Vanity photos rule, dude!

September 03, 2002 | 1 Comments

Over at Textura Design, Byron was saying how creepy the cover of Hillman Curtis’ new book - MTIV - was, and he brought up the subject of “vanity photos”.

I think vanity photos are funny. Don’t agree? Take a gander at these. I know in an earlier post I ribbed Mr. Nielsen about these very photos, I even went so far as to tell him to kick them to the curb, but (as I often do) I’ve changed my mind. No - I’m not planning on putting any vanity photos of me up on my site. Well, not really - if any of you have seen earlier versions of my site you’ll know that I’ve explored this area a bit, and I have a “sort-of-but-not-really-a-vanity-photo” working in to my upcoming design, which by-the-way, should be along shortly. I do also plan on posting personal pics around here - but those are cats of a different color now aren’t they?

But ANYway.

Not only are vanity photos fun for everyone, they could help us all avoid some confusion. I mean if some people knew what Zeldman looks like, we could obviously tell that he is not, in fact, Eric Meyer or Jakob Nielsen - or any other of a host of other people who would love to be mistaken for him. But then again - are those photos real? Maybe they hired stunt Web-type-people. Everyone knows Lance Arthur is Zeldman’s understudy. No? Ok, well he kinda looks like him. Again, I digress.

In Small Pieces Loosely Joined, David Weinberger talks about .Zannah and her sites and how they are an extension of her self. .Zannah had a photo of herself with the caption “just some random chick” - turns out the picture is a picture of her - but does that matter? I say no. It adds a bit of mystery, and a bit of fun to her stuff. Gotta love that. And if its not her - well, even more fun. Who doesn’t love a random chick.

Aside from the inherent humor these photos possess (and don’t get me wrong it’s not the actual photos that are funny to me most of the time - just the idea of a vanity photo) it’s fun to put a face to a name and a name to a face, you know? Keeps the Web friendly. Some vanity photos are pretty darn cool. And let’s face it - it’s cheaper than most stock photography, right?

So, got a vanity photo? Seen a good one? Send me the link. Maybe if I get enough I’ll put together a year book kinda thing. Or maybe I’ll just post them on my site and impersonate you!

Oh, and by the way - Byron, you’re right, your vanity photo is very creepy.

Filed under: Life and Such