Yesterday my Dad said it seemed like I'd like to look at pictures of me. I didn't quite understand and was a little confused. After I asked him he explained: Well, you take a lot of self portraits.
I couldn't help but laugh. Just to make this clear: I'm
not taking self portraits so I can look at them later and think "Oh, I'm so pretty!". You know the pictures of teenagers where they're standing in the bathroom in front of the mirror and take a lot of photos of themselves? I don't do that. I don't know if we have something in common, those teenagers and me. I guess something we do have in common is that we want to know "Who am I?"
A little difference is that they seem to focus on how they look while I focus on how I am. What are the distinctive things that make me "me"? How do I want people to see me? How do I feel about certain things?
What expression, posture, clothing, background, colors, texture, and style best express the real me?
Well, but the mainly reason I take self portraits: you have model who is always available and works for free ;) All my friends are living all over the place in Franconia and I have to take the train everywhere so I don't see them every day. This will hopefully change when I go back to school.
There are some great photographers out there who are doing a lot of self portraits:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurazalenga/ (She's just like one of the most amazing photographers ever.)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chiie/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ronaaa/sets/72157621581971199/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nikolinelr/page4/
So, done.