Camera Club assignment - self-portrait

For Camera Club this month the assignment is self-portrait.

This prompted a lot of discussion about the nature of portraiture and whether a portrait ever gets to the spirit of the sitter (which is surely, avowedly the aim).

Most of us were in the camp that said portraits never actually get to the essence of the subject and that the famous portraits that come to mind are memorable because they are good pictures or pictures of famous people.

When I do portraits of other people, I usually work on them in photoshop, not to flatter but to replace some of the beauty that is taken away by photography.

This was one of the first pictures I took this morning. I looked at it and immediately went through a checklist of things 'wrong' with it that needed correcting either for subsequent shots or in post-processing.

I took shots better placed in frame, with glasses straightened, with creases straightened, with collar properly positioned, from more flattering angle, with more flattering crop, with better expressions.

And then realised that this was the strongest shot. Which probably shows more accurately how I normally am. So no retouching either.

Whether it captures my spirit, who knows, or cares?


Bench 223