the heidingsfelder family theory of the photogenicness of german women

as we were drinking and looking at eva's pictures, eva discribed this amazing american phenomenon- americans can be anywhere, drunk in a dark bar, unable to see anything or even be halfway aware of what's happening, but if someone's taking a picture, they know exactly where to look, how and when to smile. as an example of this, she showed us photos of her and 3 american friends in a dark bar. sure enough, it was easy to tell which one the german was. ruth says that americans are trained how to be photographed from a small age, so they learn exactly how to look when photographed. while it is not fail safe, i must admit that i do have my smile that is often very successful in photographs. however, meike is so cute that she always comes out adorable in photographs. so perhaps she was taught some sort of american trick.
but i wonder too, how much it has to do with the talent of the photographer?
for instance this one would show how cute meike is on her balkon if she was only big enough you could see her:

and here is another pic of ruth & tobi to show what germans usally look like when photographed...but you see, americans, you point the camera at them and they smile, germans, they keep fighting. you need to actually tell them you are going to take a picture or it turns out like this:

now, as proof that it's just the germans and americans even look good while talking in photographs, here is g on the left and anne her roommate on the right:

and finally, i'm sure it has something to do with the camera. for instance, the previous 2 pics are much better with my manual focus camera- none of that focus-on-the-wall-between-them-with-the-people-blurry stuff. however, i can't figure out how to work the flash (which did not, of course, come with instructions) and so this adorable pic of meike with michi's christmas gift turned out looking like this:

i could go on, with pics of ruth and her rabbit vs. my family at the beach, however i want to keep this page easy to load for us poor dial-up chicks!
so i will end with my disclaimer that this does not mean americans are better looking than germans, or that germans can't be photographed well. the only theory i'm proposing is that in general americans grow up learning to be more photogenic than germans. at least in my experience!

spinning-i'm in love with a german film star by katell. which tops the most often played list on pearl.