Often we can’t tell for sure if a photo is a self-portrait unless the photographer tells us so. A number of factors contribute to the illusion that someone else might have taken the shot. First of all, some part of our mind assumes a person can’t be in two places at the same time – both behind and in front of the camera – even though another part of our mind, the part that is familiar with photography, knows better. The illusion is magnified when people place the camera on a surface or tripod to take a shot of themselves from a distance. The further away the camera, the less likely the viewer will assume that subject is the photographer. If people have their eyes closed or are not looking at the camera, it might appear as if they don’t know they are being photographed, which also leads the viewer to assume someone else took the shot. A subject looking outside the frame of the image, towards someone or something, suggests a presence external to the image that distracts the viewer’s attention from the subject’s presence as the creator of the image. Even looking into the camera can suggest the illusion of someone else being the photographer because the mind more easily accepts the reality of someone taking a shot of someone else, rather than the counterintuitive situation of a people looking at themselves taking a picture of themselves. These kinds of self-portraits create the illusion of objectivity, as if pretending, playfully or quite deliberately, “this is how someone else captured me.” If we assume photographers were not posing for their own shots, we might attribute more authenticity, impartiality, or spontaneity to such depictions of their personality, which might be the photographer’s intentions. By creating the illusion of someone else’s presence, the objective self-portrait also suggests a relationship between the photographer and that imaginary person who took the shot. Consciously or unconsciously, the photographer might be referring to and posing for someone in particular. But who is that person, and what is the photographer thinking and feeling about that person? Photographers might invite the viewers to be that presence, encouraging them to experience, sometimes voyeuristically, the qualities of their personality they intended in the photo. At the very least, objective self-portraits keep us guessing as to whether that particular portrayal of the subject was created by the subject or someone else. The reality of self-reflection is uncertain. Is it me seeing me, or someone else seeing me? In the subjective type of self-portrait, the viewer feels more certain that photographers took the shots of themselves, as when we see their outstretched arms pointing the camera towards their bodies. We’re aware of the presence of the camera as a tool in helping them capture themselves. When photographers look into the outstretched camera, the sensation of self capturing self is magnified even more. The subjective or objective quality of the shot seems more ambiguous - even contradictory, deceptive, or comical - when the photographer is clearly holding the camera but looking away from it. The presence of the camera becomes obvious, along with the fact that the shot is a subjective self-portrait, when people shoot themselves in reflective surfaces – especially mirrors, because we all quickly recognize the mirror as a tool for observing oneself. In a curious fashion of infinite regression, the photo captures the process of the photographer photographing the photographer photographing the photographer. The subjective nature of the self-portrait might be more ambiguous when shooting into glass or metal reflections that distort the image of oneself or make it difficult to determine the viewpoint. Playful and sometimes perplexing paradoxes of self-reflection can be magnified by the use of unusual camera angles, or more than one camera, that keeps us guessing where exactly the equipment and photographer are located in the reflections, or even what is a reflection and what isn’t. As a simple example, imagine holding the camera at arms length to take a shot of yourself looking into a mirror. In the photo we see you gazing at yourself, but if we know this is a self-portrait, there's also the you taking the shot of you looking at yourself. In these complex reflection shots, layers of self-awareness blend and embed into each other, sometimes to such a degree that we lose a sense of the objective or subjective nature of the picture. We might also lose track of the subjective/objective distinction when photographers include a printed self-portrait photo, or one displayed on a computer screen, into the new self-portrait. For example, imagine taking a shot of a photo in which you took a shot of yourself looking into the camera. You, and we, are looking at a picture that you took of a picture that you took of yourself looking at yourself taking the picture. The subjective or objective quality of the image takes a bac

Day 7/ 7 Things in 7 Days Day 5/ GTWL: 5 New Things What do I want to accomplish in my life? Well, I already have a wonderful husband and a great family, so no complaints there. For my career, I am currently working in an online college to earn my BA in Psychology. I hope that when I am done that I will be able to help victims of domestic abuse. This is something very important to me and is the main reason that I am going for a degree in Psychology. I have had a best friend who was living in that type of situation and a sister who has also endured this type of treatment by her husband. My sister has taken the steps that she needs to take to get out of that situation and I am very proud of her for it. As for this photo, it has its purpose in this thing I am sharing with all of you also. :) Not only do I want to help victims of domestic violence, but I would also love to get good enough at photographing, so that I can maybe start a business on the side, photographing weddings or portraits or something. Photography is a passion of mine..hence the name, lol. :D