“Have compassion for everyone you meet, even if they don’t want it. What appears bad manners, an ill temper or cynicism is always a sign of things no ears have heard, no eyes have seen. You do not know what wars are going on down there where the spirit meets the bone.” – Miller Williams
Withdrawn
“Life is your art. An open, aware heart is your camera. A oneness with your world is your film.” – Ansel Adams
“Capturing Life One Image at a Time” – Robyn Graham
I thought the quote above by Ansel Adams went nicely with my “tag line” – “Capturing Life One Image at a Time”, thus the pairing with a self-portrait.
“We must beware of committing the fatally common fallacy of assuming that all we see is all there is to see.” – C. W. Leadbetter
More than Just a Window
My heart feels your pain even when my physical being does not. I have compassion.
This image was taken in a small New York City Restaurant. One wall of the restaurant was covered with a vintage mirror.
Self portrait in vintage mirror. The quality of the mirror (scratches, bows, etc.) distorts the image and makes it have a mysterious, almost supernatural feel.
Please don’t think I’m crazy. I feel like I am going out on a limb here. I look at 100’s, maybe 1000’s of photographs each week. It is more or less an obsession. I look at what other photographers do so that I can learn more and more about my passion. I am of the thinking that this, along with reading about photography every day will further my journey to becoming a good, or even great photographer. There is always more to learn. More technical skills, more creative compositions to experiment with, more processing techniques, etc.
Along my journey of exploring the works of other photographers I’ve run across many who have published self-portraits. Some photographers I’ve met have taken a self-portrait every day of the year for a 365-project. One of my all time favorites, someone I’ve mentioned here before is Vivian Maier (http://www.vivianmaier.com/). She’s inspired me in many ways, attempting self-portraits, being just one of them. The images below are my attempt, on a whim so to speak, to accomplish the task of shooting a self-portrait. This is not my first attempt. I will post others at some point. Others, in fact, that I like better because they are more mysterious, more interesting. But these are fresh, show the process of my attempt to get it right, and a little fun so I’m going to post them now.
Attempt 1 – not quite there, but I like it.
Almost there, slightly out of focus, but I like how you can see the camera and the way the mirror alters the image in the corner.
I like the camera in this one and I think you can tell I am having a little fun…
The final product. Slightly out of focus, which soften’s the image and I think makes it look a little less self-portraitish, more like it’s a candid and my gaze is on someone across the room.
Robyn Graham Photography 