Department Picture Board 2
Posted by Nathaniel.
Michael’s cartoon post made me think that I need to make a post about just how bad the department picture board really is. This is going to be offensive, I’m I’m going to put everything after the jump.
Ok, first of all, lets look at the pictures.
Now, obviously the pictures are getting better with time. Some of this year’s first years have pictures that look somewhat like they do.
The older pictures are a different story, for example:
Did you know that Yeong-Ah has the same skin tone as Rob Fesen?
Did you know that people without beards don’t have chins?
At least Robyn looks kind of cute.
What happened to Timothy Smith? There is no way that that picture could be doing him justice.
On the other hand, the plan was apparently the make all of the research staff look dark and foreign.
Male grad students, you’re not allowed to smile! Dorky smirks only! Except you Michael.
Hmm, some talent here too.
I’m done making fun, but how much work would it really be to take a good picture of people? I’ll tell you the answer, not very hard.
November 30th, 2006 at 11:17 pm Using
I nominate this talented McDaniel person, about whom I’ve heard many great things, to serve as the official unofficial dept. photographer.
All in favor? Unanimous? Really?
Brilliant!
November 30th, 2006 at 11:17 pm Using
Well done Nathaniel, thank you for that. We needed leadership, and you stepped up.
Seriously, the photos are horrible! as you said, “not very hard”.
Tom Kenyon’s picture is accurate. Taylor’s photo is actually pretty nice, as is Laura’s. Chris Peters looks as though he’s in front of a bluescreen. Nick looks like he’s 12.
Oh yeah, and sorry about my smile, I didn’t get the memo.
December 1st, 2006 at 12:38 am Using
Is it just me, or does Tim look like the Numa Numa guy in his picture?
December 1st, 2006 at 9:52 am Using
Yeah Dustin, good point.
More generally, I think the most unfortunate element of the whole thing is the cropping. Mr Paul D. Nation is a great example of this - somehow he has been cropped such that his forehead is larger than Oklahoma!
Actually, this (not his forehead, the cropping) explains a lot. There are exceptions but many of the photos appear to have been generated with the objective of maximizing the skin-to-background ratio, leaving 5% from each ear and 2% from the chin and top of the head.
Honestly, I don’t know that you could do much to make them less flattering. Since we’re a physics dept, maybe that’s the point? gotta keep up appearances?
December 1st, 2006 at 9:53 am Using
Oh, and Tim, this is nothing personal, just a commentary on your photo.
Dustin, here you go:
December 1st, 2006 at 10:07 am Using
The real problem that I see is that a simple polaroid would be about a million times better. You’d see more of the person than just a driver’s license-esce face. (Even passport photos are supposed to show a person’s shoulders.)
I also wonder if Jan tried to clip out any background in the pictures. Does he shoot them against the white board or is it actually a chalk board? You get all kinds of unnaturalness when you try to crop out backgrounds.
December 1st, 2006 at 2:10 pm Using
i thought there was a fabric background up on the wall when he was taking photos. recollection’s pretty vague from that time though.
December 1st, 2006 at 2:17 pm Using
I have been asked to put forth the alternate hypothesis that Tim looks like Patrick Swayze.
I think we might have a conflict of interest from that suggestor.
In a “slightly related” note, Sara’s had trouble posting…
December 1st, 2006 at 2:21 pm Using
Sara’s had trouble posting posts, or trouble posting comments? I’d ask her directly, but that’s sort of like asking someone to call your broken cell phone to tell you that it’s broken.
The comments issue could be due to software not working, the posting might be due to permissions. I’ll trying checking both really fast.
December 1st, 2006 at 2:22 pm Using
Ima Fakeperson is actually Nathaniel.
December 1st, 2006 at 2:28 pm Using
So, the anti-spam stuff seems to be working correctly and Sara definitely has posting ability. If she’s still having trouble, have her send me a direct email.
December 1st, 2006 at 3:02 pm Using
I yam what I yam, and that’s all that I yam.
December 1st, 2006 at 3:51 pm Using
Nathaniel - actually all it was is that I can’t log into the dashboard of soapbox from work, since my username/password info is at home. So I couldn’t have posted this link without making it look all ugly. But here goes - I’m giving it a shot…
http://www.myheritage.com/FP/Company/face-recognition-results.php?temp=d0950754lmn0tm03&server=Server27&database=1&startYear=1800&endYear=2005
December 1st, 2006 at 3:55 pm Using
Ahhh. Yeah, I have sort of the same problem because I can’t remember what my password is. You can reset your password to something that you actually remember if you go to the dashboard and then click on “users”. Of course, that’s not really handy until you get home.
December 1st, 2006 at 4:30 pm Using
I really don’t like my photo -_- It looks like I was trying very hard to keep my eyes open while trying desperately to smile. We should make the picture board more interesting, maybe Wilder?