The Art of Self-Portraiture: A Conceptual Approach to Photography

I wanted to explore the concept of self-portraiture and how people approach it differently. It's one thing to take a subject, interpret it, and express that through photography, but when the subject is yourself, it's a whole different story. I think this is where conceptual thinking comes in, and I've been going for this with photo assignments.

The idea of a photo assignment sounds like a class, but I want it to be something more fun and engaging. I want to see how people can communicate visually through the camera. For me, photography is about understanding how to communicate with images, and if you can learn that, it's a very powerful thing. I think this is what's been happening with photo assignments – we're seeing improvement in understanding how to communicate with images.

One of the things I noticed this time around was the way people approached the theme. When I download everything from our sessions and put them into Adobe Bridge, I try to rearrange them and group them in a way that makes sense and flows well. This time, it really came together, and I saw subgenres emerging within different approaches. For instance, there were traditional-style portraits, surveillance cameras, environmental photography, reflections using mirrors, and even Street-like style images.

I also noticed the use of spherical elements or rounded-off shapes, which was a predominant theme throughout many images. It was interesting to see how people approached this concept in their own unique ways. This collective psychology is what makes photo assignments so fascinating – we're not communicating with each other directly, but our work ends up revealing that connection.

The submissions were outstanding this week. There were some humorous images, and even some scary ones to coincide with Halloween. I'm really proud of the work my participants have been putting out, and it's clear that they've been learning and growing as photographers. This was a special video to make, not just because I got to see all these amazing images, but also because I felt like I was connecting with each other on a deeper level.

If you're new to photo assignments, don't worry – we do this every Monday, and I'll give you a theme for the week. Next week's theme will be announced, followed by the following week, when you've had time to shoot. Then, I'll pick out some of the best images and share them with you guys. If you want to learn more about photo assignments or have questions about how to submit your work, check out our playlist on photo assignments, as well as our frequently asked questions section.

Behind-the-Scenes: The Process of Creating a Photo Assignment Video

When I create these videos, I go through the process of downloading everything from our sessions and putting it into Adobe Bridge. This helps me rearrange the images in a way that makes sense and flows well. Sometimes, this involves grouping similar themes together or creating a narrative arc. My goal is to make the video as engaging and palatable as possible for my audience.

This time around, I noticed something interesting – people were starting to group themselves into subgenres based on their approach to photography. It's not just about submitting an image; it's about how those images fit into a larger narrative or style. This is what makes photo assignments so special – we're all communicating with each other through our work, even if we don't realize it.

The use of spherical elements or rounded-off shapes was particularly prevalent this time around. It's as if people were drawn to this visual motif for some reason, perhaps due to its sense of familiarity and comfort. Whatever the reason, it was a fascinating observation that added depth to our discussion of photography and self-portraiture.

As I watched the submissions roll in, I felt a sense of pride and accomplishment. This week's video was special, not just because of the amazing images, but also because of the connection we shared as photographers. It's this connection – this collective psychology – that makes photo assignments so powerful and engaging.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwhat is up everybody welcome back it is Monday which means photo assignments and I want to say this really quickly on a personal note this is probably my favorite video that I've ever put together and I'll talk about that a little bit after we look at some of your work it was absolutely outstanding this week so let's go ahead and check out your work from photo assignment number 13 on self portraits this in a state the work this week is outstanding and on a personal note I mentioned this earlier this was a very special video for me to put together mainly because when I make these videos I'm making them for you who were an audience and I'm sitting here talking to a camera and I don't see anybody you guys see me but it's kind of a solitary thing on my end so being able to put images with user names and faces together was a really special thing for me it was weird I didn't really realize that until I got into it it was really cool some of you guys I know and realized some of you guys I know online and some guys I just know you by user name because you participate in this often it was really cool and I just want to thank you guys for that because that made it really special to me I think one of the reasons though that the work was so good this week is this I think it was the subject matter and it's interesting because you know I give you guys a concept sometimes or I give you a specific technique so like when we did like low angle or high angle shooting that's a very specific technique and so you know you see kind of a theme of the way people approach that and then some of the other things that I've done more like this when were self-portraits well that's open completely to your interpretation and the work was much more conceptual than it normally is and I think a lot of that has to do with the subject it's one thing to take a concept and interpret that but when the concept or the subject is yourself it's really interesting the way that people chose to express that some people chose to represent themselves in a very classical portrait style whereas others chose to completely abstract it in some cases even remove themselves from the image however it's still communicating something about who they are as a person and I think that's what's really interesting and I think that conceptual thinking and this is really what I've been going for the entire time with photo summits when you think of like the idea of photo assignments I mean in many ways it sounds like a class and I don't want it to be that I want it to be something where yes we're improving but we're having fun and we're seeing this on a different level and what that comes down to in the end everytime is understanding how to communicate visually that is the most important thing of all this there's something you're saying with the camera and for me anyway and you know I come from more of the art side of photography that there's nothing more special than that if you can learn how to communicate with images that's a very powerful thing and I'm starting to see that with you and we've done 13 these now so I think for those of you who participate regularly I think you're improving in that area and that whole idea of thinking conceptually and being able to communicate is starting to come out I think that mixed with the subject matter this time kind of made it all come together and anyway these are really special the other thing that's interesting and I'll give you a little behind the scenes here when I do these I download everything and I put it all in a folder and then I open Adobe bridge and I don't just throw them in a random order and put them out I try to rearrange those and group them and put them in an order that has a flow to it and makes sense and it's more palatable to watch as a slideshow and it's interesting to me this time particularly it usually happens but this time it really did where people start you start to see these subgenres of whatever it is that we're doing emerge and I know you guys aren't speaking to one another on a mass scale but it's interesting to see the groupings of how people start to do similar types of things so for instance I mentioned the more traditional style portraits and there was a lot of those were submitted some really outstanding stuff there was another whole approach where people were doing things with surveillance cameras that I thought was cool there were people who chose to go for the environment the most interesting one and I can't explain this but I thought it was really cool I mean obviously reflections are going to be a big deal and use of mirror for a self-portrait especially for a photographer for those of us that love Saul Leiter there was a lot of stuff kind of in that Street kind of style which was awesome but the most interesting thing for me that came up was this use of spherical elements or rounded off shapes and this was kind of predominant through a lot of images not only just through mayor's but maybe elements in the composition anyway it was really interesting to see that and it's kind of a collective psychology that we're not communicating with each other on this but that's ends up what's being submitted anyway it was outstanding work this week there were some images with humor introduced to them there was even kind of some scary stuff I guess were right around Halloween in the United States so you're gonna see that as well but anyway I am really proud of you guys this week this was a very special video to make and I really felt like it was kind of a connection with both of us I mean not only am i connecting with you guys through photography and seeing your work but also seeing your faces was really special to me so if you are new to photo assignments and you don't know what we're talking about we do these typically every Monday and I will give you a theme and next week I will give you your next theme on Monday and then the following week after you've had chance to shoot I pick out some of the best and I share those with you guys and if you want to learn more I've got a playlist on photo assignments as well as a frequently asked questions if you want to know how to submit there's always a lot of confusion on that we essentially use social media but anyway that's it for today until the next video I will see you guys then laterwhat is up everybody welcome back it is Monday which means photo assignments and I want to say this really quickly on a personal note this is probably my favorite video that I've ever put together and I'll talk about that a little bit after we look at some of your work it was absolutely outstanding this week so let's go ahead and check out your work from photo assignment number 13 on self portraits this in a state the work this week is outstanding and on a personal note I mentioned this earlier this was a very special video for me to put together mainly because when I make these videos I'm making them for you who were an audience and I'm sitting here talking to a camera and I don't see anybody you guys see me but it's kind of a solitary thing on my end so being able to put images with user names and faces together was a really special thing for me it was weird I didn't really realize that until I got into it it was really cool some of you guys I know and realized some of you guys I know online and some guys I just know you by user name because you participate in this often it was really cool and I just want to thank you guys for that because that made it really special to me I think one of the reasons though that the work was so good this week is this I think it was the subject matter and it's interesting because you know I give you guys a concept sometimes or I give you a specific technique so like when we did like low angle or high angle shooting that's a very specific technique and so you know you see kind of a theme of the way people approach that and then some of the other things that I've done more like this when were self-portraits well that's open completely to your interpretation and the work was much more conceptual than it normally is and I think a lot of that has to do with the subject it's one thing to take a concept and interpret that but when the concept or the subject is yourself it's really interesting the way that people chose to express that some people chose to represent themselves in a very classical portrait style whereas others chose to completely abstract it in some cases even remove themselves from the image however it's still communicating something about who they are as a person and I think that's what's really interesting and I think that conceptual thinking and this is really what I've been going for the entire time with photo summits when you think of like the idea of photo assignments I mean in many ways it sounds like a class and I don't want it to be that I want it to be something where yes we're improving but we're having fun and we're seeing this on a different level and what that comes down to in the end everytime is understanding how to communicate visually that is the most important thing of all this there's something you're saying with the camera and for me anyway and you know I come from more of the art side of photography that there's nothing more special than that if you can learn how to communicate with images that's a very powerful thing and I'm starting to see that with you and we've done 13 these now so I think for those of you who participate regularly I think you're improving in that area and that whole idea of thinking conceptually and being able to communicate is starting to come out I think that mixed with the subject matter this time kind of made it all come together and anyway these are really special the other thing that's interesting and I'll give you a little behind the scenes here when I do these I download everything and I put it all in a folder and then I open Adobe bridge and I don't just throw them in a random order and put them out I try to rearrange those and group them and put them in an order that has a flow to it and makes sense and it's more palatable to watch as a slideshow and it's interesting to me this time particularly it usually happens but this time it really did where people start you start to see these subgenres of whatever it is that we're doing emerge and I know you guys aren't speaking to one another on a mass scale but it's interesting to see the groupings of how people start to do similar types of things so for instance I mentioned the more traditional style portraits and there was a lot of those were submitted some really outstanding stuff there was another whole approach where people were doing things with surveillance cameras that I thought was cool there were people who chose to go for the environment the most interesting one and I can't explain this but I thought it was really cool I mean obviously reflections are going to be a big deal and use of mirror for a self-portrait especially for a photographer for those of us that love Saul Leiter there was a lot of stuff kind of in that Street kind of style which was awesome but the most interesting thing for me that came up was this use of spherical elements or rounded off shapes and this was kind of predominant through a lot of images not only just through mayor's but maybe elements in the composition anyway it was really interesting to see that and it's kind of a collective psychology that we're not communicating with each other on this but that's ends up what's being submitted anyway it was outstanding work this week there were some images with humor introduced to them there was even kind of some scary stuff I guess were right around Halloween in the United States so you're gonna see that as well but anyway I am really proud of you guys this week this was a very special video to make and I really felt like it was kind of a connection with both of us I mean not only am i connecting with you guys through photography and seeing your work but also seeing your faces was really special to me so if you are new to photo assignments and you don't know what we're talking about we do these typically every Monday and I will give you a theme and next week I will give you your next theme on Monday and then the following week after you've had chance to shoot I pick out some of the best and I share those with you guys and if you want to learn more I've got a playlist on photo assignments as well as a frequently asked questions if you want to know how to submit there's always a lot of confusion on that we essentially use social media but anyway that's it for today until the next video I will see you guys then later\n"