question about "automatic thumbnail photo" in mail messages

When I was setting up my new MacBook a few weeks ago I was asked to take a photo of myself. It made me look demented and somewhat dangerous but I assumed it would never be seen by anyone so I forgot about it. Then a couple of weeks later I happened to send an e-mail to myself and was horrified to find a thumbnail version of this photo in the upper right-hand corner. Presumably everyone to whom I send an e-mail sees the same photo. I've tried to get rid of it using Mail Preferences but made no progress.

any advice as to how I can solve this problem would be much appreciated.

regards to all from flunn

the picture is only seen by people who are also using the Mail program. Someone who opens an email from you in Hotmail won't see the picture.

Also, even if someone else is using a Mac and opens a message from you in Mail, the picture is replaced by whatever one they have associated with you in their address book. That is, they might have given your address book card (if they even have one for you) a perfectly decent photo; that's the one they would see. You're seeing the demented photo in emails you send to yourself because that's the photo associated with your own address book card on your computer.

So basically no one will ever see that photo on an email from you. I don't know how to stop Mail from showing the photos (other than just not associating a photo with a contact), but if you want to change the photo, drag a new one into your entry in Address Book (you can also do it through System Preferences).

thanks to visualpurple

Thank you, visualpurple, for setting my mind to rest about that embarrassing photo—and for providing me with useful information that I couldn't find in Mac Help.

regards to all from flunn

Thank You!

Thank You Visual Purple!
I, also, was surprised when I found my "lovely" face plastered in the header box of a message I copied to myself. I tried for hours to find out how to stop it. Then, I joined this forum and voilà! An answer!
Thanks Again.

Thanks for the help all. I've found 2 options. Delete your own address card and if you want, create a new one. Or, Edit your address card by going to Card - Choose Custom Image. There, you can take another picture or select one from iPhoto.