Dear Prudence,
The time has come for us to submit photos to our senior yearbook. Our friend group has pretty bad luck with taking photos, and we have very few good ones. I was scrolling through and I found the needle in the haystack photo: all of us are included, it’s fairly recent, and we all look pretty good. I sent it to the group chat, and everyone loves it and wants to use it except for “Gemma.”
Gemma is not letting us use it because of a relatively minor concern with how she looks in it (think being a bit bloated after a meal). I understand that we all have our insecurities and am against using the photo if she is this uncomfortable, but I really don’t know what other options I have. I truly wouldn’t even suggest the photo if I thought it was unflattering to anyone, and everyone in our group is saying over and over again how great she looks in it. All the ones she suggests don’t include everyone, and I don’t want to exclude someone else from the photo because Gemma is being a bit difficult.
We’ve tried reasoning with her (she looks great, the photo will be super tiny on the page, we can dim it) but she is firmly against it. I don’t want to put a picture in without her as that would feel a bit shady (we are really close), and I don’t have enough space for two. The deadline is nearing, and I don’t know if I should bother talking to her or if I’m really in the wrong here. What should I do?
— Not Smiling for the Cameras