Sometimes i have a hard time understanding how someone who purports to be a photographer says that the world around them never changes. This same person also says they are best at planning and working out compositions for photographs that include people as subjects of the work and that without this element they have a hard time making photos. Then I realize that this is one of those camera owners involved with what seems to be a rampant infection among people on Flickr, the 365 self portrait projects. And these folks seem to not see the world as an interesting possibility unless they are the center of it. Not one of them seems to show the slightest understanding that the number one problem in photography is not putting more of your self centered ass in the picture, but getting out of the way and letting the world present itself through the lens and your personal vision. Narcissism truly is a destructive disease, especially in relation to the arts. I have taken self portraits and also photos with myself in the frame, but have always felt peculiar about the results, that's just me. As a student of the history of photography and how photography has affected our understanding of ourselves and our culture, I am saddened by this culturally warped viewpoint.
Now as an addendum to the rant above, let me say that I have seen some absolutely stunning self portraits done by accomplished photo artists. Whether or not these are acts of extreme narcissism is dependent on their body of work taken as a whole to understand a particular artists vision. Then there are the totally self centered who's only work is about them and there uniqueness which is laughable considering all the unique people all doing the same thing. Over and out.
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