PictureYourself
Below are three more entries to WestVirginiaVille’s ‘PictureYourself’ series. A word about self-portraiture: In this age of click-and-post Facebok status updates and 1,001 Photoshop filters, it’s easy beyond compare to snap a quick shot, run it through a strange or goofy filter and herald a new photo of thyself. But we’re looking for self-shots that say a wee bit about who or what you are. See the details below on sending in a picture of yourself. Submit for consideration by March 1. Bring it.
Jeanne Mozier
Jeanne Mozier | filtered
HOW: One day last May, when I was having a tutorial with my web coach, we finished whatever we were doing and she decided to show me tricks my MacBook Pro could do with Photobooth. Who knew. Suddenly, there I was on the screen — live! I snapped a photo or two and then played with the effects. Light Tunnel seemed made for me.
Unfiltered | click bigger
WHO: Entrepreneur — both economic and social; popcorn empress at my working artifact movie theater, the Star in Berkeley Springs, W.Va.; arts and community activist; author; historian; astrologer; West Virginian by choice but at the core, a planetary citizen. I love to agitate and make people laugh; improvise and plan; cook and eat; talk, read, watch TV and movies and get things done. All I know and think, I am willing to share. Check out www.starwv.com
←•→
Elizabeth Damewood Gaucher
Elizabeth Damewood Gaucher | click bigger
HOW: I’ve been developing my writing via blogging at Esse Diem for about two years now. I felt like it was time to put my face on my “About the Blogger” page. I grabbed a favorite book as a prop, used my Blackberry Bold 9700 to take the photo and made sure I was standing in natural morning light. I used Windows Photo Gallery software to manipulate a color photo into a more black-and-white tone to flow better with the new blog header, an old family picture turned into a graphic by West Virginia designer Mark Wolfe. It was difficult to get the right angle taking the photo myself, but I like the way the imperfections convey the real me.
WHO: Elizabeth Damewood Gaucher is a writer living with her husband and young daughter in West Virginia. She was born in Charleston and grew up with an extended family of grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Her mother’s father was the youngest of ten children living in the New River Gorge area, riding a rail car from Kaymoor down into the valley to gather wildflowers. Her father’s mother mowed the grass in high heels on Virginia Street in Charleston into her 90s, having been a young adult cutting more than a few rugs in the Roaring ’20s. Be sure to read her ‘Essays on a West Virginia Childhood’ series at her blog. She is currently seeking essayists for a 2011 project on ‘West Virginia Childhood and Childhood: A Sense of Place.’
←•→
William Price
William Price | macabre version
HOW: A photo taken in my living room, then imported into Photoshop CS5. Further tonal treatments and texture added for raw appearance. It was one of my first Photoshop creations and was made spur of the moment for no particular reason.
- Un-macabre version
WHO: I am lifelong resident of St. Albans, W.Va., and an enthusiast of photography and art hoping to one day become a professional in photography. My preference is horror and macabre followed by landscapes. Traveling West Virginia shooting oldbarns, small towns and fall foliage is my favorite pastime.
THE SERIES: We can’t assure yours will be used, but WestVirginiaVille welcomes submissions to this series. It must be a self-portrait you took or artwork you created, not a shot someone took of you. You should be a resident of WestVirginiaVille or have some connection to the commonwealth.
DEADLINE: March 1, 2011.
SUBMIT: E-mail us a single artful (or in-artful but cool) self-portrait of your face PLUS a separate regular photo of your face. ALSO INCLUDE: The medium and occasion of the piece, plus a paragraph of background on yourself and any links to other work by you. Self-portraits welcome in oils, watercolor, photo, chiseled in stone, quilted, embroidered, undressed (with style), tattooed, frescoed, collaged, photocopied, craquelured, smudge sticked (we’re running through our Photoshop filter list now), bas-reliefed. Etc. Even animated.
OTHERS in the SERIES:
~ Chase Henderson on Chase Henderson
~ Steve Hill on Steve Hill
~ Mark Blumenstein on Mark Blumenstein
~ Mark Wolfe on Mark Wolfe
~ Mary Sanders on Mary Sanders
February 25, 2011 at 3:34 pm
What an honor to have my self-portrait selected, thank you! But the real thanks goes to William Price. Thanks for making me look so purty. (Lord man, that is terrifying……) I haven’t seen Jeanne for a long time, but my memories are such that I would say that portrait captures an essence. Well done!
February 25, 2011 at 3:41 pm
Yes, Mr. Price is ready for his close-up – in the next George Romero retrospective. Beautiful, if scary, photography.
February 25, 2011 at 3:51 pm
I love (and fear) “It was made on the spur of the moment, for no particular reason.” And I agree….it has an odd beauty. The kind of beauty that makes you look away so you don’t turn to stone. Incredible.
March 4, 2011 at 6:47 am
First, I would like to thank the staff of WestVirginiaVille for even considering to publish my portrait. Secondly, I would like to thank Elizabeth, for being purty to begin with. This site is wonderful and makes me proud to be a West Virginian!