Pinhole self portraits

I have done a couple of year long projects, taking a pinhole self portrait everyday.  Once when I was fifty and once when I was fifty-five.  In the second effort, I never even finished processing my film...my life had experienced a profound shift and I just didn't have the motivation to complete the project.

Just recently I've returned to processing this four year old film.  The quality of my negatives is somewhat degraded because of time, but surprisingly that makes the images more interesting to me.  I'm finding myself intrigued by the past work in this series and not only do I want to finish what I started, I'd like to continue in this vein, perhaps finally getting into the darkroom to print the work.

It's a weird thing, self portraiture.  I think those of us who practice the form do so for different reasons.  For myself, it's to get a new perspective, to see my self in my world in unique and interesting ways.  And as always, pinholes can reveal the spirit of a moment, which is always curious and sometimes enlightening.

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