Self Portrait

A long time ago Sarah Rhoads blogged this:

Since the fifteenth century, artists have created self portraits of themselves. In every creative medium it seems a common practice that throughout the course of the artists’ career they create a variety of self portraits over the course of time. Whether it is for an exploration of self, a projection of self, a means of therapy or just as a means to remember what they looked like and how they felt during a particular season.

Many of the artistic “greats,” Rembrandt, Van Gogh, & Picasso (to name a few) took a slew of self portraits through the course of their defining and successful careers. I can’t help but  think that maybe they were onto something.

All of these artists attempted to grasp their identities. Whether or not the images showed a clear representation or only what the artist wants us to see about them, this internal self-exploration is powerful and seems to be a therapeutic and beneficial practice for every creative.

There are some days that I get antsy and need to photograph something, someone. Today was one of those days, and I had more fun shooting myself that I thought I would.

Head over to this post by Sarah to see an awesome collection of self portraits.