Does the Camera Ever Lie?

I’ve recently started doing some IT contract work on a customers site and because I hadn’t been for a while I had to endure the site induction video and renew my contractors pass.

Because I knew my induction would involve that terrible task of having a new photograph taken, I made the effort to look a bit smarter than normal - wearing my very expensive silk tie and a freshly pressed crisp white shirt. I even went as far as trying to fool the camera lens by washing my hair in the morning and giving it a good comb beforehand. Heck, I even smiled for the camera.

So tell me, why does my picture always make me look like a fugitive off America’s Most Wanted, having more bags than Tesco under my eyes, suffering from a bad hair day along with having the contorted face of a man who looks like he really needs to break wind? And to top it all off, you then have to place your pass on the visitor board so everyone can have a jolly good laugh.

Trouble is, is this the true image that the mass ranks of women on Match.com see when they look at my profile? Even after all of my pre-photograph preening efforts I’m pretty sure I can’t look like this all the time. Never the less, the camera never lies. Right?