Here's looking at you, kid

While I am a heckuva good-looking guy, and of course a brilliant photographer, I am, well, let's just say I'm not George Clooney. I remind myself of this when I try to take my own photo, as I do once a year or so. My latest self-portrait effort was motivated by my desire to get a new photo for my Google Buzz profile. Here's what I came up with.

Not too bad, sez me. That's the dimpled hunk I look at in the mirror at least twice a day, when I brush my teeth and (optionally) shave and/or comb my hair. Unfortunately, that isn't me. That's me in a mirror. This is me:

And this chump isn't nearly as good looking. He looks, I dunno, backwards or something. I feel in the first photo like my hair is nicely composed, while in the second photo, it's a bit wispy and mussed. Of course, the second photo = the first photo, except that the image has been flipped horizontally and sharpened.

Perhaps if I took more photos of myself—or had more photos of me taken, preferably by someone with great tact as well as photographic skill—I'd get used to my own mug. But perhaps not. One thing I do know is that it's harder to use on yourself the little tricks we photographers use on our subjects to try to make them look their best. When you have to face the mirror with a camera, well, the camera doesn't lie.