vow

today i ditched work early, came home, took a good look around and decided to get a few shots of the light in our living room. self portraits are tricky for me, mainly because i am a bit of a control freak. i hate having my photo taken by anyone else, generally because i have no control of what it will end up looking like. this doesn't mean i don't let anyone take my photo, i just usually don't ever like any of them.

after i got my macbook a few years ago, i jokingly started taking self portraits of myself with the photobooth application. it was never meant to be serious, i was just sort of playing with the timer and experimenting with different types of light sources, and positions. after a few shots i was really surprised by the end results. the low-fi pixelated affect mixed with natural or low light created a very interesting vintage look. then i began trying out direct lighting with on focal point. i worked in the black & white application and i started to do some post editing, but only enough to slightly adjust the colors and exposures. the idea was to keep it looking exactly like what it is: a simple, low tech, self portrait - easy, fun, and interesting.

i have probably done over 400 self portraits with the photobooth application, experimenting in all sorts of ways; shooting both indoors and outdoors, with natural light and various types of bulbs and lamps, with facial and figural self portraits, with heavy ps work to no ps work at all... in the end i am left with not only 400 self portraits of myself ... but also a valuable learning lesson: photography is fun and it doesn't always have to be taken so seriously. also, you don't need to have a fancy DSLR or a hasselblad to take interesting photos.

it helps to remember that the machine taking the photo is only the means to an end; the end being your vision and your distinct way of seeing life as it is to you.

Photobooth Mac Isight Camera. Self Portraits.