-limited mobility–to a doctor’s appointment. Fair warning. You guys probably don’t want to be on our roads or highways when I will be, early afternoon.

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  7. Nope nope nope – not a chance. Well…okay, maybe if it were someone I really like asking for the portrait, someone willing to overlook the wrinkles starting to crop up and the blemishes that still appear (now that I’m in my 40s, shouldn’t I be done with “teenage skin”?). They would also have to overlook the double-chin(s) that I don’t notice looking in the mirror but shine brightly in many photographs (I’d blame my weight, but they have been around since I was much more svelte – losing weight will not make them go away…genetics are a powerful thing). But I’d really have to like and trust that person.

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    1. Anna, that “teen age skin” phenomenon apparently never goes away. I’m more than 20 years older than you, and I still break out from time to time. Fortunately, the vanity that made these breakouts so painful in my youth, no longer plagues me. Proactiv really works!

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      1. Same here. 70 years old and still getting pimples. That’s not fair. At least I only get a few small ones and don’t have the same problems I had as a teenager.

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  8. Depends on who’s requesting it. Currently I can’t think of anyone who would request it, but if kids or my mom wanted one, Yes. If I wanted a passport photo or driver license renewal, Yes if it didn’t take too long. Anybody else, Probably Not.

    I would prefer that the focus would be not my face, but my hair. It’s the only part of me that still looks or feels really young. I’m 63 and embarrassed to say I don’t have a single grey hair. I’m not bragging, it just kind of runs in my family. I’d actually consider it a badge of honor to have some grey hair already, feel like I’ve earned it.

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    2. I am often asked where I get my hair frosted, but I don’t do a thing to it. It isn’t turning grey but a frosty ash blonde. My mother’s hair is doing the same thing. I am also happy to say that my mother, at 89, has very few wrinkles, and I have skin like she does. One of my grandmothers colored her hair black until the day she died. By that time she was 91 and it looked more green than black. I don’t like having my picture taken at all. I never like the way I smile when I am asked to smile for the photographer.

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      2. My next door neighbor, a man in his late 70s with very little hair left, still colors what’s left black. Have no idea what he’s thinking!

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      4. I was a white blonde until I was in Grade 1, and then it turned dark blonde/light brown. I always referred to it as Dishwater blonde.

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      5. Renee, we may have the same hair, sort of. I think mine looks more grey when I am tired ;). I kick around the idea of coloring it, but then my laziness kicks in and think-or not. We shall see.

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  9. I love seeing the moon break out of its traditional gray and go whole-hog w/ the hippie tie-dye look! Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?!

    My problem w/ sitting for an up-close portrait would be the self-consciousness of it. Do I smile w/ teeth showing? Tilt head to one side or the other? Open eyes wide? Too much to think about!

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  10. hell yes go for it. the difference between a good hair day and a bad hair day is all in your eyes. nobody else even notices. i have had teeth that make me smile with my lips closed since i was a pup and thats just part of the deal. i got scarred up in second grade with a sledding accident and i was self conscious about it then started noticing that frank sinatra has a huge scar, then some other star with a noticable distinctive marking. i got stitches in my nose and the doctor said man you are starting to get some real charachter in this face and i have viewed it as a badge of distinction ever since. i saw a grade school friend and laughed hard enough to allow him to see the aformentioned distinctive teeth he remembered from 2nd 3rd and 4th grade and he laughed and said of course you still have the same teeth. my main physical attribute is my ablity to grow hair and that will likely come through in the portrait unless i do clydes pose

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  11. Morning!

    Extreme close up? So zoom in on the eyeball and then no one would know it’s me so sure, that would be OK. .
    I have a large photo in my office, about 8″ tall and 24″ wide, taken by a student, a B & W photo of just a girls eyes, downcast so mostly just eyelashes, with a pink flower in her hair. Shows her freckles and a mole over her nose, but it’s a great picture. The photographer told me who the model was but you can’t tell it from the picture. But it’s not a picture of ‘freckles’; it’s a lovely photo of a girl.

    I admire people who, when the camera points to them, they just brighten up or strike a pose. Because it makes a picture so full of life! Better than someone just staring blandly into the lens. I have a niece who is very photogenic; every picture of her shows a beautiful young lady. She makes it look easy but her Mom is the same way;

    The double chins and scars and wrinkles and liver spots; they’re all part of us; we really need to learn to embrace these things and just put them out there. Because those things are not the whole person, but just a part of who they are.

    That said, the last formal picture taken of me I kept my head down so it mostly looks like I’m advertising a feed store from my hat, but you can see the quirky grin and I’ve gotten lots of positive comments about the picture.

    You just never know…

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    1. A photographer told me that to get good pictures of farmers you should have them take their hats off so it wouldn’t shade their faces. However, shots with the hat on could also be interesting as you have indicated, Ben.

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    2. IMHO, portraits should reflect more than just what the person looks like. The photographer should also try to incorporate -who- the person is, not just what they look like. I’d say, “Let them keep their hats on and work with it.” But, there I go again, zigging when the ‘art world’ zags. Just like ‘the rules of writing,’ I get really tired of hearing ‘the rules of art.’ Bah.

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  12. No. Photos of me are just unflattering. A close-up would be way too revealing. Acne, double chins, thick glasses, gray hair – no, just no.

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  16. I love portraits of average looking people… especially black & whites. The face is a road map that tells a story about that person. I would pose for such a portrait if that were the intent.

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      2. Nice link Linda. The fist time I saw Brandi Carlile was on Austin City Limits doing this song.

        Stay for the ending; that’s what really works for me.

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  17. When there are cameras present, distance and dim light are my friends.

    OT 1: They were there from Monday till Saturday,
    And nobody knew they were there.

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  18. When we are left unsupervised, we must be resourceful. Here’s a poem that sort of relates to Thursday’s discussion, submitted for your approval:

    Mind
    by Richard Wilbur

    Mind in its purest play is like some bat
    That beats about in caverns all alone,
    Contriving by a kind of senseless wit
    Not to conclude against a wall of stone.

    It has no need to falter or explore;
    Darkly it knows what obstacles are there,
    And so may weave and flitter, dip and soar
    In perfect courses through the blackest air.

    And has this simile a like perfection?
    The mind is like a bat. Precisely. Save
    That in the very happiest intellection
    A graceful error may correct the cave.

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  20. What’s everyone doing today? We’re headed down to the Edge Life Holistic Expo at the Hyatt. See ya later…

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