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2:17pm August 21, 2014
Anonymous asked: Re: the Staff and Client photo, I think it may also be that some people are socialized REALLY strongly to smile in a certain way when a camera is pointed at them. My brother is like that. He even has a 'camera' smile. If he doesn't see the camera his expression and his smile is totally different.

natalunasans:

madeofpatterns:

withasmoothroundstone:

I don’t think so.  This is something really specific to staff/client photos, and it’s not just the smile, it’s the body language towards the client.  It’s hard to explain though.

That’s not at. Not even close. This is not a general “smile at the camera” thing. The pictures capture something that staff do *a lot*, they’re not abberations. 

i didn’t look at the photo before.

now i did, and distracted because child!mel is so cute -  such teeny hands!  i think you still have small hands, yes?  i remember when we visited you i was shocked how little you are, because with photo angles, you always seemed tall.

but the word i can find for the staff attitude/behaviour is:  ”herding”

Yes people have always been surprised at how I look in real life.  I think part of it is I live in a wheelchair accessible apartment where everything is short, so I look taller than I am.  Maybe camera angles and aspects of my proportions don’t help either.  I remember a certain stalker we both once knew, trying to prove that I had to be taller than 5'2", she even wanted me to send a picture of myself next to a tape measure because she refused to believe me (and because she wanted to see how much she could get me to do to prove myself, like the lengths to which I’d go, because that was part of the fun for her).  But yes I have always had small hands and feet and short arms, small mouth, small nose, etc.  And I’m short, not super-short, but short.

Herding is an interesting take on it.  People have been making guesses that make a lot of sense to me.  To me it’s almost like a sense of ownership, a sense of being the person responsible for the client, and it bleeds over into the body language somehow.  "This is my client.“

And I literally have seen, in DD agency offices, entire walls full of pictures that look exactly like this.  Exactly.

Notes:
  1. gingerautie reblogged this from withasmoothroundstone and added:
    Is it the total onesidedness of it? Like, she had her arm around you, was grinning, and you aren’t actively...
  2. quixylvre reblogged this from madeofpatterns
  3. madeofpatterns reblogged this from withasmoothroundstone and added:
    Yes. Herding and ownership is part of it. Part of it is views from above, too. It’s also… so clear that they’re not...
  4. withasmoothroundstone reblogged this from madeofpatterns and added:
    That’s a really good comparison, and one I hadn’t thought of, but very apt. There’s a privilege gap going on there that...
  5. thaxted said: It’s absolutely a thing. I learned to do it. I can’t quite describe it either, but it comes from a specific attitude/expectation of how you’re “supposed to look” as a staff person. I was faking and it was uncomfortable.
  6. flamethrowing-hurdy-gurdy said: I know what you mean about the discomfort of clients, I’ve noticed that, too. But I also think staff are trained to smile and act positive no matter what. They have to represent the place they work for after all. They might be told this is correct.