Saturday 5 January 2013

Focus on Life Week 1 of 52 - Self Portrait

This year I am taking part in a photo journal challenge set up by the lovely Sally Russick of Studio Sublime who, in addition to creating beautiful jewellery is a talented photographer...unlike myself! Each week Sally will be sending the participants a word prompt and the following Saturday we will post our photo interpretations on our blogs, Flickr or Instagram.

The first prompt Sally sent us was 'self-portrait' - cue sinking feeling and knot in the middle of my stomach. I do not like being photographed and you'll be lucky to find more than a handful of recent pictures of me - even fewer decent ones.

So my first reaction was to make an appointment for hair and make-up and spend hours setting up props and soft lighting that would be kind to me but then that wouldn't really be a true representation of me, the camera does in fact lie sometimes. I'm more often to be found sans make-up with hair askew and anything but glamorous. I often get distracted by work before I'm even dressed in the morning so I decided that would be a truer reflection of me and took some pictures just after I got up this morning. As you can see I couldn't help but ham it up a little and I'm guessing that was my instinctive reaction to cover my nervousness.

You have no idea how difficult it is for me to publish these photo's but deep breath, here goes....



My early morning  pink and puffy look was a little too much so I converted them to black and white which makes them a little more bearable - but this really is me.

Hop over to Sally's Blog and you'll be able to see how the other participants have photographed themselves and I'll be back next Saturday with my interpretation of the next prompt.

Have a great weekend all.

Lesley


39 comments:

  1. Lesley, you remind me so much of me. I'm so thrilled you overcame, and posted. I know we all see the us 20 or 30 years ago that we want to look like, but what I see in these pics is a wonderful, humorous, talented lady that I'm so happy to hang out with. Looking forward to the rest of the year's exploration. :)

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  2. I love these! I've been glancing at what everyone is posting and the story is the same over and over and over. Women do not want to be in front of the camera. And I am just as guilty of that. I applaud your bravery

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  3. You rock!!!! I do not like taking pictures of myself either!!!!!

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  4. i completely understand your feelings about not publishing photos of oneself..i think you look great..this last year i decided to post a few photos in the spirit of authenticity , "we are what we are, might as well face it" sort of attitude..it got less painful the more i did it.

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  5. Have you seen mine yet? I only used 25% of my face! Good morning! And well done, you!

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  6. You are a wonderful down to earth gal, those are hard to come by, Lesley!!! I'm 100% with you on the picture phobia, but I see NOTHING wrong with the ones you've posted!!!! your braver than I was in this first post . . . Jan

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  7. Those are awesome! I love how you were hamming it up to the camera. You look like you were having fun.

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  8. As I read through the blogs, is seems most of us have the same feeling about self portraits. We see only the things we don't like, and are blind to the good things. And I'm one of them doing just that. I love your photos because it represents the true YOU. And by the way, you have a great smile--a little mischievous...

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  9. I have a feeling that the faces you pulled are seen on your face at least a few times a day. Creative and real!

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  10. These are great... & I think the second one really is a nice picture! The others are how I felt taking my picture!

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  11. Lesley - these are WONDERFUL!!! You have a cool hair-do and your smile is priceless - it lights up your eyes and the rest of your beautiful face! You look awesome and I am patting you on the back for your bravery! Nicely done my friend!

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  12. Lesley, I LOVE these photos! I don't think you're at all alone in your feelings about being photographed. I hate and despise it--LOL! Brava on your courage! These pictures of you bring you completely to life for me (and you look adorable, by the way), which is a great gift. xo

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  13. Good Work, I am not brave enough for that.

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  14. Aren't we a brave group of women? Showing up and really seeing each other...and look at all the embracing hugs!! Beautifully done, and love the 'hamming'...really shows off your personality, and makes me feel like you would be awesome to hang out with and make art!

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  15. Lesley you have me laughing too! Way to go....I too just snapped a pic this morning straight out of bed....my husband was able to laugh with me! Love love your pics!

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  16. The real you comes through very clear! LOVE it!!

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  17. Hi! Great shots - you radiate joy! :)

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  18. These photos are so perfect! These show the real you and they are so fun! Thank you for posting them and sharing with us!

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  19. Oh my God I love these shots!! You're a hoot! Thanks for making me smile.

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  20. Love these pictures, so much fun. You're braver than I am, I picked a shot that only showed a very small portion of my face. Fun and difficult challenge, well done!

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  21. love the photos you look like you had some fun taking them.

    Nicole from http://instagrampad.wordpress.com

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  22. These are great..and I can see you are a fun girl. I think we have all been very brave....although I think you have been braver than I ! I am looking forward to next week, see you then,
    jenni

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  23. Oh Lesley you are a beautiful and quirky soul! I love these shots.
    Therese

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  24. I love your playfulness! And your bravery! This was a difficult one for most of us.

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  25. Yes, I agree with everyone, Lesley!!! You look like a fun, free spirited girl that's down to earth and blast to be with . . .
    Jan O

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  26. Oh my Lesley! Does your personality (at least the one I see online) shine through in these photos! They are fantastic.

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  27. oh these are fantastic! I love how you took this challenge head on ... smiles and all - bravo! clearly more guts than I have :O

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  28. That's so funny. My first reaction was to go get a haircut and eyebrow thinning, then put on make-up too. Why can't we just accept ourselves the way we are...bushy eyebrows, age spots, wrinkles, and all?

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  29. This just makes me want to come and visit even more! We can be goofy while eating our Crunchies and playing with beads!

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  30. Knowing you from your wonderful writings on the Internet, it is great to see your fun expressions and keen intelligence in your face.

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  31. Oh I love your face! You look like someone I would always hug when we'd run into each other :) You resonate with so many people, I'm sure! I am also very un-made up in the mornings when I get sucked into my projects and finally get cleaned up before hubby comes home from work.

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  32. These photos are fantastic!!! My grumpy morning face morphed into a full on smile when I saw them. =)

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  33. They all made me smile immediately and yes, I think we all know how difficult this prompt was for each of us, I have a folder full of cast offs before just letting go and posting one. You are in good company!

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  34. Love them all! While I have never met you, these photos tell a wonderful story about your personality!

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  35. love the pics!!!
    i would like to join in - i've emailed sally, but no reply...

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  36. Beautiful shots! You remind me so much of a lovely lady I used to work with and haven't seen in forever, I wish we had done a better job keeping in touch now.

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  37. Your "hamming it up" shots gave me a huge grin. I can tell you'd be a LOT of fun to hang out with. And, you have one of those super-friendly faces. I bet people chat you up in the grocery store all the time! Thank you for sharing some of you with us!

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  38. Lesley! Yes, I do know about hating to get your picture taken (I too, have less than a handful in the last 10 yers) and have a tremendous idea of how hard it was to put those out there! We all get sucked into the idea of glamour by media hype and forget that there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of just average folk and we don't want to be compared to the norm. But Lesley, that personality of yours just shines on through those pictures! A self portrait is more than the outer you..........you captred the real true Lesley!!!

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