Self-portrait

Funny how things come to preoccupy you, isn't it? A few weeks ago Lisa Marie published a self-portrait on Tumblr and asked other people to do the same. I posted this.

Then, over here on Blipfoto, I started following Doodler, who is doing a project - God, I love a project - to publish a self-portrait every day. Despite what she says in this post, it sounds to me like she is being brave.

All this has set me thinking about the pictures we publish of ourselves. When I was first on Twitter, I posted a picture of myself on the Underground. I thought it was quite an ugly picture but a couple of people have said to me since what a great self-portrait it was. What I realised was that, actually, the photo wasn't ugly, it was just different from the kind of photo that I'd normally publish of myself. It didn't look how I see myself.

And then there was the photo I published on Tumblr, that early morning one. I had reservations about posting that but when Paul asked recently for self-portraits for a collaboration he was curating, that was the photo that sprang to mind. I've grown to love it, mainly, I think, because it looks like me.

And it's been funny, following Doodler's project because one inevitably becomes more familiar with her face, like a friend whom you see regularly, so now I notice far more where she is and what she's doing than how she looks (which is lovely).

I'm not sure I've reached any conclusion yet - if, indeed, there is one to reach - but I thought I'd try another self-portrait today, another honest one. There's loads of things I don't like about this photo but everything that's here in this shot is part of how people see me every day. So I'm going to get used to it!