The Last Self Portrait

I usually take photographs during the day.  I was challenged to come up with something at night.  However, I didn't want the usual street scene with lights, neon, and car headlights.

A friend of mine likes to play a game inspired by the tv show, "I shouldn't be alive."  Or as I like to call it, "I should be dead."  This game is to choose one of the most extreme weather situations to see which one you would rather try to survive in.  The choices are (you are all alone with nothing in these situations) in the middle of the desert, in snow, in the middle of the ocean or the rainforest.  We debate on which would be the least painful and perhaps the most "survivorable."  I chose the rainforest and maybe the desert second.  What would you choose?

Anyway, back to the assignment.  I struggled on what to photograph until I passed by some chopped up pieces of wood in a small industrial area.  The first thought that came to my mind is the scene in the movie Fargo where a person gets fed to the wood chipper.  What if I drove by and saw an arm or leg mixed in with the pile of wood?  Well, why not recreate what was already on my mind?

So I did.  After the wood pile, I was excited to do more self portraits of scenes where you might see legs in areas where you least expect.  Perhaps these are murder scenes as viewed by people passing by or perhaps it's suicide and the camera documents the photographer's last self portrait.  Either way, its what you interpret in your head that makes up the story.

So, this might veer from my normal "style" but a welcome one in my mind.  It's a piece of my inside being reflected in a photograph.  The "last self portraits" were taken in order of the wood, wood chipper, by the telephone pole, and hung from the stairs.  As soon as I began, I couldn't stop thinking of more scenes.

Maybe these scenarios should be included in the "I shouldn't be alive" game.  Well, I suppose these photographs are from the "I didn't survive" program.  Either way, it was fun to do.  As I showed these images to my class, one student shouted out, "you're sick!" That was the best compliment I could have received.  I think he's right.

Self Portrait Assignment

It's the project I dreaded...the self portrait.  I'm taking a class and needed to come up with a self portrait this week. As with most photographers, I would rather be the one taking the photograph and not being the subject.  However, I've seen some amazing examples of what some photographers are doing with self portraits.  One of my new favorites is Kelli Connell.  I also enjoy the self portraits from Jen Davis.

Seeing so many wonderful self portraits from so many talented photographers can both inspire and discourage you, depending on what your brain tells you.  For me, I absolutely LOVE looking at photographs from all photographers and the group of self portraits that Aline Smithson presented were no different.  Very inspiring! Self portraits can be discouraging since it's such a daunting task for some, me included.

I have many ideas in mind and I may or may not share them here.  I will however, share this one.  I took a break from my garage purge project to see if my idea of throwing my camera in the air would work.  I have several photos of me jumping up and down in front of the camera while it's on a timer to laugh at myself and to see what comes from it.  I thought, "why don't I stay still and have the camera jump around?"  Well, I don't think I said that out loud but I wanted to try the timer idea to see if something could become of it.  On my iphone, I have one application that automatically takes one photograph after a ten second countdown.  I stood on grass just in case I didn't catch my iphone and because I don't have a cover or any type of insurance for it. The click of the "shutter" seemed to be delayed a bit so I would focus on my feet while it counted down and try to throw the camera in the air to get it to snap the photo around the same distance between my waist and feet.

I took around thirty or more shots and twenty of them I kept because there was a hint of me in the photo (strand of hair here, a toe there, etc.). Also, most were blurry since the phone tends to flip around when you throw it in the air.  Once I had one in focus I stopped and put these two together.  I still plan to do more self portraits down the road.  For now, I will stay behind the lens.