how i see myself
1. I can verify that this was taken in Ocean Township, but for CDP people who want a valid photo of the sights in the Ocean Twp. area, look at MCDP.
2. Could you (yes, even YOU, casual Photo Friday passerby) give me some (preferably negative) critique? What could I do better here, do you think?
3. I created this for this week's Photo Friday "How I see myself" meme.
For a few days, I got to thinking... how DO I see myself?
Without getting into anything too philosophical, this photo is one of very, very few that syncs up with the little image of myself that I have in my head.
18 comments:
I want to comment on this even though as yet I do not have any meaningful critique, certainly not negative. I will look at it some more and think about it some more and get back to you.
For now, what I have to say is that I like it; that it does seem to jibe pretty well with the way I see you seeing yourself; and that it isn't the way I see you.
It really is a good effort, and I believe a good result. I will try to be more specific later.
It does provoke thought before saying anything - kinda' "I'll get back to you on that."
I guess that is good right there - makes one think; no cursory photo.
I would have to say I wouldn't picture you surrounded by black.
But your trombone avatar & your usual one for this blog are themes in black.
As Python would say, " My brain hurts!"
Josy, I don't know you well, which may give me an advantage looking at this self portrait.
What I observe:
- perspective: the camera is on the floor, makes me think you're rooted and down to earth.
- dressed all in black, makes me think you're not a flowery girl.
- leather wristband; roots in punk?
- what are you reaching for on the floor? Almost seems musician-like, looking at sheet music, and you're about to pick up a guitar.
My thoughts! for what they're worth.
I really like this shot.
Perspective is unique, it's a little dark, and tough. Maybe that's you.
First off- a heartfelt thank you to all who took the time and energy to comment. I really appreciate it.
John- "it does seem to jibe pretty well with the way I see you seeing yourself; and that it isn't the way I see you."
I'm a little curious about that statement, and I'll wait for you to get back to me.
Paul- I think the "wearing black" thing mostly stems from the fact that it looks better against my skin in b&w, so if I'm dressing for a shoot... (Besides, this is a brown jacket and indigo jeans- not that anyone can tell. ;) )
Ruth- My clothes DO come off as black in this photo. (I tried to keep the tiniest color of the brown jacket and indigo jeans in the photograph, but it doesn't seem to have worked.) "I'm wearing all black" says something slightly different than "I wear dark colors." Thank you very much for your (very worthwhile) thoughts, Ruth!
SPK- I'm not terribly dark, and I'm certainly not tough, but for some reason I seem to think I am, despite loads of evidence to the contrary.
sorry. no negatives here. love the perspective and the tones are quite nice. it is a tougher josy than the one i've seen with the trombone. grrrr.
nice entry!
The trombone self-portrait was TERRIBLE. It was "I want a photo of myself playing trombone," so I tried it... and then tried to make the resulting grossness into a photo that didn't suck.
Evidence points to the fact that I'm very un-tough. Doesn't stop me from believing in myself, though. ;)
Ruth, I think you are right about your advantage. It seems obvious now, but until you drew attention to that fact, it hadn't occurred to me just how much my prior knowledge colored my viewing of this photo. (Maybe "colored" is not the most apt word to use here, as the clothes looked about as black to me as it seems to have looked to everyone else. Though if I tilt my display just so, suddenly things get much lighter....)
Josy, I hope I didn't come across as presumptuous. What I meant was that this picture seems to evoke a similar response in me as that evoked by some of your drawn self-portraits and various self-commentaries on various blogs, especially deviantART.
...Which I realize doesn't explain how that is different than how I see you, but this comment is starting to get too long (as my comments seem wont to do) and I am leery of subjecting your poor, innocent readers to too much (more) of my verbosity.
I'm finding it difficult to understand your metaphor and really who you are.
I see a body without a head, sitting on an old kitchen hair chair, an arm and a half, black jeans and tshirt in a basement?
Not sure how that rolls into how you see yourself. If I would have done it I would have taken one of my personality traits and abstracted. I don't have an entery as I just found this site today (via illustration friday).
I will give you this though, it's WAY better than standing in front of a mirror and taking a picture of yourself (see 50% of other entries).
Cheers,
John- Yeah, yeah, if I ever get around to redoing this photo, I'm going to make sure the clothes don't come across as black.
I'm... you've... you've read all my commentaries on deviantART?
Anonymous- I'm not trying to say "who I really am," just "how I see myself." I tend to see myself as a lot cooler than the person I really am.
The photo isn't metaphorical, it's literal. Every time I look in the mirror, I'm slightly shocked by what I see... my face is NOT the face I think I have; my body is NOT the body I think I have. This photo is something I can look at and say, "Yeah. That's me. It's not A GIRL or A TOTAL DWEEB or any of the things I know I am in reality, but it's how I always think I come across."
I don't think I could abstract my personality traits very well. Certainly not without going dangerously close to teen-angsty "THE DARKNESS OF MY SOUL" crap. (I actually found a photo last week with that title. I think the photographer was serious, too.)
As for the basement, well, it's the only place in our house that isn't colonially decorated and cluttered to the point of being a fire hazard. It almost makes a decent backdrop. Almost. ;)
Thank you very much, Anonymous- I really do appreciate the feedback. :D
Josy, I doubt I've read all your commentaries on deviantART, but I've read some. I'm a little surprised by how surprised you seem to be, since I thought it was established that I sometimes follow links and read what's there. (And with broadband, it doesn't even take 35-40 minutes to follow a link!)
It's interesting you should mention that you don't think of yourself as a girl, because in a much longer (and still unfinished) version of the comment that I posted last night, I said
To me, the blackness is less punkish than it is artsy. After reading the other comments, I see now how the pose could seem "tough," but on my first viewing(s) I thought it was more... angsty and asexual, perhaps even slightly masculine (which is different than tough). All this is still feeding and feeding off of the "artist" concept.
When you say "it's how I always think I come across," do you mean that how you see yourself is the way you think you come across? Do you think people see you and not think of you as a girl or a total dweeb?
I generally think people see me in a way which is decidedly not the way I see myself. And sometimes they surprise me when the me they see is the me I see.
[And for the record, I have something of a soft spot for dweebs. ;)]
if i really had to critique the great jossie, i would have had more effective lighting, so that there was less noise and more definition in the shadows perhaps....?
otherwise i love the angle and the rafters!~
John- Well, I actually mean "how I wish I came across" or "how I mean to come across." I'm pretty sure I actually come off as a dorky overexcitable girl.
"Asexual... slightly masculine." Good! I was really hoping that came across!
Pod- Ah, lighting! I KNEW there was something about photography I meant to learn!
A tiny part of the problem, I think, is that the camera autofocused on the background without me in it, and didn't readjust for when I put myself in the picture.
...And my red-orange autofocus light stays steadily on after the photo's been taken, and it stays on until the camera is turned off and restarted. I think I need to look into this problem. It KILLS any hope of a decent lighting situation (and is a large reason for the b/w look).
Holy crap! This has so many comments! Aren't you proud of yourself for invoking such raw emotion in us, your loyal (for the last 3 weeks in my case) viewers???
Plus, this is the 14th comment, and I hated seeing 13 comments on the post. :-)
Well, of those 14 comments (now 15), 4 (now 5) are mine, 2 are yours, 3 are John's, and 1 is an anonymous passerby with an opinion. Whole conversations happen in these comment boxes, so numbers of comments really don't mean anything.
Besides- I specifically ASKED for feedback here.
Thanks for allowing me to get beyond unlucky 13. ;)
Jeez, John has some really good things to say. And you do too in your responses. I think this is a fascinating subject and makes me think about how I view myself too, which of course is what this human discourse thing is all about. Anyway, I'm glad I came back to read up.
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