Selfie - Too Close for Comfort

Hi! :)

love it .. its genius

Hi Jack:)! very nice and stylish selfie! br Hannu

How nice. Rarely do I think of you as directly revealing yourself like this. Though your photos obviously reveal a lot about your sensibility and visual acuity, you seem to me more the observer than the observed. And observer is not just a passive role for you, as your photos show an uncanny ability to create within a frame from the raw materials you find on the street, inside houses, in your world. As much as you allow things to happen within your sight, you also put them together in meaningful and insightful ways. But you tend to keep yourself out of it, in the sense that, even though you create and frame and add interesting perspectives, you don't impose yourself and you don't seem to manipulate according to an agenda other than a photographic one, which has always seemed relatively pure to me. Here, you still allow for some obfuscation in the blurring and implied motion but you do insert yourself into the mix. It's cool that there is a discomfort here, even in the closeness. We usually think of closeness as intimate but it doesn't have to be. Sometimes closeness is anxiety or discomfort producing and I think you've captured some of your feelings about that, in the angle you've presented yourself, in the way your glasses almost seem to come between you and the viewer, and in the way you don't quite allow a clear view of yourself even at this close-up range. It's by no means a warm and fuzzy photo but neither is it cold. It exists in that in-between world of direct contact and simultaneous hesitation. It's like your running away while standing still and even confronting us (and yourself). 

To sum up . . . thanks. This moved me!

For me, this is one big 'chuckle' that you are sending out to all of us. If you can make even one person smile our laugh in a day - you have truly accomplished a lot. THANKS so much for this one. The blur really adds to the pic!!!

My first thought (before I even knew it is a self-portrait) is "Einstein with his hair cropped out of the frame". I hope you take that as  compliment. I think of Einstein as wonderfully eccentric and, obviously,  very wise. AND you have observant and happy eyes.

Amy

I knew it, i knew it, Santa is real !!!

Thanks for revealing yourself Santa.

B-)

d.

Fred said it all ! 

Regards,

Mário

Jack, Very nice! Sometimes it is hard to get a clear view on yourself, ha.

Gandalf's here on PN!!

(-:

More of a Santa than Gandalf, Interesting selfie Jack.

Holger

@Jack: great selfie - it's you and neither Gandalf nor Santa :-)

@Fred: I'm probably repeating myself: your comments are impressive and a pleasure to read.

Jack,  admire your great selfie impulse... and sure it's meant for all your friends in P.N. Though it's bold and a bit shaky the smile is awesome and would open any heart.  Anyway, I like your warm Hello to you all with this amusing shot.  Very best wishes,

I really like this "selfie" Jack! The title says it all and Fred's observation (imho) picks up on that. As Fred says, this is by no means a warm and fuzzy photo nor is it cold and I think that is because your warmth and gentle demeanor come through clearly in your eyes. If I were to meet you on the street, you are the kind of person I would immediately be drawn to due to your warmth and intellect. Amazing sometimes how the most obscure images reveal the most about someone! Nicely done, Jack! Thank you for sharing. :)

Brilliant, Jack - whether the image should be called a "selfie" or not.  Your sense of humor shines through; there's nothing fuzzy about that.  Yet the fuzzy character of the photo as a whole tells me that you have no fear in seeing the world through lenses that aren't always clear and that don't always make sense.  In the context of fuzzy logic, you don't need restrictive concepts of truth and falsity; you are far more comfortable with degrees.

Thank you, Jack!

--Lannie

:) shades of St Nick

Tatjana, Stefanie, Hannu, Michail, Dushan, Mario, Marco, Roberto, Ilia, Holger, Lannie, Marie - I appreciate you taking the time to stop by and leave your impressions. Between Santa or Gandalf, I'll take the wizard. Before I lost weight the Japanese thought I looked like Colonel Sanders! How would you like to live with that?

Fred - Boy, that's an awful long critique for such a quick snap. But as Troy McClure once remarked on an episode of the Simpsons "it's like you've known me all my life." You've pretty much nailed me. By nature I'm an observer and like to keep myself in the background. Although I like the company of friends and good conversation (pretty rare nowadays), I do value my privacy. So this shaky selfie is about the best you're probably going to get from me. I mentioned in a comment on another of my pictures that I had watched a video of Garry Winogrand talking with a group of photography students at Rice University (it's on You Tube if you're interested. It's long (1:45) but definitely fascinating.) He said that photographing was the nearest he could get to non-existence, to just disappearing. I'm not sure if a lot of the students understood that but it certainly touched a cord with me. Anyway, check it out if you have time. Finally, I have to say that a comment from you is a dreaded treat. A treat because your observations are so perceptive; very few can get to the heart of the matter better than you. And dreaded because they demand an equally long and thoughtful reply - and there goes my morning!

Gail - Thanks for the compliment. I do my share of complaining, I guess, but I've been around long enough to realize that it doesn't get me anywhere. Might as well relax and enjoy what's coming your way.

Amy - Einstein, eh? Well, I take that as a compliment. I always liked the twinkle in his eye.

Wolfgang - We really can't escape ourselves; all of us are one of a kind and really can't be anyone but who we are. I thoroughly agree with you about Fred's incisive comments.

Bachir - Thanks for the comment. The picture s a lot bolder than I am but on the other hand, I'm equally as shaky. I'll be 71 in about a week and if you haven't figured out that you are who you are by then, I think it's too late.

TJM - Hope you don't mind the abbreviation, my fingers are getting tired after responding to the comments, especially Fred's! I think this picture serves as a kind of mirror and that everyone sees in it a bit of a reflection of themselves, kind of a "universal selfie". That occurred to me because what you wrote about me is just what I think about you.

Michael. Two things: You're right about the sense of humor. The problem mostly is that we take the whole whiz-bang circus much too seriously, as if it really meant a rat's ass. Secondly, I've realized as I approach doddering time that none of us see things any too clearly but rather through a blurry lens of our own patterned biases. Strangely enough, just that realization seems to help clear up some of the fog.

Well, I see I've managed to chew my way through all the commenters. Hope I didn't miss anyone.

Now I have met Santa, the true Santa in my phtographic life. You constantly drop presents in form of encouraging words. So, now and right here is time to thank you, dear Master.