Adorable?

Alice Jones Webb at Take It Outside - Don't Call Me Adorable: A Basecamp Dispatch on grit, blood, and making things marketable. I wouldn't describe her as adorable.

Alice Jones Webb is a hunter. She writes for several magazines, but that isn't why she hunts.

I was asked for a profile photo this week.

I sent the one I’ve used for years, the one that’s been good enough for major publications and legacy brands. It’s my public face.

I’m standing in the woods with a spring gobbler slung over my shoulder. You can’t see much of the bird. Just a sweep of tail feathers and the weight of him against my back.

Some marketing idiot was apparently offended by the photo. They called it "adorable" but wanted something else. She gave them another photo, but it wasn't quite what they expected.

So I sent another photo. One as far from adorable as I could get. Me with an elk, face lit up and wildly alive.

And it was fine. For a moment. That I could use that photo. That people would see that bull. In some ways, it felt more honest than the turkey photo.

And of course they had problems with that photo, and asked someone to Photoshop out the blood. Maybe the person upset by hunting photos should find employment where they won't see hunting photos.

Click thru for the photos, and for more commentary, and for Alice Jones Webb. She seems like an interesting person.