While going through ye old portfolio shots, I found this one of me in college. Based on the puppet I’m holding, my guess is that I’m 20 or 21 here. So, two years before The Horror of the Glamour Shot. and 20 years before the new author photos.
I’d gone into the studio to have pictures of the puppet made and the photographer offered to take one of me, too. I think this is what I looked like most days.
That puppet was actually kinda cool. It was a commission from this woman who wanted a puppet to tell her grandchildren stories with. One of the design parameters was that she wanted the kids to be able to sleep with it like a stuffed animal, so the body had to be pretty sturdy. I used the tail and the shirt to mask the entry point and built the body out of two inch foam so it had some oomph. The rod was a paintbrush, because the grandmother was an artist, which could slip out of the hand for bed time.
I got incredibly lucky with the hat and the tiny blue Hawaiian shirt. I actually still quite like this puppet although other puppets that I built during college are in the puppeteers equivalent of the writer’s trunk.
Those photos will go back into the storage locker and only come out when I’m trying to encourage young puppeteers by showing them the crap I made early one.
What amazes me is that I got jobs with them in my old portfolio. Someday, someday I might show them to you, but not today.
Two inch? Wow.
Hey, you might not know which day it was, but you can tell what time it was! (Of course, assuming that you always wear functional watches.)
You might ought to add that photo to your profile pictures.