Self Portraits (not mirror) how and why!

[Keith]

There's a thread running currently that's discussing the value or otherwise of mirror shots ... and as much as I and I'm sure a lot of others have done them, they have rather limited value and appeal I agree.

The true self portrait however is a different animal. You're making the decision to chose yourself as your subject and in some ways have to become slightly detached within the process and often what you finish up with may not be pleasing, and often also I supect not representational of how you actually see yourself when you look in a mirror.

The camera has a very different perspective to your own eye in this regard because it allows you to see yourself as you cannot when viewing your refelction ... you can select the perspective in regard to focal length, angle, light etc and in reality there is no difference to photographing another person. It may in fact allow you to see yourself as others see you ... something not possible in a mirror!

I'd be interested to hear other people's opinions ... why they chose to do self portraits in the first place and the surprises they encountered along the way.

 

[Leighgion]

The original reasons for putting myself in pictures actually was to create more of a personal context for the image. It was less about taking self-portraits so much as placing myself at a certain time and place. This was especially something I did when traveling, so that rather than just have another snapshot of popular destination, it'd at least be a snapshot of me at the popular destination.



Much later, when I got more serious about photography, I made a conscious decision to do self portraits because I wanted practice doing people photography (which I had done very little of) and frankly, wanted to see if I could make myself look cooler than I'd looked to date in pictures. Practicing my skills with the potential by-product of improving self-esteem seemed like a win-win gamble.

Things turned out pretty well for me the very first day I took my tripod out with a mind to shoot at myself. Two of my favorite self-portraits came out of that day, and one of them surprised me with an 80's rock band look I hadn't intended.





Since then, I think I've come to see self portraiture as a kind of performance. The goal is to present some interesting facet of yourself, but since you're the both subject and photographer, you can only set the scene before it becomes necessary to change roles, step out of the director's chair and onto the stage to become the actor. No matter how much preparation you put in, you don't really now how the audience will perceive you until the show is over and you get the reviews.

Self-portraiture has become an enjoyable thing to me. As photographer I get a model that's exactly as patient as I am, no more no less, and while I know of course that the pictures are of me, on a certain level they're abstracted and I can look at them as if they're another person who looks a bit like me, but is more interesting.

 

[charjohncarter]

I agree with you, a mirror is not a self portrait it is trying out your camera in a different situation. Some don't even go digital and flip horizontally or if they are wet don't turn the negative over. No, to sit or stand in front of a self timer is a hard thing to do. I have only done it mediocre(ly) once. See my avatar. Maybe Pixtu will jump in here. He seems to be able to do it.

 

[Al Kaplan]

My first effort back in 1962 was mostly just to finish up with a roll of Kodachrome that I was using to try out my brand new Olympus Pen. There'd be no savings in processing cost if I didn't use all of the frames. I turned the camera around so I had back lit red and yellow autumn leaves behind me, a nice contrast with my navy blue jacket and dark brown hair.

The next attempt, maybe 6 or 7 years later, was becasuse a friend in Wyoming wanted to see pictures of my brand new darkroom. I used an M Leica with a 19mm f/3.5 Canon lens and my Leitz table-top tripod, sitting on a shelf, tripped via the self timer.

Shortly after getting the Bessa L with the 15mm Heliar a few years ago I was shooting some function or another at a park. The mayor wanted to get some pictures with Miss Black Florida with a particular background. While the three of us walked across the park together I suddenly decide to try some shots with the 15mm. It WORKED!

Since then my "environmental self-portrait" series has been an ongoing project. One of the city councilmen has a framed 11x14 of the two of us, together with a very irate constituant, hanging on the wall over his desk.

After enough rolls you get to the point where you "just KNOW" what's going to be included in the picture and from what angle. I rarely shoot more than 3 frames of a shot, and that's mostly because I'm shooting at arm's length one handed at 1/4 of a second. Don't ask me how I manage to do that...LOL

 

[Bob Michaels]

I have only done one and it was a class assignment. It has been on my website for years but it is not identified as a self portrait. I will have to do some more some day.

 

[Chris101]

Hey Bob! Are you familiar (and/or related to) Duane Michaels? This piece looks a lot like some of his stuff from the 80's.

 

[Al Kaplan]

You're right! It does look similar.

 

[dmr]

Kinda reminds me of the ending scene in 2001.

 

[Bob Michaels]

Hey Bob! Are you familiar (and/or related to) Duane Michaels? This piece looks a lot like some of his stuff from the 80's.

Chris: Yes, I will have to say I was a bit influenced by one of his self portraits. Some might even say my self portrait was "derivative".

He does spell his name Michals (with out the e)

 

[Al Kaplan]

http://thepriceofsilver.blogspot.com/2007/04/blog-post_08.html

 

[FrankS]

With a self timer:

 

[Migracer]

It seems like yesterday

It seems like yesterday

Wow Keith you do come up with some deep ones. For me it is long history of self portraits. Starting in 1960 with the black and white of me with my train and this past Summer with me in the Tbird. I cant remember if I shot with a Canon (Leica copy) or a Fujica I had both. For me it was a mater of wanting a picture and no one around to take it for me. The train was a particular challenge as I needed a spot that could hold the heavy range finder and allow me a surface to pose playing with my train. I figured out that I could use the couches back cushions to hold the camera and the seat cushions as my playing surface. This all lead to a long life of problem solving and application engineering. The more resent picture was from the need to capture the moment. After two years building the car I was taking the first trip in it to a car show. The Tbird self portrait I used a Canon Rebel 2000 with a Focal 28mm with a M42 adapter. see still solving problems I like that lens and had to make it work on the Canon.😀

 

[RayPA]

There's a thread running currently that's discussing the value or otherwise of mirror shots ... and as much as I and I'm sure a lot of others have done them, they have rather limited value and appeal I agree.

The true self portrait however is a different animal. You're making the decision to chose yourself as your subject and in some ways have to become slightly detached within the process and often what you finish up with may not be pleasing, and often also I supect not representational of how you actually see yourself when you look in a mirror.

The camera has a very different perspective to your own eye in this regard because it allows you to see yourself as you cannot when viewing your refelction ... you can select the perspective in regard to focal length, angle, light etc and in reality there is no difference to photographing another person. It may in fact allow you to see yourself as others see you ... something not possible in a mirror!

I'd be interested to hear other people's opinions ... why they chose to do self portraits in the first place and the surprises they encountered along the way.

"The True Self Portrait" ?? i disagree. Anytime you the photographer turn the camera towards yourself, mirror or otherwise, and make an exposure it's a "true" self portrait. it's a definitive record of you at a date, time, place. As the photographer, you choose the time, the place, the moment, and you pose for the camera, you make the decision, you press the shutter.

Often, the mirror prompts the idea, rather than the photographer planning and formalizing the "sitting," which kills the spontaneity. Some of the most over-wrought and pretentious "selfies" are the concocted arrangements designed by the photographer to "tell" about the themselves. Talk about limited appeal.



/

 

[bmattock]

There's a thread running currently that's discussing the value or otherwise of mirror shots ... and as much as I and I'm sure a lot of others have done them, they have rather limited value and appeal I agree.

Yes, I agree.

The true self portrait however is a different animal. You're making the decision to chose yourself as your subject and in some ways have to become slightly detached within the process and often what you finish up with may not be pleasing, and often also I supect not representational of how you actually see yourself when you look in a mirror.

Self as subject to me means self as subject. Not just slightly detached, but separate. Me as photographer and me as subject are two different beings, to the extent I can manage to do that.

As a photographer, faces are interesting to me, and when I do a portrait (which is not as often as I'd like), I like to try to show some aspect of that person's personality which appeals to me. When shooting me as subject, it is the same.

In some ways it is a clinical and unashamed examination of myself as a face, a character, and a photographic subject. In other ways, it is not that different from the way I see myself, but I tend to think that I am unencumbered with pride regarding my appearance - perhaps I am wrong, but who knows. That's too many layers of the onion than I feel like peeling back.

The camera has a very different perspective to your own eye in this regard because it allows you to see yourself as you cannot when viewing your refelction ... you can select the perspective in regard to focal length, angle, light etc and in reality there is no difference to photographing another person. It may in fact allow you to see yourself as others see you ... something not possible in a mirror!

By experimenting with light, focus, focal length, and so on, I find that I can manipulate my image to present it in a variety of ways for my own amusement.

I'd be interested to hear other people's opinions ... why they chose to do self portraits in the first place and the surprises they encountered along the way.

The main surprise for me? I had been told by close friends that speaking honestly, they first found me cold and intimidating - they didn't know when I was joking with them and thought I had a strong tendency towards violence because I speak of the violence in my past life with such a flat affect. Now I see that, especially as I age into my natural character.




From a modeling point of view, I'm my own best subject, because I have infinite patience with me and I work cheap. From a workflow point of view, it's a pain in the butt to try to get manual focus right when you're working with shallow DoF and holding a wireless remote in your hand while posing. I have found some of the old ways work best in this regard - including a marked string to measure distance to the lens.

 

[bmattock]

Kinda reminds me of the ending scene in 2001.

Yeah, good one.

 

[Keith]

Bmattock ... I like that first portrait. There's a hint of menace about it that appeals to me.

Fast lenses with short depth of field are indeed a challenge for the self portrait at short range ... string works for me too! 😛

Interesting response to my post.

 

[wray]

Well, here's one done back in '78 for an exhibit of self-portraits. That 25' air bulb cable release worked real well on an old Polaroid!

 

[Rico]

Handy rule-of-thumb: If you recognize the photog in the mirror as yourself, it's a self-portrait, otherwise not. 🙂 I only started a self-portrait series (no mirrors) to learn about portraiture and studio lighting. I share Bill's observations: I'm a cheap model, and focus is a bitch. Mirror self-portraits can present intriguing effects (M.C.Escher in reflective balls), while self-portraits like those from Dalí or Rembrandt look like they're looking in a mirror (sans camera held to the eye). And how would one classify those fitting-room mirrors where you can see your own back? I guess good questions have no easy answer!

 

[Keith]

I'll quite often do a self portrait when it wasn't my original intention. When I'm trying out a camera or film there's an old very small abandoned shed on the property next door that I wander off to to burn a roll. This particular day I had my Iskra with me and managed to prop it up on an old set of cupboards and used the self timer. It was stinking hot and the shed was full of mosquitos but I enjoyed the challenge of using a format I'm unfamiliar with (6x6) and a film I hadn't used previously.

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

I wanted an avatar...