What else do you see?

Okay, so I have to admit -



The comments on yesterday's post that you all have been seeing my sad eyes for awhile (for months, Cat?) threw me a bit.

But more to the point, why have you not said anything?

!

Seriously :)

So tell me now, what else are you seeing?


PS Arianna, thanks for all your lovely comments over the past couple of weeks. Your email is disabled so I can't reply to you but your weekend sounds like it was fabulous :)

The dreaded self-portrait... not so dreaded anymore

Last year I really battled with The Self-Portrait.

Do you remember how I had to get silly to actually get a few pics I liked?

These days I'm obviously most happy with my feet shots :) but let's face it, those are easy. And it's easy to get gorgeous pics. Two secs to compose the pic and gorgeousness!

one of my favourites captured recently with my iphone - I can't stop taking pics of leaves, people!

I've also tried to get interesting shadow pics...

Connor and me at the gym - cute, hey?

Because these arm-outstretched-in-the-front just get boring after awhile. Although I must say, I still take most of the pics of me and the kids like this.

Ballito.... oh how I miss you :)

I feel like there's a measure of control to the shot rather than depending on an unrealiable timer. This is obviously one of the nicest self-portraits of me and the kids....
 

and an imperfect pic with the iphone in bad light




I've also grown to love hand shots. Best I start putting cream on my hands - they say you can always tell a woman's age by how her hands look!
 

tanned hands in Ballito

one of the first 10 pics with the 50 mm lens, and one of my favourites

 

 and then there's this one of the cucumbers that you all loved, taken in bad light, nogal :)



I've not mastered the timer pics AT all so I have no cool Superhero pics of me jumping, despite me desperately wanting a cool jump pic. I blame it on my bad reflexes!

But I have stepped out of my box more with these sorts of pics - the slightly interesting, off-camera pics.

This one is my favourite favourite! Taken on Easter Sunday.

 

 

I have another batch to look through from last weekend - I was playing with self-portraits because the light was just GORGEOUSSSSSSSS in the study so I was snapping away. (527 pics is what I started with, not all of me - I'm not that vain!!!) And of course, dragged the kids in away from Lego to take pics with me.

Look out for those in a few weeks' time.

So tell me, which is your favourite?
Can I dare you to put a self portrait of your face on your blog? Who's up for the challenge?

Photo fun - monthly challenge - self-portraits

Can I just say this?

I'm so proud of you for playing along because (for me) self-portraits are the most difficult types of photos ever.

And the ones where you can see yourself on the iphone as you take the pic? Those are the worst because of my lack of spatial ability.

Anyway.

So proud you're here.


The rules are simple:

• 5 pics - one each of your face, hands, doing something you love, feet, wearing something you like
• Interpret as you wish
• Link up to this post and leave me a comment.
• Have fun!

Here are my 5 pics:

(this may have been the easiest challenge as I definitely don't have many decent self-portraits)
 
When I was on holiday I knew that I had to post some self-portraits so I set up the camera in the kitchen on self-timer for about 4 meals to try and get a good pic. Light inside is terrible as you know so I'm ridiculously pleased with this one.

doing something I love

my face - this is the only way I can do self-portraits - all silly - although I desperately want those mysterious-looking, slightly sulky-looking ones :) D says I'm mad!

taken during Superhero Photo last year - one of my 5 favourites from that class

feet - I love those sparkly pink sequinned flip flops

my hand, nice and brown

An aside - I've had to stop wearing the nail polishes I normally do since I'm so tanned. I know, good problem to have :)

Which one is your favourite photo? 

 Link up your posts here

{SP4} Self-portraits and perfectionism

Sony Cybershot right after my Zumba class

and this is my top half - I also put a "warmify" filter on it (Picasa) - I like this pic because this is exactly how I was feeling about this exercise at this point :)

If you don't already have a nice cup of tea, you may want to get one.

I want to write about this self-portrait thing as I've experienced it over the last couple of weeks.

my mirror pics are terrible but I discovered if I crop in a "weird" way, I quite like them

that glass ring on my right hand is from Thailand - recently discovered and I'm loving it

I've always loved self-portraits that tell a story, not just a typical pic. And I've also always loved the self-portraits Andrea's put on her blog for years and years.

I had limited experience with taking these except for when I've been alone somewhere and wanted a quick pic.

This series of self-portraits was taken before we got to the self-portrait lessons and bonus! I actually liked them.

So I thought when I had to do the homework that it wouldn't be too big a deal.

this is me in my comfort zone :)

this is the one from a few weeks back where I was laying on the grass outside!

Well.

I can honestly say it has been a Big Deal.

I'm sure I've taken 100s of pics only to have about 5 I really like. Which is not fun!

One lady on the course said something like when she sees all her flaws, she just wants to hide and I commented and said I get it because I feel the same. I've never been shy in front of the camera (provided I have my lipstick on!) but I also like people to have an "eye" and most people, let's face it, don't care about getting a good pic of you so they take 1 horrible shot and that's that.

I did this treasure hunt like I did all the others, a little bit here and a little bit there, as opportunities presented themselves but then one night I got so darn annoyed with I wasn't getting the same good results as I had been on the course up to then and so I decided to be silly.

Me - silly!

I like laughing but I'm not someone you'd naturally call silly.

But... I'd also seen a series of pics from another lady on the course where she totally embraced silliness and her pics were gorgeous!

And so surprisingly (or not), I actually liked most of the set. There may be something to being a bit silly :)

Anyway, here they are - for your viewing pleasure.

So I think something clicked in me (just a little bit - I'm still going to take 20 to get 1 or 2 I like, although I know the angle for the silly pics quite well :)) because look at me here.

If this is not imperfection at its finest, I don't know what is.

me, without my lipstick, yesterday afternoon

so much so, I even tried to jump with the self-timer but my reflexes are still shocking

taking pics of body parts is so much more comfortable...

This weekend I had to take a pic of me and my book (for the other blog next week) and I started in my usual serious style, hated them all, and then I tried to be "lighter" and voila, these are the ones I'm going to use :)

yes, that's my book. It's only the proof for now but tomorrow I will complete the process to make it available to the PUBLIC! And this is how I felt when I saw it on my Kindle.

I dare you to put a silly pic on your blog! Or any pic of you :)

This week since it's timely, I'm linking to the lovely Kristin Duke (who shares a birthday with my twins :))'s Capturing the Joy linky party.

So, do any of you have issues taking a proper self-portrait? What do you think of  my "journey"?
 
PS I'm still going to keep trying to take a jumping self-timer pic

Diary of a self-portrait

Crikey, this post is getting tons of views. Thank you all for reading and for enriching the discussion by adding your voice.

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The other week when I shared my self-portrait, I said I'd show you how many I actually took to get that one pic. 

Well, it took 9 pics to get one I liked.

By the way, that loveliness is a rosette necklace on top of my dark grey t-shirt (I love this t-shirt so much - reminds me of lovely, grey skies LOL).

I got it from the lovely Jess at Four37 Designs - go get your one and we can be cyber twins :)

 

And this is my favourite of the batch - I like the angle and the shadows. Also the pic flatters my neck quite a bit, don't you find? Ha!

What's your favourite type of self-portrait? I like anything unconventional!