The struggles of finding a profile picture

Our profile photos are usually the first impression of our looks we give, when on social networks. Nowadays many people judge by the presence we have on social media, and I purposely chose not to include any photo of myself in my introduction post, as I wanted my first post to be composed of the words I say, and not of my looks. However I want to address my looks in this post, as I want to talk about the struggle many of us have, and that is, finding a photo of ourselves we're comfortable with.

The photo pictured here is my current profile picture on my facebook account and it shows me and a good friend of mine at a party we were at last week. I chose this picture for many reasons, which are mostly psychological reasons. First of all, I don't really like the way I look on pictures, if it's only me on it, especially when I'm taking a selfie I end up looking not the way I really look like because I change my face too much. So I chose a photo, where I'm with a friend of mine who I also really like and value as a friend, because she is an amazing person. Thus with this picture I aim at the person who sees it to see a somewhat "natural" selfie, because it's no photo with a special setting or with specific items in it (like expensive stuff). This gives a familiar perception to most people who view it, as most of them would expect a 17 year old to be at a party with friends. With this familiarity you don't give the impression, that you're trying to make a good impression, but the impression, that you just show casual situation, whilst giving an actual good impression by giving a casual impression. Simple, isn't it?

Compared to my profile picture, this one looks way more intentional, because I also had the intention to take this the way I took it. This picture shows me at Belgrade International Airport "Nikola Tesla" the day after the party last week, holding my Serbian passport and obviously showing my boarding pass for my Air Serbia flight to Prague. I'm making a somewhat weird face and I posted the picture with a significantly better quality than my profile picture, even though it was taken by the same phone camera (iPhone 5S, if you were wondering). Again, you have to experiment on a very small basis with small details, when it comes to giving impressions. You don't need filters, you don't need photo shop or any app that changes your picture, you need to influence the moment you take it in. This time I intentionally wanted to look like an international traveller, and with the pose I wanted to reach just that. In some way it's also kind of a parody to all of those travelers trying to look busy. Another detail I took care of is my watch, because it also somehow puts the aspect of time into the picture.

The last picture I want to overanalyze today is this one. It was taken by my cousin in July 2014, at the Belgrade fortress with the city being the background. This time, even though I'm in the centre of the photo, I keep myself out of focus, as I want to give attention to the background. Again, you see a person as it is with any other photo on social media, but in this specific one most people see the city first and the skyline, with the sky, the river, the parks and the buildings giving a great play of colors of green and blue. In some way the impression given here is rather neutral as it just in general portraits a situation, even though one might comment on this, stating it as idealism, as the figure shown her aims towards an ideal setting. The photo is not taken at a spot we know from every day life and it was not taken within the matter of seconds, but it took a while to set it and take it, giving the impression, that one takes his or her photos seriously and wants to show not just himself or herself, but instead wants to show oneself with the world around. It gives an inviting look.

Conclusion:

Most of you are probably thinking, that I'm not really thinking correctly, or that I might be overanalyzing this, but all I want to say with this post is that you should take a look at your pictures and that you should try to find what's truly in them and what they're trying to say. You can find so much in your pictures and influence the way you look like on social media, and thus you can only benefit from such a thought. The more you find in a picture, the more you will like it, even if you believe, that your face looks better on other photos. Don't just focus on what your body or face says, focus on what the photo has to say.

Lots of love, Stefan.

P.S. If you're interested in more photos of mine, feel free to take a look at my Instagram profile to be found at: instagram.com/stefanradakovic

Introduction

Dear Reader,

As this is my very first post I feel like I'm obligated to tell you a little bit about myself and about how this blog is supposed to look like. I plan to make this blog relatively personal, and I hope that I can talk about subject regarding not only my traveling, but also society, politics, psychology and various other topics. I will however not publish my written stories or books, done or in progress, on this blog, as I don't yet feel, that my fictional texts are ready for the internet, and if they ever get published, then it will be on a specific blog, webpage or in a book designated for that.

Even though I like being a traveler, I never really had any other choice, I was born as the son of a travel agency owner, who happens to be also one of the most successful ones in the Czech Republic and in Serbia. Also, I was born in Prague, the Czech Republic, whilst I'm originally from Belgrade, Serbia, and Petrinja, Croatia, as well as partially from Prijedor, Bosnia and Hercegovina. This situation already causes a huge need for travel, as my family always wanted my parents and me to visit them, when I still was little. This tradition is going on still up to this day, as I'm 17 now, and I visit Belgrade on a frequent basis.

Currently I'm in my last year of school and I will start university this autumn, still not knowing where my journey will take me. I'm finishing the German School of Prague, which means that I'm getting a german school degree, which is a huge advantage for me, because this degree is widely appreciated, so I'm hoping for a good university to study at.

As I will develop this blog and write about various things, I will also tell you more about my life and show you my life in the process, so I hope that you will stay tuned, and I hope that you will like this blog.

Lots of love, Stefan.