Understanding why you don’t like photos of yourself starts with one simple fact: a photograph and the face you are used to seeing in the mirror are not exactly the same experience. As a portrait photographer, I hear some version of this all the time:“I’m not photogenic.” Sometimes a woman says it before I have even taken the first photograph. She already has evidence ready. Her phone is full of pictures she doesn’t like. She hates her profile. One side of her face looks strange. Her smile...

As a portrait photographer, I spend a lot of time thinking about something that has very little to do with camera settings: how people see themselves. A photograph can be simple. It can capture an expression, a moment, a person as they are. But today, especially for teenagers and young adults, a photograph can also become something else entirely. Skin can be smoothed. Eyes can be enlarged. Faces can be reshaped. Bodies can be changed. AI can remove, replace, enhance, and recreate almost...

On August 3, I had an unexpected surgery. I knew recovery would take time. My doctor told me it could take about six months, with up to a year for a full recovery. At the time, I remember thinking that sounded like one of those very cautious timelines doctors give you. I didn't really believe my normal life would be interrupted for that long. Well... I believe him now. It is September 17 as I write this, more than a month and a half after surgery, and I still can't drive. I can't walk...