Week thirty
This is a self portrait I took in my home studio this evening; the thirtieth in a weekly series which I began at the start of 2009. I’ve edited it a little and cropped it to better fit the proportions of the website, in a variation on the full vertical format I posted to Flickr last night.
Taking a series of self portraits shows me how others see me, as I still have the “self-image” of a twenty five year old; slim, bordering on skinny, instead of the man I now am at the age of 37. My face fills out, my skin shows the effects of age, my hair becomes a little less controlled and the lines of my neck and upper body turn from the angular shape I knew for so many years into a more rounded, padded version of myself.
I no longer worry as much about my personal appearance as I once did. I have had the constant reassurance and love of a wonderful woman for the past four and a half years: Jo has known and loved me through skinniness and the effects of aging, from when I was a self-conscious rake (see the photo below) until today, when I am secure in my appearance and in who I am.
It’s also interesting and gratifying to see how much my creative control over portrait lighting has improved since the shot below from February 2005, through all I’ve learned in the past couple of years as a Swiss Strobist. :-)
