Anyone else find photos of themselves unbearable

[Littletinytarzanswingingfromanosehair]

I was at a site meeting at work yesterday and at the day of the day the team leader at the site asked for a group meeting photo. I was pressurised into getting in the photo of them all, it's on LinkedIn today. I look like a monster. I have very bad, shortsighted eyesight so my glasses don't look great. I have gained weight through PCOS.

I could literally cry and I'm trying so hard not too.

I've had eating disorders whole life and this is such a trigger for me.

Please tell me I'm not alone.

I've never been photogenic, not even when I was young and (so I've been told) attractive.
Now I'm old, I look like a weird gargoyle. With a markedly asymmetric face, as well as the wrinkles and chins. I think my nose grew, too.
This isn't vanity talking, it's more like shame. 😢

100 per cent. I also have a history of eating disorders and body dysmorphia and I really empathise so much with how difficult this can be. I had to renew my passport recently and it took me ages to build up the confidence to do it, panic attacks etc before I managed to get my photo done for it, which caused other problems in my life because I really needed my ID. We're meant to be getting married soon (v small wedding) and the pressure to have photos is something I find genuinely frightening in a way I feel I can't quite control. I feel panicky and jittery even thinking about it and, if it weren't for my dh to be and close family wanting photos and it being important to them, I think I'd forego it totally which upon reflection is really sad. I don't have any words of advice I'm afraid but just wanted to say you're not alone and I'm sending as much solidarity and understanding your way as I can op x

Thank you @flowerexpress xx

Yeap - I find shops with mirrors really hard too and often avoid them if I'm feeling particularly fragile. It's like I can't not look because of the whole body checking thing but, if I do, I get really upset x

Me too! I once got asked if I was a cancer victim and another was that I resembled a concentration camp survivor ( yes really) as I’m so pale, drawn and thin in the face so as you can imagine I look horrendous on photos! I don’t have one decent photo of myself and my social media photos are of my very photogenic beautiful dog 😆

I look like a monster in photos, too. I look fine in real life but photos always make me look absolutely hideous, like my forehead is greasy, my nose is hooked, my teeth look insanely crooked, my hair looks a mess like I don't style it carefully, and my makeup, however carefully done, NEVER shows up. My eyes (which are in reality big brown eyes) look like tiny little pissholes in the snow for some utterly bizarre reason. It's like the camera is seeing all these shapes and squashing them down into a 2D image. Horrible.

I look like Jabba the Hutt in most photos, I’ve never taken a good photo, ever.

Oh god yes and on nights out the group
photos that I happen to be in are never posted by the taker (suits me but definitely confirms I ruin them!) when all others are shown

I have a chain of 4 sisters in law and we are all friends. There’s tons and tons of pictures of the other 3 together but none that include me

I hate having my photo taken . I can just about stomach looking in the mirror but photos make me embarrassed and depressed. I look like a whale I have about 4 chins my nose is wonky my teeth are horrid and I ruin photos . My husband and kids are all slim and pretty looking so I stand behind the camera and take photos of them it's utterly depressing though that I have no photos of me and my husband or me and my kids

I'm a normal looking person IRL but on camera I resemble a gargoyle. Such is life!

Yep I’m so unphotogenic it’s unreal. I hate seeing pictures of me, I always feel rubbish after seeing them.

I never mind looking in the mirror. Think all is OK. I get complements. My hair is done. Then someone takes my photo and l look nothing like the person l saw in the mirror. Don't recognise myself. The picture on my driving licence looks hideous and every time l see it my heart sinks.
My dd says it's because l don't relax while having my photo taken. I think the young people have it down to a T because of social media.
During Covid lots of people seeing themselves on Zoom went for dental work/ botox/ all sorts as they hated how they looked.

Two things I hate - cameras and phone calls

I am so unphotogenic it is untrue - I hate pretty much all photographic evidence that I exist.

I just find it so bizarre that other people aren't like this - I have friends of the more photogenic variety who are always posting selfies of themselves, or (even worse in my mind) filming little pieces to camera. The thought fills me with dread!

And yes to there never being pictures of me on a night out - clearly everyone there has decided I'm an ugly munter as well.

Always try to avoid photos, never look at them when I'm shown them.
I'm always gurning or have what I now realise after 56 years is my resting bitch face.

Yes, I do relate to that. I take loads of pics of the DC and DP, but there are very few of me with my children because I just look weird! Squashy face that looks disproportionate to the rest of me. It would have to be one heck of a filter to get a nice pic!

You see I look fine in mirrors, attractive even - but photos! My God, horrific. The thing is everyone else looks exactly the same in photos so I suppose I must actually look like that. I don't understand why I look a certain way in mirrors (nice) and the complete opposite in photos.
But yes, I have a real anxiety about seeing photos of me. We had a professional photographer at work recently and I was just so anxious and upset about it all. I look terrible in the group photo and haven't actually dared look at my individual photo! Too scared.

Detest them with a passion. I'm fat and ugly and my hair is so thin now that it's barely visible. I disgust myself.

I make an exception now for family photos because my 11yo told me a couple of weeks ago that she'd be sad when I died and she didn't have any photos of me. That hit hard.

This thread is so sad! 😢 I hope if you have husbands/partners that they don't contribute to this hatred.
I hate how society has this effect.
Kids should have pics of their mum 😞

You are not alone x

I look okay if I'm unaware that the photo is being taken, but if I try to pose for an organised picture like a group photo then somehow my face does this weird gurning thing. I'm trying to smile, but it's like I've forgotten how, and the result of such over thinking is not good.

As an aside, can I just draw attention to op's fabulous user name - made me laugh.

You're definitely not alone. I don't take pictures because I look like a hulking ogre in all of them. Plus I have bad skin on my face so it makes it even worse. I didn't hate it too much when I was younger and slimmer, but even then it would have to be at the right angle (never straight on!) I have hardly any pictures of me since I was a teen, I'm not photogenic at all.

After years and years of thinking I was hideous (camera never lies right?!) I have realised that I'm just very unphotogenic. For some people certain faces/features are v easily look awful in photos. There are virtually no pictures of me as a teen thank god. I would shun all photos until my 30s. Hated having pictures on my wedding day to the point that I've only looked at them once. But now I just don't care. And no bony scrutinises you in a photo the way you do.

You see I look fine in mirrors, attractive even - but photos! My God, horrific.

My thinking about the mirror thing is that we hold our face in mirror mode, we're probably not even aware we do it but the small changes do make a difference.

People should respect other people's boundaries if they don't want their fucking photo taken.

Me . Hate photos taken of me . hate them . I’m so incredibly unphotogenic and other people have actually said this to me , so I don’t think it’s the case I’m in denial and actually walking about looking like hagrids more manly twin sister in real life as my photos would suggest 😂