more newbies

January 27, 2006 at 2:45 pm · Filed under newbies

through my eyes - “But my breasts were accompanied by baby fat and little girl fat and pre-teen fat, not to mention huge, huge glasses with tinted lenses and that front tooth that took me years into which to grow.”

waters reflections - “I am strong. I know because I have survived. Having a child with differences is shockingly difficult some days. How can a mother face a child that in one instant I would change to be like others just to make things easier, and, in the next second, praise God for choosing me to nuture this tender soul into adulthood.”

perhaps - “she let me sit in her favorite chair and gently covered me with her favorite blanket.”

starshyne productions - “We’d just sit on the floor and pull out some poker dice and play. We also had tons of fun playing Rummoli whenever Dad would pull it out. We just bought ourselves that game this Christmas and had so much fun and laughter playing.”

sandri superstar - “i must have been about seven when was riding on a bike sitting behind my father and i stuck my foot into the spokes.”

the artist block studio - “To the very right is the centerpiece and the dried flowers from the arrangement from my dad’s funeral.”

mom on a wire - “I spent so many warm summer days there, splashing through the sprinkler or climbing the big cherry blossom tree. In this picture I’m eating a popsicle; I remember listening intently for the tinkling music of the ice cream man, and then finally screaming with delight when he finally drove around the corner.”

joyful girl - “We still look alike, though not nearly as much as when we were children. It’s a thing of pride with me, to look so much like my mother. I think she is a beautiful woman, so I guess that means I’m beautiful, too.”

knit pony - “When I was young I never understood this memory, it didn’t make sense. When I was a teenager my mom told me about her stillborn baby and then it fell into place.”

fennec - picture above

the silent k - “My most favourite thing to do these days is to get under the feather blanket, snuggle in closely to baby George fall asleep together breastfeeding. If I pay close attention, I feel the prolactin release come over me like a wave, and I instantly sink into the deepest calm.”

sylviedetoulouse - above image

les menottes de tica - above image

kiki - “This has been an AWESOME day! My first Self Portrait Tuesday Photo was picked to be featured on the blog by Rhonna Farrer ! Here is the link to the post SPT Feature Um how COOL is that!!!”

happenstance - above image

chatiryworld - “There’s a photo of me and my mum sitting on a friend’s wall, someone we are still good friends with. Two of my childhood toys”

going where planted - “It’s not a secret that my dad is an alcoholic and that he has been my entire life. He’s an asshole”

cognitive dissonance - “When we got married, I was a little anti the things that are traditionally supposed to happen. So, I mentioned that instead of flowers as decorations on our head table, we should have both of our Potato Heads dressed up. Initially this was a joke, but it ended up actually happening!”

cerabella - “This is me in my dorm room at EIU. Wow, let’s see…..that was 8 years ago! I can’t believe that it’s been that long! Okay, I’m feeling just a little bit old.”

abby adventure - “LOOK AT HOW BIG THIS FOOT IS! (The ultrasound tech said like three times, “Wow, that’s a *really* big foot! I mean, It’s *really* big!”"

mukifu chic - above image

mrwica - above image

thank you to everyone new for joining - go and check out their spt’s

Comments

{Rhonna’s features}

January 25, 2006 at 6:04 pm · Filed under 05 personal history

Loved Kiki’s interpretation & her story!

Loved the feeling of swamp angel’s SPT: very ethereal & vintage.

Beth’s ATC was a very unique way of showcasing her SPT…kudos, Beth!

other faves:
Heidi’s heartfelt journaling really spoke to me..thanks, Heidi!

Wild Pink says hers is boring…but I beg to differ…LOVE the old genre photographs & she’s a DOLL!

& Glamorous Jo’s SPT made me down right LOL…too many photos like that of my own! ;)

Mary’s is certainly most interesting. …stood out to me!

In the Bakery…I gotta hand it to you! nice one!

& last but not least…check out Poppytalk! Jan’s got some groovy history goin’ on!

That’s all from me! very inspiring…keep it up!

Comments (5)

February Challenge “all of me”

January 24, 2006 at 2:22 pm · Filed under 06 all of me, Uncategorized

“all of me” embrace your mistakes, love the ugly bits.

I want this to be a challenging month - we have had it easy over christmas and the holidays but now it is time to look deep inside ourselves and embrace and face our whole selves. I don’t want to see any perfect images, any pretty studio like images, no perfect hair or makeup, get rid of the masks you use to face the world.

I was inspired for this challenge by reading a recent Keri Smith post.

“For my whole life I have had difficulty looking at photos of myself. It was as if that person could never be enough for me, I did not want to see any of my flaws (or the things I percieved as imperfect).”

“How to love that image flaws and all. Yeah it looks like I have a double chin and a huge nose, and I don’t know why I ever thought that skirt looked good on me. fuck it. that is all of me. Yes I can love me when the situation is favourable and flattering, and everything is just so, but can I love me when things are messy?” Keri Smith from Wish jar journal

Technical tips:

• use old photos of yourself that you hate but could never throw away - that dreadful high school photo with braces and a bad perm and horrible acne.
• take new photos - showing those bits you always try to hide - the hairy nostrels, the stretch marks, the cracked feet, the greasy hair, the saggy bits.
• take photos of yourself on a bad day, don’t smile, be in a mad mood, look grim, look angry, look sad, cry and be fragile - embrace your emotions as part of your self.
• set up something if you like - sit in a pile of dirty laundry, be surrounded by clutter and mess, show the stains on the walls and the crumpled sheets - don’t clean up.
• dress up in your worst outfit - that too tight, lime green midriff top that you bought in a rash moment hoping to lose weight, those old, cut off faded jeans with a hole in the arse and showing too much celulite covered thigh that you always wear when cleaning the house.
• be free to show the dark side, the ugly side, the raw and dirty and clumsy side, the grim the grimy and saggy side.

Comments (23)

Lauri’s Picks for Week 3

January 23, 2006 at 3:06 am · Filed under 05 personal history

I don’t know what is wrong, but, I finally got the permalink thing figured out, but now I can’t post the actual pictures…grrrrrrrrrr!!! But the names are hightlighted, so you can link over from there.

Brooklyn Mama -Best Story I had to pick this one, because my daughter was taking a musical theater class and doing ‘Annie’ at the same age Brooklyn Mama was! lol! But the BEST part is how she has come full circle with her singing, and is getting back into it again. She has been accepted into 2 chorale groups!!! Congrats!

SouleMama - Best Creative Interpretation She has turned a picture of her and her mother into a painting. Beautiful!

Michelle(verbalblog) - Originality Looking back at momentos of a marriage that she is no longer in, has come to peace with, and takes pleasure in looking at these things, all without seeming the least bit vengful! (Probably a better woman than I am!)

Wannabe Hippie - Challenge Interpretation A great picture of her Great-Great-Grandpa Wilbur in 1909…sitting in a car! I didn’t even know they actually had cars in 1909! lol! What an old picture, and in great shape, too! Check it out…don’t you think she looks just a little like him??? rofl!

{thru my eyes} - Catherine Mims A wonderful collage of family pictures!

Comments (2)

newbies

January 21, 2006 at 9:03 am · Filed under newbies

Lots of new people have joined self portrait tuesday - here are some snippets - make sure you check out their blogs and look at the pics that go with some great writing.

Also you will have noticed new contributors posting their pics - welcome to everyone.

an elephants gestation - “I love this photo because it reminds me of that incredible trip to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and of the sundown-on-Friday paddles we took almost every week that summer, when we were driven insane by wedding planning and had a few hours to think about absolutely nothing and be together and calm on the river.”

the digital landphil - “Maybe it was the wine talking, but last night I started to wonder something. If a friend asked you a very difficult question, could you tell them the truth?”

dubious wonder - “Did they so question their own beauty that they had to make her ugly?”

dream dust - “I feel that so much of the way I look is made up of the big forehead and tiny nose of hydrocephalus and the Marchant mouth”

happiknits - “I was big into alternative and punk music (back when it was worth listening to)”

in the bakery - “I still love photos, especially family photos. I think this is because my family doesn’t talk a lot.”

karenk’s diary - “when i was a little girl”

lao sur la colline - a babtism

le journal d’une mere debordee -

the rex chronicles - the dog likes the snow

so many stars - “I’m not all that comfortable being forced to see myself looking back from the screen. It’s all so weird. I have many labels… Mom, Wife, Daughter, Sister, Friend, Artist, Writer… all shoved inside this one person”

this zen life - “looking at that serious expression on my face from the vantage point of now, all i can say is lighten up, kim! those first couple of years were all about trying. i wanted desperately to do things right”

scandalum magnatum - “I can cry a lot longer than he can but I’ll try to keep it quiet. He’ll be fine. Right?”

wendy lou who - “Hospital birth to homebirths, nervous and unsure to feeling fully comfortable in my role as mama.”

amystery - “The ocean taught me how to breathe, how to go deep within myself and listen to the ebb and flow. It taught me that within that peace you can be fierce.”

thru my eyes - “its the first time i’ve done a montage like this & i love how all the images are connected.”

out of the box - “I hope to always have, at the core of my soul, the essence of survival that I associate with the lives of the women before me.”

picasso with a side of klimt - “actually the glowing purple does kind of represent the plethora of crazy colors that I put in my hair.”

happy things - “My mom saved just about everything from my childhood, including these fantastic red shoes (insert Elvis Costello lyric here). She didn’t bronze our baby shoes, but just stored them in a box, moving them from basement to basement around the country.”

we are the pirates who don’t do anything - “The washing machine was agitating. LOUDLY. Cat freaked out. CLAWED me. And then ran away.”

brooklyn mama - “Throughout my childhood, the one thing that meant the most to me - how I defined myself, really - was my singing.”

confessions of an artful soul - “its been 4 yrs since he passed away - I was actually pregnant with his first grandchild when he died unexpectedly”

wild pink - “We had a tough but very good life, filled with adventure.”

sheep at the window - “It sort of tells its own story”

tricoquine and her adventures in the land of stinky cheese - “I felt compelled to share a picture of the sweater Aunt Sally knit me”

deep run days - “This is a photo taken in 1967 with my best friends, Lisa and Lisa. I am the one looking so adoringly at my friends.”

Comments

HollyRhea’s Friday Faves, dude

January 21, 2006 at 4:42 am · Filed under 05 personal history, friday faves

Hi again.Has this week been as hard on you as it has been on me? Meet me behind the gym after school and we’ll kick January 15-21st’s rear.

Thank the Lord for things like auto-portraiture to make it all bearable.

Best Photo:

While not technically along the January theme, I love Christi’s representation of her old demons coming to claim her (that can be a personal history theme, right? RIGHT?!)

Best Story:
SentimentalButCrazy told a story of her parents,
and how she is a product of both.
There’s also a hot man in a speedo.

Most Creative Interpretation:

I really like how Athena showed us her family tree through the exuberantly giggly faces of her siblings and a reflection of REAL TREE BRANCHES. Dang, guys, the creativity kills me.

Hottest Picture:

Jenn was so cool in High School that she imitated Wilson-Phillips in her spare time. Hotttt.

*Thank God It’s Friday Because I Would Punch My Boss In The Neck If It Were Thursday!

Comments (1)