I have been taking more and more pictures of myself. Being a photographer I am normally the one taking pictures of others and tend to be left out of pictures. An occasional self-portrait is a good way to document that I was here. One advantage of the self-portrait is that I can control what I look like.
I am constantly looking for ways to get a self-portrait. In this image I simply noticed a mirror on the ceiling of an elevator at a museum that I took my sons to. I cannot say that this is a fantastic photograph. It may have been a bit better if my youngest son had been looking up, but that was a difficult request. I think the self-portrait is more than capturing an image of yourself. I think that the process of taking the self-portrait is more important. Taking pictures of someone requires a level of trust and understanding. Many people are not very comfortable with a camera pointing at them and the self-portrait process helps me remember what I am putting others through. I believe that it helps me be a better photographer.
1 comment:
I'd agree with all of that. I've got a whole section on my flickr site that's just pictures of me that I've taken.
It's interesting to see what normally gets turned up when a bunch of photographers are assigned as self-portrait assignment. Plenty of shadows, reflections and otherwise obscured, abstract renditions of the person. Very rare to see an honest to goodness, literal rendition of the photographer in question.
Which is a big part of why I like this shot you've got here. We can see you. The angle is interesting and all that, but you aren't hidden behind the camera, or a sketch picture of you or something else. Good stuff.
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