In these self-portraits, I am catching the last of the sun in my hammock in my garden.
Believe it or not, this was a really hard thing for me to do today and has been a goal for several weeks “next time it is sunny I will go in the garden because sun makes me feel better”. Today I managed it.
I may look relaxed and peaceful… but look closer.
Only in the shots with my eyes closed do I really seem relaxed. I tried to catch a peaceful expression with my eyes open. I could not.
The eyes open shots are almost exact replicas of those with my eyes shut, but there is something unsettling about those with the eyes open.
This is not a “poor me” post. It is part of a new Self Portrait series I am thinking of starting called “A Photo is Worth a Thousand Mirrors”. Trying to use random selfies to capture not only what I am doing, but how I am feeling.
The investigation is interesting to me because I see things in the photographs that I did not realise I was feeling. And I see things I knew I was feeling but did not intend to reveal.
So I have become interested in the use of the selfie as a tool for introspective exploration of unintentionally captured emotional expression.
Copyright Katy Matilda Neo, 2017