In photography class in college we had an assignment called Self-Portrait. Pretty self-explanatory: Take photos of yourself. Now, in college, as an assignment, this seemed doable. Even fun. I don’t think I gave it a second-thought. At least I don’t remember that I did. But today, as a wife and a mom and probably as an over-analyzer, I’m having trouble with the whole self-portrait thing because it feels highly egotistical and self-promoting.
The dilemma is that I rarely get photos taken of myself because I am the one who loves taking photos. And I even, perhaps ashamedly so, love taking photos of myself. I think it’s fun to try different things. To look at myself, study myself, be honest with myself, document myself through self-portraits. But there is always this little voice inside of me that says I’m being conceited. This little glimmer of embarrassment when I turn the camera to point at my own face. I even try to do it when no one else is around, so that no one else will see me.
Even posting these photos of myself in this blog post was an outright war between me, myself and I.
ME: If I post photos of myself I will appear to be all about myself.
MYSELF: Actually, truth be known, sometimes I AM all about myself. It may be ugly, but it’s true. I really have to work hard to put others first.
I: I just like the art of photography, and including myself in those photos is fine.
What do you think about self-portraits?
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