The Shadow of My Reflection!

What person or thing hides deep within us? How can we discover it? Can we discover it ourselves or do others see it first? In reality, many times we think that we know who we are, but we actually don’t. We pretend to know ourselves, but are lying, blind ourselves from the real truth. After trying to avoid these situations, we end up hurting no matter what.

Who is the stranger in me? The real answer is: I do not know a single thing about the person that lives inside. I think that I may know and I try to understand, but I simply can not. Everyday comes with its new obstacles that need to be overcome, for which brings forth a different person. The stranger in the photograph is Robert Rawicki. To sum him up, he is a shy person, who, after some time, can make you laugh and is extremely loyal to to individuals he finds important. Just like any person , he poses for a picture because he is forced to. By being put into situations that force discomfort, I feel more uncomfortable about my smile. He straight up thinks its ugly. Growing up I did not think too much about my teeth being crooked, but since you grow up and you are forced to take more pictures to create more memories, you are reminded to smile. When looking back onto old memories, it opens the door to the insecurity that was always put in the back of your mind. As Fred R. Barnard said "A picture is worth ten thousand words”.

When a picture is said to hide thousands of words behind it, it obviously means that there is a story connected to the focal point of the image. Yet the most interesting thing about it is not the story itself, but how many individual mysteries and unique stories each person presents about themselves. With each photograph, every person has been taught to hide their story from others to see. The way this has been taught is by simply living in modern times. As Susan Sontag has stated, “recently, photography has become almost as widely practiced an amusement as sex and dancing… photography is not practiced by people as an art”(Sontag, pp.5). Being an older piece, Sontag has predicted the future with that one simple sentence. She has explained that people do not understand photography as they did before, and simply it has become an everyday thing that people mindlessly try to perfect. Since people are hiding a stranger in themselves with each image, why do they get stuck on trying to perfect it in every way possible?

The stranger in me is a person that does not like to smile when it comes to photographs. Occasionally he does let out a smile, but it has nothing to do with happiness. A smile in a picture is simply just a tradition as simple as celebrating a holiday. People have their own beliefs and ideas deep down, yet they still part take in it due to the fact that it became a tradition they have been accustomed to. Once again Susan Sontag has said, “photographs are a way of imprisoning reality… one can not possess reality, one can posses images”(Sontag, pp.7). With this message Susan Sontag explains no image or graphic can hold the same truth as reality itself, while stating that people become oblivious and believe anything that is thrown at them.

In my self portrait it, shows me holding a diploma in my hand from my high school graduation and a wide smile on my face. With my person refusing to smile in a picture, there are many reasons for this. For me, a perfect image does not exist, but only the one that you create yourself. With that being said, I have created a self portrait of myself that dealt with my success and the personal outcome that I have achieved. And with that self portrait, I was very happy out how it turned out. I was simply very proud with myself that I have achieved such a big goal in my life. After that goal, I was ready to take an even bigger step by starting college. That for me was very important because I truly believe in self success and self motivation. Even though many individuals may view self motivation as an act of selfishness, I see it as empowerment to your own well being. With that being said I believe in self motivation highly due to many reasons. First and foremost, when you achieve a goal, you will also achieve success. As you overcome many obstacles you will be delighted by the feeling of personal success which will drive you to work harder and harder. Also, no one will motivate you like you motivate yourself. You will have to work hard on your own for something so no one will be able to say they gave it to you. Lastly, your success will motivate other individuals. As I previously mentioned, recognizing self success is very important for you to become who you want to be. In the long run, others will view you as a role model and you may even become someone's hero.

In addition, to self portraits being the ultimate best visual representation of you is self expression. As you create a portrait of your own self, you tend to pour out all your emotions and thoughts onto the image. Also, with that you tend to think of what brings you down and you tend not to focus on what others will think and say of you. When creating a self portrait you temporarily escape from reality and enter a “All About You-universe”. In that space, you dig down deep into your farthest worries and excavate it without much thought. Also, you create a better representation about who you are. As said previously, pictures are imprisonment of reality. And that reality tends to be the same reality that every individual tries so hard to escape.

Another idea that self portraits represent about an individual is someone else who they are trying to be. It happens to be that each person has their own personal flaws. It ranges from hair types to personality types. In “On a Photograph”, Susan Sontag says, “to suffer is one thing; another thing is living with photographed images of suffering which does not strengthen conscience…”(Sontag, pp.13). In this quote, Sontag touches on the idea of self hatred and lack of self confidence that we see a lot in this day in age. There always has to be one particular thing that humans find in themselves that they turn into a flaw. And by fulfilling the need to be who they want to be, human beings create a image that they want to see themselves as in.

In conclusion, everyone has a stranger within themselves. And speaking from personal experience, I do not know or recognize the stranger that emerges from me. From time to time when the stranger appears, I feel like I know who he is, but that's only a fleeting moment until he disappears and comes back in a different way. But the truth is, we may not ever fully meet and understand the stranger that we think that we know. I sure have not discovered my stranger, nor do the images of me tell everyone who I am. Because in reality, we barely know who we are on the outside and we are too busy chasing and running away from who we want and are trying to be while lacking to focus on our inner being.

Shapiro, Fred. “A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words.” Freakonomics, Fred Shapiro, 14 July 2011, freakonomics.com/2011/07/14/a-pictures-worth-a-thousand-words/.

Stated by Fred Barnard March 10, 1927

http://freakonomics.com/2011/07/14/a-pictures-worth-a-thousand-words/

Sontag, Susan. "In Plato's Cave." On Photography, Dell Publishing, 1977, pp. 3-24, Composition Flipped

http://writing101.net/flip/wp-content/resources/documents/sontag-in-platos-cave.pdf