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The me that i show to a largely unknown audience, such as a social media site isn't actually vastly different them the me that i keep close to the people that i love. The public side of me, is just how i act with my close friends except that this public mask of mine is me being more of the norm. The way that i act in public isn't that very special or unique to any degree. The way that my public figure acts is the most borderline and basic mindset. What i mean by this is that i am not going to talk to strangers without holding part of me back, because there is a high chance that they would reject me. The only way to not be rejected is to just act like the norm. What does it mean to act by the norm? Well it means to act as a "man" in this society, it's only right to act "manly" and show no weakness. This is when an individual abides by social rules and instead of acting how they want, they stick to whats safe. A classroom for example, whenever i make small talk it would only account to school related topics, or even what's going on in class. That's what i call the norm, however if it was one of my close friends in a class then i feel safe just talking about something more personal in our lives. The conversation tends to be more deeper with somebody that i know since there is no norm to abide to.
The only people that get to see the one behind the mask are close relatives and friends. The side that they are exposed to is me being eccentric in a good way. What I mean is that I am more confident around them and that brings out the “real” me. I believe that this is the reason that I tend to be so quite with people that I don’t know too well. This deeper portion of me is shown to others, but only fragments of it shine through. Does this part of me abide to the norm? No, it only abides to my friends and I emotions. I may have stated earlier that I would at eccentric towards others, but like I also said I change based on the mood of my friends. If my friend was going through a dark time, I would instantly offer to help with my best advice I have on the situation. The secret to this is that i just care about these people and what they meant to me. I'm not saying that i don't care about anyone outside of our group, but i just don't want to waste energy on other people i don't know.
What you see right here is the first mask that i was talking about, following the norm. Susan Sontag is an expert when it comes to photography and fully understands the philosophy behind it. Well, according to her these photo disagrees with everything she claims. This photo doesn't uphold any 2nd meaning behind it other then showing a public side of me. There is nothing deep about this photo so therefore it would be considered a selfie instead of a self portrait. It is okay to have a mask for the public since not a lot of us can be comfortable enough to show our true side. The reason that i call this particular photo a selfie is because: it doesn't show any unique characteristics, it doesn't stand put from any normal selfie on the internet, and it's a traditional mirror selfie. Taking this photo was simple enough because i didn't have to take any time thinking of a deeper meaning when taking a photo. This picture just represents something i would put online, nothing more nothing less.
This is a portrait and shows a more complex meaning then any selfie could ever have. My portrait isn't as unique but your not going to see any one else with the same meaning as mine. The subliminal message implanted is that I want top always be there for my friends even in the darkest of times that they are in. I believe that the best quote for this is when Susan Sontag said, "Photographs offer indisputable evidence that the trip was made, that the program was carried out, that the fun was had." This quote is very suiting because the photo shows that there was evidence of me being there for others when the times were dark. I won't go into much detail, but i did have a friend that was struggling with his emotions against the same sex as him. I would tell use all different types of comforting for him and eventually he pulled through and now is in a happy relationship. The darkness around me in the photo shows my friends energy giving off and the bright light is my energy trying to make a difference. At first I didn't think that i was this much of a change and benefit to my friend group, but right after i took a break from them and came back it was a bit hasty. One friend had tried to stop it but said that once i came back the "energy" was lifted and lighter. The same guy had told me "You where like the sun in our group, you made us more warm and feel more alive." To this day, i believe that to be the best compliment i had ever gotten. I had choose to take this portrait simply because of that reason and will forever stand behind those words.
Pitting these two photos up against each other is pretty unfair in my opinion, The second easily takes it and i think Susan would agree. This portrait has a whole new layer added to it and can't be decipher just by a single glance. It takes more to just see this photo on the internet and understand it without knowing the story of who created it. I like to believe that photos shouldn't be just glanced at, but whether have a deep understanding within. I'm not saying that all photos need a deeper meaning, there can still be the normal selfies in our gallery.
The way Susan Sontag describe the different amount of photos and meanings made me realize that there is never on true way of capturing an image and showing it to others. Doing this assignment has shown me a whole other side of photography that i didn't know existed. I do take a lot of her words to heart and will apply them in other aspects of my life.
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