So I am going to start posting a few self-portraits here. To indulge my narcissism. Or, perhaps, to help me to experiment with taking a few pictures of something besides flowers.
I snapped this one in the bathroom mirror just after I returned home from my morning swim. You can see my left ear--the one that had the pre-cancerous birthmark that was removed and regular skin grafted on in its place. I think the doctor did a pretty good job with the surgery, as you can hardly see which parts are grafted and which aren't. I had this surgery nearly 25 years ago and it's still quite weird to me that I can't 'feel' my ear at all because of the graft. Just this morning my earring came out as I was towel-drying my hair at poolside and it took awhile for me to get it back in because I couldn't feel my earlobe at all.
4 comments:
=i am not a flower=
Yes, you are. In your own way. Let's take a look at this picture:
The tone of human skin -- of a single human's skin -- covers a range of subtlety that cannot be equaled by most flowers, and you captured that range in this picture. A point for you.
Then there's your eye, looking as it is sideways towards the camera -- the intelligence radiating from the eye adds something no flower can ever have. If you had cropped this picture so your eye wasn't in it, well, it would have amounted to nothing. But the eye draws the viewer in like a vacuum cleaner. Another point for you.
But even a picture with beautiful tones and an intelligent eye needs some artistry, and you accomplished that with the striking criss-crosses of dark hair against light skin on your forehead and near your ear.
Jana, I have seen other photos of you, and I know you are a very beautiful woman. This picture doesn't show you off as "very beautiful" in the sense of conventional female beauty, but it makes anyone who looks at the picture think, "This is an amazingly beautiful person."
That's what makes a photographer great, to be able to take pictures like this.
In a mirror.
Thanks.
gs, great comments. What can I say but "I agree!"
gs: Thank you for your generous comment :) I feel a lot of conflict with taking pictures of myself because I am never satisfied with the result--either artistically or personally. It's nice to receive such kind support for my efforts.
I think it is a really nice photo, made better by our explanation and musing.
I have a couple of small patches of myself that are anesthetic due to injuries, and I realized that I was unconsciously exploring them with my fingertips while reading your text.
Thanks for the inage.
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