So the first theme on my list for this Second Life Photography Challenge is “Self-Portrait”. This seems to be the standard starting off point for most of these things and for good reason. They say that when creating art you should start with what you know and we have to spend all day, every day with our selves, so it makes sense to start there. To be honest my ultimate vacation would be to take a vacation from myself!
The self-portrait in art has been around for a very long time, for instance many believe that Leonardo da Vinci’s Portrait of Man in Red Chalk is a portrait of himself. Frida Kahlo did a number of self-portraits, such as Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird and there have been artists that have taken very unconventional approaches to the self-portrait such as Salvador Dali with Soft Self-Portrait with Grilled Bacon and one of my favorites, M.C. Escher with Hand with Reflecting Sphere. (This concludes the paragraph influenced by the art classes I took in college.)
For my self-portrait I wanted to create a picture that combines both the Second Life me and the real life me. I have always viewed Alyss as being the real life me but I think she has a tendency to wear more of my inner real life qualities on the outside, and she also has a much better figure! I wanted my self-portrait to paint a picture of the full person that I am, both in world and out, so I took the picture in my SL house and because I am at home I’m barefoot, because I never wear shoes at home. I am also surrounded by different aspects of me, like the stacks of books that seem to follow me around the house, my camera, coffee (I consider coffee a food group) and a touch of snarky humor on the wall behind me, because that is an art form all it’s own that I appreciate very much. I also gave myself glasses because real life me has to wear them and why not! I’m thinking of switching to contacts but I have to get over my aversion to touching my eyeballs first.
I’ve also had a few people that have signed on to the take this photography journey with me and they have shared some really awesome photos in our Flickr group, I’ve included some below!
So now it’s on to week two and the theme of “Colorful”. For those doing the challenge with me I thought I would include some links to some articles on color in photography that I found interesting and thought might provide some inspiration (If you can’t tell I’m a bit of a photography nerd).
Color Theory for Photographers: An Introduction from Pixel Magazine
Great Tips for Using Color on Photography from Expertphotography.com
If anyone wants to join in feel free, there is no requirement that you have to start at the beginning! If you do decide to join us you can share your work in our Flickr group! A full challenge list can be found here.
Categories: 52 Week Photography Challenge, Photography
