The Self-Portrait Project document provides instructions for a class assignment to create a self-portrait that conveys more than just physical appearance. Students are directed to take at least 200 photos manually, showing their essence and identity rather than just how they look. They will select a final image to print and mat for a critique, and also submit a self-evaluation. The goal is for students to learn portraiture skills through self-portraiture that can be applied to portraits of others.

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!