Self Portrait
Having watched an interview with Chase Jarvis, I was struck by something he said, which is exactly what I tell people who complain about their photos: If you don’t push the button, you cannot take the picture. Shoot, shoot, shoot! after all, did you buy the camera to look at it, or to use it to look at the world? I get frustrated with people who push the button once, and are satisfied. I take the safe picture, then, if the model or subject is willing, I play. Sometimes, it is my boys who have to suffer through what I am doing, trying, experimenting with and they have good humor about it. Ben is always a ready model. Conor, not so much, until he sees his brother and me having fun.
This self-portrait was a test shot, just to see where I was regarding exposure and flash setting. I love the ghostly-ness of the image, with the pupils of my eyes being the focus of the image. Having a brief amount of information about the rest of my face (noticeably, my right ear, nostrils, right eye socket, and right side of my mustache and lips. )
The lighting was inspired by the shooting I did in a dance studio where I bounced the flashes off the large room-sized mirrors. Today, I bounced the flash off the mirror in my bathroom while I was attempting to capture me shaving my head. The small size of the room, coupled with the white paint, white ceiling, and white shower curtain posed a challenge in getting the lighting set-up right. I eventually ended up getting it right, but it was more difficult than I had anticipated.
