I had a hard time this month. Because of some things (some good things) going on in the real world, and because of the theme.
It’s not easy to be bare naked in front of a camera, even if it’s just the camera and you. It feels like too much exposure for me, at least at this time of my life.
This has been one of the coldest winters here (if you want to know where I live, check up Porto Alegre and see how below, way below the Equator line I am, and how close to Antartica and all it’s polar air), and I’ve been a bit sick, and busy, and feeling a bit messy and ugly. Not a very good feeling to register with a shot.
I look up everyweek to the images that has been posted, and see all the images that has been sent, and mostly everytime I think, wow, why couldn’t I come up with this idea and at least give it a try? Well, I couldn’t. But I’m glad a lot of people could, talented, creative and beautiful people. (I still have one week to try, who knows!)
So my picks for this challenge was all about beauty, and beauty shown in the images because it’s felt by the self-portrayers.
I like this photo because of the great light and the new perspective. (See more of Bea.annony)
This one (from Groovyholly) reminded me of a video I’ve seen last month, that a guy made to honor his mom and her body. The woman was almoust 70-years old, and, as she says in the documentary, still looks at her body and sees prettyness.
The movie - that I strongly recomend-, made by Ken Wardrop, had some interesting choices of point-of-view and lights, and the way he shows his mom often reminded me of the ancient venus figurines (as seen here and here and here), that were made to celebrate what a woman’s body is all about: a vessel of life and joy and abundance.
And this one, by Sammiam, is just gorgeous, with the water reflections. A tasteful nude photo that insinuate more than it shows.
I hope you all enjoyed seeing the photos as much as I did. And I hope I’ll be a better self-portrayer for next month.
Forgive the late delivery this month but I has some technical issues. One of them was being worried about viewing the entries at my office. I’m sure the IT department would be pretty puzzled if they found out it was a woman that was generating all those hits to sites using the term nude or naked repeatedly. I’m sure they think I’m odd enough around there, I don’t need anything new to add to my list of eccentricities.
When I was about fifteen years old, I went into the bathroom one night and realized I could see my neighbors through their kitchen window, nude, making love atop the sink. Perhaps they were inspired by the film “Fatal Attraction.” I stood there quietly, the cold white hexagonal tile beneath my bare feet, watching these events unfold to their unintentional audience of one. That image of unexpectedly seeing nudity beyond a window has always stuck with me. I’m sure to have the curtains drawn at home to ensure I don’t ever have a similar visual gaffe.
I love that this week, Sam turned the concept of the Peeping Tom on it’s head. She chose to show us exactly what she wanted to through a window of her own design. She says, “I look at this image and see a strong, hearty, confident person.” So do I.
There are so many times we find ourselves complaining about one thing or another on any given day. It’s hard to remember to be happy when faced with enormous mounds of laundry, a crying baby, the car that’s stalled again, the boss that’s a jerk. We fuss and gripe about this and that. I’ll go on for close to an hour sometimes about how bad my day’s been.
Not pausing to realize how much we all have that should make us happy. Our families and friends. The roof over our heads. The fridge full of food. The dog’s wagging tail waiting to greet us. Most of us live pretty nice existences compared to the plight of some others in this world. Griping about our my day in light of that is pretty absurd.
This week, one self portrait keeps coming back to my mind. I’ll be going about my day and suddenly, this silly image is bobbing before my eyes. It makes me happy. Even if only for a fleeting moment.
Sometimes that’s all you need to remind you to appreciate what you’ve got. It got me thinking.
Peace til next month, Rachel
This month’s challenge seems to be one that has everyone feeling a bit hesitant to participate. We’ve been more apt to gladly show off our body parts and imperfections than bare what motivates us on a political level. I find that quite intriguing. Why is it easier to reveal our skins over our truest thoughts?
Political isn’t a dirty word. As Holli pointed out earlier this week, it’s true meaning is the process by which we make decisions. It encourages discourse between us on a wide range of topics that touch our lives in many ways. It’s far more encompassing than questions of whether we go to war or pay a tax. If you do not consider politics part of your world, I challenge you to think and look again.
You do not need to to be rich or powerful to be engaged in a political way. The only requirement is that you are interested in conversation with others and coming to a decision about where you stand after weighing all the options.
The photos I’ve chosen this week are all examples of individuals doing just that. They’ve chosen to tackle the issue of the politics of consumption. Each has thought a great deal about where our resources come from and how they choose to use them. In all of these cases, their stand requires of them to make a change in how they choose to feed their families, heat their homes and illuminate their worlds.
I must say this month has been really interesting, photowise. For me, blue is one of the prettier, meaningful, colors, and it’s been great seeing what everyone understands of what blue is.
I noticed how the photos showed more than the color itself, but tried to show a feeling related to the appearance of the color, and, most of the times, they were positive feelings, feelings of freedom, or joy, or self-knowledge, or growth. Some of the images were simply, pure fun, and these were beautiful as well.
My favourites, for this week, are portraits that could tell a little more about the photographer through the blue shades.
Like this bellow, showing courage in blue, courage to quit a security-giving-job in order to do a more self-fulfilling thing.
Or this one, that shows a search for perfection, the care for every singe detail, such as matching the earring with the top, but still leaving room for fun.
Although it feels like I post here once in a blue moon, its good to be back on schedule to share my favorites for week two of the month’s challenge. I spent several mornings this week sipping coffee from a blue mug (albeit not as bright or big as JC’s) as I visited every one of you who posted this week. You all did a BLUE-TIFUL job this week.
The photos I’d like to feature this week are those that exhibited a spirit of playfulness. Whether that means just looking totally at bliss or playing with gender roles or dressing up like a pretty, pretty princess. All of these images make me feel like cutting loose.
Until next month, Rachel
hi everybody! it feels nice to be posting around here again. this will be my last friday faves - week 1 post. i’m jumping ship and heading over to week 2 to pick my faves for the week. so i’ll leave you with my two favorite shots from this week… loving the denim blues and i’ll see you again next week.
Hi everyone, this is Cris again!This supposed to be a Friday #3 post, but, hey, maybe I’ve been out there living life so much - and, yes, celebrating it in every way that I can - that I got busy yesterday. Here in Brasil its midsummer, and I got caught into celebrating the weather, the summer holidays, and the fact that the sun doesn’t go down until almoust 9 pm, giving me a great excuse to be out getting toegether with friends almoust everynight. Next month I promise to get on time!I have to confess I was a little disappointed with our SPC break in December: I was very excited I would have to write about joy right on my birthday. But celebrating is also a very good theme and allows me to think about (and take pictures of) a much wider variety of events and reasons to be joyfull.Inspired by a blog I recently came to know (3for365), I decided, as one of my New Year’s resolutions, to come up with at least one good thing, everyday, to find out at least one reason to be gracefull and festive about my life. It’s been not so easy as I thought, since I get so caught up in planning my tomorrows that sometimes I just disregard my present and the good things happening to me at the very minute I’m living.And, from all the great pictures everyone send, showing all kinds of celebrations, I picked the ones that made more aware of the importance to live the present with all my attention and awareness. Also, the photos helped me realize that even a little thing can be a good reason or a good way to celebrate life.
Hi! This is Cris again! When I hear about this month’s theme, I got excited about the possibilities. I could choose one of my many pictures with favorite dresses or nice haircuts or the right colours to go with my skin. I thought of such amazing lines and decided to start a photo session with my wardrobe in order to test the best look for me. It all seemed great. I could almost read the words in my mind get up together. It would be great!Until last week. I attend to Fronteiras do Pensamento, a project of seminars and classes with intelectuals and researchers and people who think about the world as it is, and how to enhance it, from all countries. I’ve been attenting to this lectures since the begining of the year, and it’s been great. I mean, I thought it was just great. Until last week. Until I had the opportunity to hear Camille Paglia and her astounishing ideas about the image of women throughout History, and the effects on our self-image today of the images several cultures have been making of women and how this image has changed since the early ages of making.
And then it hit me. We are not just what we are, or what we think we are. We’re, also, either we like it or not, a social construction, a desire of fulfill the current cultural concept of what a woman should be, or, being specific, should look like. And how amazing it is to be aware of the influence - mostly negative, by the way - that we suffer from television, magazines, concerts of pop artists, the fashion industry, advertising, and basicly anything that intends to send out a message.
We don’t realize it, but we buy it. We buy this ideal - and also utopic - concept that beauty, nowadays, means thin, means tall, means slim, means fit. Today’s beauty goes against what a regular, average, woman’s body looks like, and should be, considering that our bodies should have a certain shape in order to hold a pregnancy and to be able to provide nourishment to a baby.
So, we buy this “victoria’s secret” ideal look and go crazy (well, me, at least) to fit in the beauty concept, and if we don’t look like a long-legged, tall, slim-figured, model, we can conclude that we’re not pretty enough for the world.
Well, I wrote all this because I wanted to take a different perspective on the what-i-wear theme. I wanted to say, in a sentence, that I feel good in my own skin, wearing my own body, my own self, and that I’m realizing that beauty is relative, and since its meaning can change as societies change, I’m offering my vision of beauty: people wearing out themselves, free of embarrassment or criticism.
That’s why I chose the following pictures. As I see them, what is shown in each one is someone’s heart, someone’s feeling, someone’s true self.
It can be hope, like in this picture.
Bohemiangirldesigns wearing hope It can be a fear, like here. (in this case, the fear of looking geek. By the way, a nonsense fear, because those are good looking glasses!)
And last but not least, the one which is, in my opinion, the prettiest of all, a girl wearing out love, showed in a gesture of care, of embracing her baby.
