Posing for a portrait... Posing a threat!

I had another photo shoot today. It really is the part of writing (specifically: the publicity side) I enjoy the least.

This shoot was slightly different in that it was for my Dominion Post column which will run fortnightly from September 11 (I only just realised the inauspicious date upon typing it).

I went along to the Dom during my lunch hour today expecting just to have head shots taken, the sort you see in the paper at present for people like David Burton or Mark Amery. But seems this revamped Saturday supplement they're launching (first one is Craigless, Sept 4) will feature full body photos of the contributors. Which means of course I'll be wearing what I wore to work on Wednesday 1 September (black shirt, grey trousers, black shoes) every time I pop up in the supplement until a) my column gets dropped or b) they revamp the design and need new photos. Who knows, maybe it'll run so long people will look at me funny when I'm dressed differently, like seeing Kyle Broflovski with his hat off, or Lisa Simpson without her pearls.

From the outside it might seem like I'm cultivating this writer with a day job image. The Christchurch City Library's blog got very excited yesterday about the line in my bio that ends, "he lives in Wellington and works for the government." I wasn't trying to be mysterious. I simply didn't want to a) bore people with the fact I'm a policy analyst and b) single out which department I worked for.

Of course, I've made a rod for my own back with the first column I've filed, which is about 'coming out' to people at work as a writer of fiction.

Oh, and I guess I did post the story they did on me for the Ministry of Education's intranet on this blog for the rest of the world to see.

Perhaps I am cultivating an image? It is difficult to talk about my creative writing without acknowledging the other demands on my time. Perhaps that's interesting to people. Hopefully it is, as it seems I'll be writing about it regularly for the next howeverlong.

So by all means, judge me on the writing, and the image I portray. But please, when my column comes out, go easy on my photo!

To help soften your expectations, here are some of the outtakes from last year's photo shoot for my author's photo for A Man Melting...

The sun was bright, okay.

Um. Time to head inside.

Yes, that is milk.

Sprucing the do.

Ah, that's better.