|
The photographer through his own lens... |
|
|
|
28-01-2005 |
Autoportraits have been part of art since art exists, and photographers have experimented from the starts with autoportraits. It's very simple for a photographer to turn the lens on himself, either though a reflective surface or by sitting in front of the camera.
 For some reason the human mind is fascinated by the representation of other humans, and portraits, nudes, sports, snapshots, in fact i'd guess the majority of images produced today have people as main subjects. The most readily available human being to a photographer is of course himself, so the turning of the camera towards oneself is I guess a natural step...
Now, what I find odd, is that on the internet, on sites like Photosig, where people put up photos so that other users can rate them and comment them, most of the autoportraits i've seen are from women. More than that, almost 99 percent of nude autoportraits are by women. It's no secret that most nude photography is made by men and has women as subjects. I find it odd that women feel compelled to do the same and take pictures of nude women. When a woman wants a nude model she can use her own body, and it goes in the art circles as a questioning of the image of self imposed by the society (or some thing like that). A man does that, or takes images of nude men, and he tends to be assimilated to the gay community. This is what I find the oddest, most nude men images produced are aimed at the gay community, and not at women. Is it that men in genenral respond more to nudity...
Nudity, now, that's a subject for a whole week...
 |
|
