A while ago, I blogged about my first zine, in which I recounted the time I felt like a glamorous supermodel because a photographer stopped me on the street to take my picture.

I thought it would be the launch of my career, but then she asked me to hold a balloon and told me to move it “a little more to the left, a little more, a little more” until it covered my entire face. Then, she yelled “Perfect!” and snapped a dozen shots.

It’s a funny story, even if telling it always makes me wonder what it says about me and my face.

I’ve never seen the picture of me, but today I found the photographer online. Her name is Sandra Lazzarini, and it turns out it’s not just me! She likes taking photographs of girls and women with their faces covered. For her, a face that can’t be seen doesn’t symbolize a lack of something but is rather “an opportunity for any other person to identify themselves in that shot.”

I like that.