Self portrait research

Dan hanna

The one photo a day technique has become a huge trend over the internet, on Youtube particularly. It is done by the photographer taking an image of them self (usually with no premeditated or unique composition) every day for any length of time and combining them together to create a montage of their life. Normally this is presented through video and shared electronically; however, this process predates the internet.

The longest running series of images began 21 years ago and is still going today. It was created by a video artist and photographer named Dan Hanna who began his project Time of my Lifein 1991. What made Hannah’s project not only original but unique from other imitations is that he built a special portable rig for his project. Whilst the rig may sound unnecessary it allowed him to place himself correctly into the middle every shot. It also served another purpose; the rig which consisted of a large ring was divided into 8 segments and 365 markers which he uses to rotate at the same rate as the Earth, mapping out the days and seasons. This gives a better feel of time passing rather than a constant frontal view.

Another similar idea to this is the Project 365technique.This is the idea of taking one picture a day of where you are go, what you see and the things you dofrom a third person perspective. Rather than just showing the passing of time this also tells a story of your life. Even though this method may not directly include you in the photograph it stillencompasses the nature of a self-portrait which is to capture a person and/or how they live.

http://www.danhanna.com/aging_project/p.html

http://content.photojojo.com/tutorials/project-365-take-a-photo-a-day/

Photo-Laszlo

Larry Laszlo is a commercial photographer based in Denver. He has a wide variety of styles that he uses to shoot celebrities, politicians and musicians, in and out of the studio. He has done a collection of images of himself and his house which he all has classified as self-portraits. This photograph entitled ‘Caution: ‘Objects in the water droplet are closer than they appear’ illustrates a single droplet on the camera lens. The taking of this photo must have been an incredibly meticulous task as such a specific focal length would be needed to capture the drop properly. The effect created by the contrast of positive & negative focus draws the eye straight to the drop which gives a clear refraction of his face, working like a DIY fish eye lens. The eye can then begin to piece together the background which appeared at first to be an unintended blur. This twist on a self-portrait gives a new layer of interest to what would otherwise be a bland photo and shows an abstract way of portraying yourself through a photograph.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/laszlo-photo/1899390628/in/photostream/

Andres Thor

Andres Thor is anIcelandic Photography enthusiast whose works usually emphasize his use and manipulation of light. This is seen through various uses of reflection and refraction to manipulate how the camera captures his subjects. It is also seen through his heavy, almost grungy textures and tones which really brings a sense of hyperrealism to his works. This work here named ‘So say we all’ is one of his tamer works that uses a mirror to capture different angles of his head. Although this photo is in an incredibly cramped space the use of the mirror allows it to appear infinitely large and draw the viewer’s eye from each dimension to the next. The colour cast on the camera gives an eerie atmosphere to the photo which is aided by the high contrast. This again shows the potential of self-portraiture that is often overlooked, breaking out of the stereotypical straight forward figure-in-the-middle composition.

http://www.flickr.com/people/andresthor/