A photo hunt digression

A buddy of mine is running a photo scavenger hunt on a Facebook page I'm part of. I was sipping my coffee and contemplating today's clue, a selfie. I'm not big on those. There have been a few, of course, mainly during workouts.

But I'm trying to think more about my photography, so the idea of a nice selfie, an actual self-portrait, is a bit of a challenge. A good portrait shows something about the subject, and so should a self portrait. But what do I want to show? What do I have to show?

Some of you know that one of the reasons I got into photography was that I figured there would be fewer photos of me if I was holding the camera. I'm one of those people the camera does not love, so the idea of actually taking a formal selfie fills me with an inchoate dread. My buddy Sean did a self portrait that I was quite taken by. (You can see it here. No, I have no idea how he did it, but I suspect Photoshop.) One of the rules about writing is to write about what you're afraid of, so I suppose I will press on.

One idea that I'm thinking about is my hands. I was typing away one day and happened to notice my hands. I typically don't look at my hands while typing. The light was wonderful, and I wished there had been someone there to take a photo from over my shoulder. I'm musing about ways to recreate that shot. Hands are nearly as unique as our faces, and can express even more personality.

The other thoughts revolve around reflections, and what my surroundings should be. People often hold things during a portrait session, and nobody would be surprised to see a portrait of me holding a camera. Except one needs the camera to take the photo, except I have two of them. Only a photo nerd would notice the one I'd be holding is my backup camera, and maybe not even. Such a nerd would more likely be looking at the lens.

I was exploring the thought of a self portrait taken while editing photos, or at least looking like I was editing photos. In aid of that I was browsing through Lightroom looking at photos, wondering if one or another would make a good element for the portrait.

Which got me to here. Muriwai beach again. I got lost in the photo while thinking.

No, that isn't Linda in the distance, it's a spot on your monitor. There's nothing in the distance, just more beach, more sky, more ocean. Probably some rain.

This photo didn't actually need much editing. I wanted to get the lines in the foreground sand, and was less worried about the clouds in the distance. Nobody expects clouds to be sharp. I was hoping to capture the sand being blown across the lines.

No, there is no self portrait yet. I'm going to finish my coffee and go work on it. Who knows what will happen?

Curtis

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