Lecture for Photo 2 Self-Portrait assignment

1. The Self-Portrait Project

2. Do not make a selfie

3. No!

4. Nope…

5. Nnnooooo...

6. More than what you look like…
Juror's Statement for Self-Portrait Exhibition at PhotoPlace Gallery:
As someone who avoids being in front of the lens, I'm not exactly sure why I love the
genre of Self-Portraiture so much. Perhaps it is because it allows for a truth-telling of
sorts, or a glimpse into a photographer's psyche. I also have to acknowledge the
bravery it takes to expose oneself, and in the end it brings us all a little closer as we
relate to the stories being told. This exhibition has work that ranges from poignant and
personal to humorous and magical. It was a complete pleasure and privilege to spend
time with so many approaches to revealing self.
As a juror, I look for work that delights and transports me. I look first at the quality of
the image. Is it in focus, is it unique, shot with intention, and has the photographer
committed to the concept? I also look for an element of beauty and a surprise. I
consider the exhibition as a whole, where it is important to showcase a range of work
that meets the criteria. In this case, I had to forgo dozens of images of hands over
faces and self portraits in window reflections, bird cages and white nightgowns, as I
could only select a few to round out the show. Keeping this in mind, when submitting
to a call for entry, think outside the box and bring something fresh and new to the
conversation.
— Aline Smithson

7. For the Juror's Award, I selected a powerful diptych, one image a portrait of a relationship, and
the other, a page torn out of a notebook sharing with the viewer a heart breaking story of living
half truths, bringing up for the rest of us, the roles we play and the masks we wear. I appreciated
the honestly and revelatory gesture of the work, reminding me the power of simply telling our
stories. For the Director's Award, I was drawn to the complexity of this image. The artist
submitted a number of excellent photographs, but this was a wonderful duality of our inner and
outer selves.
— Aline Smithson

8. Creator: Hippolyte Bayard,
French, 1801-1887
Title: Self-portrait as a
Drowned Man
Date: 1840
Technique: direct paper
positive

9. Creator: Raoul Hausmann
Title: ABCD: Portrait of the Artist
Date: 1923-4
Subject: Photomontage

10. Creator: El Lissitzky
Title: The Constructor,
Self- Portrait
Date: 1924
Material:
photomontage

11. Creator: Imogen
Cunningham
Title: Self-Portrait on Geary
Street
Date: 1958
Material: Gelatin silver
photograph

12. Creator: Andy Warhol,
Title: Photobooth Self-
Portrait
Date: ca. 1963
Material: Gelatin silver
print

13. Creator: Andy Warhol
Title: Self-Portrait (in Drag)
Date: 1981
Material: Polaroid print

14. Creator: Lee Friedlander
Title: New York City, 1966
Date: 1966

15. Creator: Lee Friedlander
Title: Wilmington, Delaware
Date: 1965, printed 2000
Material: gelatin silver print

16. Creator: Friedlander, Lee
Title: Colorado
Date: 1967

17. Creator: Mendieta, Ana
Title: Untitled (Self-Portrait
with Blood)
Date: 1973

18. Creator: Lucas Samaras
Title: Photo-Transformation
Date: 8/19/76

19. Creator: Lucas Samaras
Title: Photo-
Transformation
Date: 22-Apr-74
Material: Internal dye
diffusion transfer print
(Polaroid film)

20. Creator: Samaras, Lucas
Title: Sittings 8x10
Work Type: polaroid
Date: February 16, 1979

21. Creator: Duane Michaels
Title: Self Portrait As If I Were Dead

22. Creator: Avedon, Richard
Title: Self Portrait

23. Creator: Avedon, Richard
Title: Self Portrait

24. Creator: Close, Chuck
Title: Self-Portrait/Composite/Nine
Parts
Date: 1979
Material: 9 internal-dye diffusion
transfer prints (polaroids)
mounted on canvas

25. Creator: Robert Mapplethorpe
Title: Pictures/Self-Portrait
Date: 1977

26. Creator: Sherman, Cindy
Title: Untitled Film Still #13
Date: 1978
Creator: Cindy Sherman
Title: Untitled Film Still #14
Date: 1978

27. Creator: Cindy Sherman
Title: Untitled Film Still #21
Date: 1978

28. Creator: Cindy Sherman
Date: Exhibition: 7/1/1980-7/31/1980

29. Creator: Cindy Sherman
Title: Untitled #85
Date: 1981

30. Creator: Goldin, Nan,
Title: Ballad of Sexual Dependency: Nan After
Being Battered
Date: 1984

31. Creator: Coplans, John
Title: Body of Work: Back and Hands
Date: 1984

32. Creator: Rineke Dijkstra
Title: Self-Portrait,
Marnixbad, Amsterdam, the
Netherlands, June 19, 1991
Date: 1991
In 1991, the photographer Rineke
Dijkstra made this self-portrait
after swimming a grueling thirty
laps as part of a self-proscribed
rehabilitation program to recover
from a bike accident that left her
with a broken hip. Exhausted and
too tired to contemplate a pose,
her assistant was directed to press
the shutter as soon as she was in
front of the camera.

33. Creator: Catherine Opie
Title: Self Portrait
Title: Exhibition: Persona
Date: 1993 (creation)

34. Carrie Mae Weems

35. Carrie Mae Weems

36. Carrie Mae Weems

37. Carrie Mae Weems

38. Creator: Wearing, Gillian
Title: Album: Self-Portrait
at 17 Years Old
Date: 2003
Wearing used Photos of
immediate family for starting
point of series Album. She had
a mask constructed of each
person’s face based upon the
photos. Only her eyes remain
uncovered.

39. Creator: Gillian Wearing
Title: Self Portrait as My
Mother Jean Gregory
Date: 2003

40. Creator: Sam Taylor-Wood
Title: Self Portrait Suspended III
Date: 2003

41. Creator: Sam Taylor-Wood
Title: Self Portrait Escape
Artist
Date: 2008

42. Creator: Tracey Baran
Title: Today I’m Thirty
Date: 2005

43. Creator: Elinor Carucci
Title: Pregnant
Date: 2004

44. Creator: Elinor Carucci
Title: Thirty-Eight Years Old
Date: 2010
Creator: Elinor Carucci
Title: Mother
Date: 2012

45. Creator: Elinor Carucci
Title: The Woman That I Still Am
(Mother Series)
Date: 2012

46. Creator: Jess T Dugan
Title: Self-Portrait (muscle shirt)
Date: 2013

47. Creator: Jess T
Dugan
Title: Self-Portrait
Date: 2014

48. Creator: Jen Davis
Title: Untitled No. 70
Date: 2018

49. Creator: Jen Davis
Title: Pressure Point
Date: 2002

50. Creator: Jen Davis
Title: Untitled No. 42
Date: 2011

51. PHO-113: Photography 2
Project 1: Self-Portrait
Due Dates:
• By the end of lab on Feb. 4th or 6th submit your top three
images to the Class Server. Images should be in a folder
titled: LastName_FirstInitial_SelfPortrait and each image
should be titled LastName_FirstInitial_SelfPortrait#.jpeg
• Critique in Lecture Feb. 8th
• Week 4 & 5 (Feb. 11th, 13th, 25th, & 27th) will be used to
Print and Mat – 1 Final Image
• Matted Print is due for Critique at the beginning of Lecture
on March 1st
• Self-Evaluation of your self-portrait (2 paragraph minimum)
is due on Blackboard on March 1st by 10:00am

52. Description: The intention of this project is to think about how you
show more than what a person looks like in an image. I know what you
look like. There are images that serve the purpose of saying “this is
what this person looks like” but I want yours to say more, so how do
you do that? You will be applying things you learn to future portraits
you take.
Instructions:
• Shoot in manual. Be in control of your image.
• Take a minimum of 200 images. The more images you take and the
more you look at your images and reshoot the better they get.
Additionally, taking self-portraits isn’t easy so take as many as you
can. I will need to see a minimum of 200 images loaded into your
Lightroom catalog by the end of Lab on Week 4.
• Tell me more than just what you look like; who are you?
• This is Photography 2, so I expect well-lit, well-exposed, well-
composed, well-edited, and thoughtful images.

53. Give yourself enough time to
complete your project and HAVE
FUN!