Photography

Cameras often have a timer switch setting, allowing the artist to set it, move into position and wait for it to go off. This method can sometimes be difficult to control and the element of spontaneity can add something unexpected.

It is also possible to photograph yourself by holding the camera at arms length. By relying on guesswork there is uncertainty about what is in focus and the composition that will result.

Some artists get someone else to take the photograph to their instructions and still consider this to be a self-portrait. This borders on a more ‘conceptual’ approach to what a self-portrait actually is and follows the theory that the fact that the artist may not have created the work with their own hand is not as important as the ideas within the work. In this vein artists have been known to use ‘found’ objects, including photographs taken by other people, and reappropriating them as their own work giving them new meaning.

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