I’m considering putting together a portfolio of self-portraits. Periodically, I’ve made self portraits for as long as I’ve been making photographs. My earliest recollection of this activity was when I was, I don’t know, eight or nine years old. My mother had just bought the first Polaroid Land Camera. I was fascinated by it; or rather, by the instant pictures it produced. I was home from school one day, and I purloined the camera, open it, and set it up on a table. I got a long thin stick, maybe a four or five foot dowel, and held it in my hand. I stood in front of the camera, posing while I slapped at the red shutter release button with the stick. Finally, I tripped the shutter, and I made the exposure. I wish I had the print today. I can vividly recall the process of making my first self-portrait, how it took me numerous taps of the stick on the shutter release button to trip it, but I don’t really recall what the image looked like. It’s as if it didn’t get enough fix bath in my mental darkroom, and it faded long ago.
This self-portrait is my most recent…about three hours ago.
