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Photos & Mirrors

Today was a wildly successful photo adventure with the vivacious Shelly. It was the first time I'd pulled out  my SLR since moving to Toronto, and a great warm-up for my photo shoot with a friend and her fiance on Thanksgiving weekend!

I've uploaded my top pics onto Flickr, but I would also like to pause for a second and share some thoughts on these self portraits. In each one, I'm intentionally difficult to see, incomplete. I think this captures a profound insight into identity and self.

Photo #1
There is so much going on here that it's difficult to pick the pieces apart. Can you tell what is reflection and what is "real"? There is place, clothing, colour, movement...it's so rich! And that's the reality of life. I exist in chaos. Beautiful, overlapping, complex chaos.


Photo #2
Here you can see my reflection quite clearly. But you know what? It's such a small section of mirror, one part of a larger mosaic. You can only see part of my face and one hand, in the same way that glimpses into who I am come in tiny snippets, quick moments and unexpected spaces.


 Photo #3
Although the third photo captures me from head to toe, it's not coherent. I'm fully visible, and yet not. The pieces don't fit together, and somehow my face is missing. Other parts of me are duplicated. I'm wholly there, but what you see is fractured.

And that's all I've got to say about that.



It's also important to note that we stumbled upon garage sale alley, and for the low, low total of $2, I got two cake pans, a wicker basket, and a melamine sugar/creamer set!

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Comments

  1. MLW12:01 PM

    I love your photo self portraits. There are several awesome messages/truths there which I am tempted to borrow for future use. (with your permission of course) And your garage sale purchase - sweet- especially the melamine!

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