To see or not to see

Hiding Behind the Image? 

Or rather, presenting the truth.

Avatars, icons, profile pictures, or whatever you may want to call it, they all represent a part of the user. Whether the representation be who the person wishes to be, how they live their lives, or a set up image used to find a job. There are many reasons behind an avatar - one being the fact that no one wants an anon face as their picture. 

Upon seeing this picture, people could assume that I mainly have friends that are boys, or I enjoy goofing around. More often than not, people would miss that this picture was taken at a summer camp called Rockridge and that these boys and I are posing for a competition. 

This picture might be used most likely as a profile picture on Facebook, or maybe another social networking site. 

The sense of authority might be lacking because it is obvious that I am in no authoritative position. 

However, on the other end, this particular picture is of the same person (i.e me) but in a completely different setting. The ethos this icon would be giving off could either be professional head shots, or eager to be hired for an upscale job. 

This particular picture has been discussed by a group and decided that it represented an eager woman, that might have done quite well in school and maybe played a few sports and excelled in one. It does not say that this is a person studying Theatre and majoring in Technical at a University in Calgary and that I don't like cats but the idea of them are nice. I would choose to use this picture for a professional website such as LinkedIn to keep and online resume.

Last but not least is the picture that someone might make to represent who they wish to be, what they wish to look like or just remain in complete anonymity. The ethos this picture could give off is that I enjoy the outdoors because the background of the avatar is in the mountains. I would use this avatar in a setting for a discussion blog where identities don't particularly matter. However, this picture has no professional demeanour.