{"id":6469,"date":"2026-07-04T15:34:01","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T15:34:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=6469"},"modified":"2026-07-04T15:34:01","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T15:34:01","slug":"asking-eric-i-spoke-my-mind-about-the-offensive-retouching-of-a-family-photo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=6469","title":{"rendered":"Asking Eric: I spoke my mind about the offensive retouching of a family photo"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Dear Eric:<\/strong> Yesterday a cousin sent me a photo of a group of family members taken the morning after my father\u2019s funeral about 30 years ago.<\/p>\n

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It included my mother, two sisters, an uncle, my brother-in-law and me. Most of us were still in our nightclothes, as it was taken early in the morning before other relatives left to return home.<\/p>\n

With the exception of my uncle, I didn\u2019t recognize a single person in the photo. The bathrobe I\u2019d worn back then was familiar and a few other details \u2014 how my sister stood and how my mother wore her hair were familiar \u2014 but what stood out the most was how beautiful we women were and how handsome my brother-in-law was. Eric, someone had used AI to enhance our appearance!<\/p>\n

I asked my cousin about the AI work and who had done it. More importantly, why was it even necessary? He denied knowing anything about it and even suggested that my elderly mother had \u201cimproved\u201d it herself. (She passed away before AI became mainstream and had only rudimentary computer skills.)<\/p>\n

My cousin has always been a big talker, boasting about his business, kids, vacation home, whatever. But to think that we weren\u2019t attractive or good enough for him, especially in the early morning after a heartbreaking funeral, just ticks me off and I told him so. Any thoughts?<\/p>\n

\u2013 Picture Perfect<\/em><\/p>\n

Dear Perfect<\/strong>: Yikes! If one is thinking generously, your cousin may have found the technology fascinating or not even realized what the enhance button on a photo editing program would do. But a cursory glance would, one would think, prompt some questions on his part.<\/p>\n

Even if he thought it was innocuous, it\u2019s clear that his intention didn\u2019t have the right impact. It also sounds like the previous tensions in your relationship contributed to your interpretation of this action.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Now that you\u2019ve said what you need to say, try to put the photo out of your mind and hold on to the original image, crafted with human creativity and featuring real people and real emotions.<\/p>\n

Dear Eric<\/strong>: I met M on a tour of Greece, and we communicated afterward through phone calls and emails, because M lives in Iowa and I live in NY.<\/p>\n

M made plans to visit me and although it wasn\u2019t the best time, I agreed to her staying with me. I have a small house without a guest room but would give her my room and I would sleep on the sleeper sofa.<\/p>\n

On the day of her arrival, I made a stupid mistake and fell, hurting my back. I carried on although hurting.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I had a list of best places to visit. This was her first day and I tried to make her trip as good as I could taking her to various places of interest and restaurants.<\/p>\n

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We spent a day at the zoo and M threw out the small water bottle I had given her to use. I was disappointed since the bottle was reusable and fit nicely in a purse.<\/p>\n

The next day she said she was going to stay in a hotel near the airport so I could make my tax appointment the next morning without worrying about getting her to the airport.<\/p>\n

I took her to the hotel and we left on a friendly note. We shared expenses such as entrance fees and meals.<\/p>\n

After M returned to her home, I received a package of small bottles, cleaned to make up for the one she threw away. Never received a thank you note.<\/p>\n

After M left, I found she had looked through my desk and personal papers. I was shocked. I know it was strange she spent time in the room but I thought she was tired or reading.<\/p>\n

My family has told me, \u201cI told you so.\u201d Now I don\u2019t trust myself to make good choices when meeting new people. What can you tell me? Was this a learning experience?<\/p>\n

\u2013 No Longer a Trusting Friend<\/em><\/p>\n

Dear Friend:<\/strong> Don\u2019t let this bad apple spoil the bunch. It sounds like you went out of your way to make the trip nice for M and M\u2019s response was fine, if a bit underwhelming. That would all be fixable. But the violation of privacy is a problem. You should take steps to ensure she hasn\u2019t compromised your identity or your credit in some way.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re worried about your judgment when meeting other new people, you might just decide to put a stronger boundary around your life until you really get to know someone. For instance, you could decide that people you don\u2019t know well can\u2019t stay at your house.<\/p>\n

You might also make sure that a friend you already trust meets new friends you make in the future and get your trusted friend\u2019s read on things.<\/p>\n

Send questions to R. Eric Thomas at eric@askingeric.com or P.O. Box 22474, Philadelphia, PA 19110. Follow him on Instagram @oureric and sign up for his weekly newsletter at rericthomas.com.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more Here\u2019s what $3 million bought a real estate agent in Celebration<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My bathrobe was more recognizable than my face.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advice"],"yoast_head":"\nAsking Eric: I spoke my mind about the offensive retouching of a family photo - Orlando Relocation Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=6469\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Asking Eric: I spoke my mind about the offensive retouching of a family photo - Orlando Relocation Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My bathrobe was more recognizable than my face.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=6469\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Orlando Relocation Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-04T15:34:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=6469#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=6469\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/47d95744296542489ff5c4bd403450f8\"},\"headline\":\"Asking Eric: I spoke my mind about the offensive retouching of a family photo\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-04T15:34:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=6469\"},\"wordCount\":898,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=6469#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/9bb008b98fdbacc5e228994638e7454e.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Advice\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=6469#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=6469\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/orlandorelocationreport.com\\\/?p=6469\",\"name\":\"Asking Eric: I spoke my mind about the offensive retouching of a family photo - 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