S E L F P O R T R A I T

So last Friday, Mr Charles asked us to make a post regarding 'Self Portrait'. So the first thought I had was, so we're supposed take a photo of ourselves and explain this and that. If only it was that simple. But here I'm not gonna talk about the exact definition of it, no sir, I'm gonna elaborate more in my point of view. (to view the references, hover your mouse to the title of the photo/the coloured text)

For me, Self Portrait is like an image that you created for yourself. It can be in any form, but the most common known to mankind is a simple photograph of a face. Later on, now I'll show some of the photos made by artist that is captivating to the human eye, well for me that is.

Marina Abramović, Self-Portrait with Maracas, 2006

Self Portrait is not as simple as it sounds. By looking at a simple piece of work, it can show many emotions from happy to sad and from grieve to joyous. The unique thing about it, is, it doesn't just have to be photographed, it can be interpreted in many kinds of ways.

'Saskia' 2012, River Of Milk, Roq La Rue Gallery

The artwork above is made by using colour pencils. The artist made a self portrait of a human surrounded by roses, covering the whole face except for the nose and the mouth. This photo that I stumbled by accident intrigues me, and since I'm bad at explaining things, I'm not gonna say it. But I will do say that somehow it looks as it's hiding something.

Bond of Loyalty

Who said self portrait only consist of one individual? From artworks to mangas, this picture right here is a character from the famous action Japanese manga written and drawn by Tite Kubo. If you actually follow the story of the said manga, the relationship between these two are of master and sword, yes. sword.

Now lets go back in time. The 16th and 19th century to be exact.

Oda Nobunaga in a 16th century portrait

Portraits and self-portraits have a longer continuous history in Asian art than in Europe. This is one of them. Some of the art portraits back during that era tend to have a Nobel warrior in a large landscape, illustrating a poem in calligraphy on his experience of the scene.

As some of you know, this is Vincent van Gogh. He is one of the many painters that I admire. A little fact, he actually painted himself thirty-seven times between 1886 and 1889. Yup, 37. I won't say it was vain (this is a joke of course) of him to do that but in fact, he was so dedicated to his work. There are a lot of versions, one of it is that he actually cut a part of his ear and he did a self portrait of it. You can check his artworks in here.

A side view of a self portrait photo

Before I end, I must warn you haha, from now on, if I'm in an okay mood, most of the post will be featuring this guy up here. Isn't he just gorgeous? HAHAHA! I think I might have creep you out by saying he's gorgeous, fine. He's a good looking fellow.

AND NOW MY OWN PERSONAL REAL LIFE SELF PORTRAIT

Basically it features two photo of me then I edited it my own way. I just play around with the hue,saturation, layers and crop here and there, don't forget the lighting! Honestly, the reason why I took the photo was the glasses. Harry Potter inspiration much? Yes, heck I even borrowed my brother's shirt just for this, somehow I was going to the androgynous look, I don't know whether I succeed though, you could be the judge of it.