Publicity stills

One of the big differences between my life here and that in South Carolina is the amount of publicity my work, me, and Ted (not exactly in that order) are getting.  Here we've already been featured in a university magazine and in an international seminar publication and are going to be in a magazine that goes out to any and all interested in the university, which in Finland is actually quite a few people.  (While the first two were in English so I grabbed copies, the third is just in Finnish.  Fudge.)  Given my invisible life in South Carolina--I mean, the Dean told the publicity office to publicize my grant and they STILL didn't get around to it--this has been more than a little amazing.  Should've started working on ghosts and bringing my dog on transatlantic trips a long time ago! :-)

In any case, the following photos are from the shoot for the general audience magazine.  It was actually kind of funny how it all got arranged.  The university office that produces the publication called me to arrange an interview, and when they learned that I had a dog with me that did crisis response work, they asked if I could bring him to the interview, too.  Sure.  (They don't have crisis response and therapy dogs in Finland.)  We have to do a little finagling because of the weather--I don't generally bring Ted into the office when it's raining--but come the day of the interview, I am all dressed and made up, hair in place, and Ted freshly bathed.  I meet a very nice journalist and we spent an hour on the interview, but there's no photographer.  I can't figure out why she wanted me to bring Ted except that she likes dogs.  No problem--it forced me to groom a slightly stinky Golden.

About 4 days later I get an email from a photographer associated with the magazine's office.  I bet you can guess the scenario from here.  She wants a photograph of the both of us, and it seems like she'd like it fairly quickly.  Without thinking I propose that day as one of several possible days and times, and she jumps on it.  Of course, I have no make-up on and dirty hair; at least Ted hadn't managed to roll in the mud yet.

So we head over to the courtyard where the History, Anthropology, and one other department (I forget which one) are located--all of a block from the Collegium--and she comes up with some pretty nice photos despite my poor personal grooming.  And she kindly gave me permission to use them.  I think of these as a testimony to the benefits of a cloudy day's diffuse lighting and a pro's skill.  Here are a few of them.

She basically had us do two types of poses: one was walking towards her from a distance and another was Ted and me on a bench.  The one above would be a great one of us walking except that my right leg is at a funny angle.  Looks like I'm hyperextending it, but I know I didn't.

For someone who's not into "cute," I put on a more-than-precious face there.  You can see Ted's watching the photographer.  His next move was to turn and slurp me across the face.

I think this is the best of the walking photos, but it's actually cropped from a much larger picture with a lot more of the buildings as background.

My guess is that this is the one that's going in the magazine unless they decide that a side view is the best way to go.

Here Ted had decided that he wanted to watch some of the students going by.

This is my favorite shot of Ted, although it makes me wish I could photoshop out that double chin!  If the forward-facing shot doesn't go in the magazine, this is the one that probably will.

Here Ted decided that it was his sworn duty to attack my glove.  Call this our version of an action shot.

So which one is your favorite?