Self Portrait Class

One of my favorite subjects, as I'm sure most of my readers know by now, is self portraiture. We did a class with Kapka where the kids were required to include themselves in a photo and to create their name out of something and photograph it. Here are my photos that I used as examples.

The Meal: Documenting a Global Snack

The Meal

One moment. One meal. One photograph. Let's eat.

On February 24th at 12pm EST, join thousands of people around the world in a simultaneous global meal. Whether it's breakfast in LA or a midnight snack in Beijing, let's take a moment from our hectic lives and share it with strangers around the world. Snap a photo of yourself and your meal and mail it to us — we'll create an exhibition from these self-portraits, documenting the world's largest communal snack.

Nothing makes us feel connected quite like sharing a meal together. On February 24th at 12pm Eastern Standard Time, thousands of strangers from around the world will sit down for a bite in unison and capture a shared experience at the exact same time. Take a photograph of yourself with your meal and mail it back to us. These simultaneous snapshots – self-portraits of people and their foods – will be exhibited in our storefront project space and made available online. Our aim is to inspire a feeling of community across geographic and cultural boundaries. So wherever you may be on February 24th at 12pm, keep your camera handy and something delicious nearby – and remember that thousands of strangers, both near and far, are sharing that meal with you.

It's free! It's fun! It's simple! Just remember to check your local time and photograph what you are eating :) Sorry I haven't posted a lot lately - more to come about my experiences with Kapka, my Grateful Daily project and other adventures in the making. Join us!

Random Self Portraiture Attempt

Continuing Thoughts on Self-Portraiture

Lately I have been having continuous musings about self-portraiture. This all started when my good photographer friend, Leslie McDaniel, asked me to be a guest blogger for her a few weeks ago. I wrote any entry about the study of personality and how that ties into self-portraiture. I feel like this just barely touched the surface of the subject. You can view my blog entry here. There are so many more things to consider, analyze, include, etc.!

Last week I was a guest teacher at Leslie's home-schooling class here in Bozeman. I expanded on the self-portrait concept to two middle schoolers and two high schoolers. I started with the basics: What is needed for a self portrait? Equipment? Techniques to focus on yourself, literally? I went over why artists create self portraits (to show their identity, to be on the other side of the camera, etc.). Eventually we went over why critiquing self portraits is tricky and what to consider when making your own self portrait. What makes you, you? We reviewed a slide show that I had put together of examples of self-portraits, mostly done by fellow photographers and some by famous artists. We analyzed what each of these portraits showed and it helped them get an idea for their assignment for this week - creating their own self portrait. This class was a blast and it helped me think about my own self-portraiture.

Self-portraiture has never been something I have focused on. My sister spent an hour learning about her camera when she first purchased it, and most of that was photographing herself. My friend Bek (as mentioned in Leslie's blog) photographs herself naturally, as a common subject. I aim to work on my self-portraiture more as well as study the purposes of photographing oneself.

My favorite fact that I came across when researching s

elf-portraiture: While a mirror or a photograph can tell a person what he or she looks like, that physical image does not reflect the whole self.

My two favorite questions brought up by self-portraiture: Who do I want to become? How am I changing from day to day or year to year?

These are just the beginnings of my focus on self-portraiture. Now to get everyone else thinking - what makes you, you? What makes self-portraiture so significant?

This image was taken on World Wide Photo Walk Day back in July. I edited it and placed it on the background of my computer. One of the girls in the class I taught noticed it and commented that she loved it. This photo actually is a self-portrait (although the thought hadn't crossed my mind at the time) - my purple converse shoes are a significant part of me and my photography. I shoot every wedding in these shoes and the color is indicative of me.

SPE NW entry

Here is my entry for the SPE NW photo competition. They are images from the damaging negatives section of my Experimental Photography Class last semester with Chris Anderson. Wish me luck! Additional info about SPE NW is linked to the title of this entry. I am minutes from buying my plane ticket online...

Forever Family Images

Here are images from the reception from Leslie and my Forever Family Exhibition in the Exit Gallery. We had some fun, ate some cheese and got to see lots of our friends, family, classmates and professors.

Lindsey/Kyle Wedding June 20, 2009

So, being a bridesmaid makes it a little bit harder to catch those photo opportunities during the wedding. Instead, I managed to get details of the wedding and some entertaining expressions of the bride from behind the scenes. Also got to do a little documenting of being a bridesmaid. Don't know how I feel about the photo of the back of the dress, I feel like there should be a vignette or something to give it a little umph. Beautiful wedding and a beautiful bride.

Amazing. That's all I have to say.

Oren Lavie - Her Morning Elegance. Amazing.

Self Portrait

Here is my digital self portrait. Enjoy.