Exploring the Self Portrait

Photography

Photographed using my Sony DSLR camera.

I was messing around with the settings on the camera, experimenting with exposure and shutter speed - and colour. I was taking photographs of my family in black and white and got my sister to take one of me walking in front of her. I love this photograph because although it is a self-portrait, it keeps some anonymity. I could be anyone on any path. I also like the light coming in from the right side, creating deep shadows and texture in my coat, which is exaggerated as it is in black and white.

Collage

For the initial photograph I used my Sony DSLR camera. I printed the photograph after enhancing it a little using Adobe Photoshop and then collaged the book page over the top. I had ripped a page out of an old book I was using for another collage project but it ripped unevenly. The piece used in this self portrait was the left-over from that page. I cut it from the spine and arranged it around my face. I liked how it curled around my ear and fit in with my hairline and jaw. I then rephotographed it with my Samsung Galaxy A71 phone camera. I played around with different filters and chose the cartoon filter. This was simple but effective and I really like how the lines of the paper from the spine of the book really stand out. I like the hand-done feel to the whole image.

As a self portrait it represents myself with one of my interests - reading and writing. I love literature and it really does shape my thoughts and ideas, so its fitting that the book page curls around my face like literature flows through my being.

Mono Print

I used the mono printing process to capture my self portrait in varying depths and surfaces. The first image I created was thick and blotted with a little too much ink, but my face shines through the clouds. The second is neat and a clean line drawing with an interesting natural shadow across the left. The third and fourth are single line drawings (I love this process of drawing and wanted to see the outcome of this as a mono print). I also used shiny paper in the fourth. The pen I used to transfer the ink to paper created and indentation on the gold paper, so the outcome is two lines of ink and a different texture of line. The fifth image is the ink left in the plate after my prinitng.

I love the process of mono printing - how you can’t see your final outcome until you have finished; how it is a natural outcome with things you can’t control; how it leaves behind another image on the plate of ink you were using. And finally, how you get messy, and can print another type of self portrait - your hand. Finger prints are personal and unique to you, so my final print is one of my hand straight onto paper.

As representations of myself, these portraits do reflect a simplistic likeness, but also my love for experimenting and seeing what can happen - and I especially love mono printing for this reason.

Single-Line Drawing

As self portraits they may not represent a perfect likeness, but they do present a self exploration. To do these I studied my face in the mirror and drew without looking at the page or taking my pen off the page (the second image is a tracing of the first in a new colour overlaid the original). I enjoyed the process of this, as the outcome is, to an extent, uncontrolled. It is a natural and interesting exploration of the self.

Digital Illustration

I reduced the opacity of a photograph of myself (photographed using my Sony DSLR camera) then used the pencil burshes on Adobe Fresco to create a second image. This process meant I could get a good likeness while focusing on exploring digital technology and different stroke directions to shape the face. I am new to Adobe software so took the opportunity to also experiment with my self portrait. I like the outcome - especially the texture of my skin and eyes.