This Is Me

August 28, 2008 8:18 AM

The aim of Self-Portrait Challenge is to create an online community of people participating in a continuous artistic self-expressive art project; self-portraiture. (images in the nude category obviously NSFW) They also participate in the Flickr: self portrait tuesday group.
posted by netbros (34 comments total)

The aim of Self-Portrait Challenge is to create an online community of people participating in a continuous artistic self-expressive art project display of narcissism.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 8:33 AM on August 28, 2008 [4 favorites has favorites]

Don't hate them 'cause they're beautiful, Pinky.
posted by octobersurprise at 9:17 AM on August 28, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

For some reason I was expecting to see lots of self portrait drawings/paintings. I felt a bit disappointed when I clicked.
posted by bonobothegreat at 9:41 AM on August 28, 2008

All art is narcissism.
Self-expression is not necessarily art.
posted by Mister_A at 9:43 AM on August 28, 2008

Hm, people on the web posting pictures of themselves. I can't even be arsed to think of a derisive comment.
posted by everichon at 9:45 AM on August 28, 2008

I'd really like to see a big collaborative poop-blogging project.

Well, not see, but I'd be glad to hear that it exists.
posted by cortex at 9:54 AM on August 28, 2008

Self-portraiture is unbecoming for anyone older than 15 years-old.
posted by alidarbac at 9:55 AM on August 28, 2008

Self-portraiture is unbecoming for anyone older than 15 years-old.

Really? I think Rembrandt and a Van Gogh among others might object.
posted by spicynuts at 10:03 AM on August 28, 2008 [3 favorites has favorites]

Similar pieces can be found here.
posted by ws at 10:07 AM on August 28, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

Some of them are pretty cool. I really like this one, and isn't this where they filmed The Goonies?
posted by mannequito at 10:17 AM on August 28, 2008

I shouldn't contribute to the "is-so/is-not narcissism" part of this thread -- nothing good will come of it -- but the Web 2.0 really would be a better place if only somebody would invent a digital camera that self-destructed when pointed at a mirror.
posted by cobra libre at 10:20 AM on August 28, 2008

I really like some self-portraits and, in fact, the work of Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir is what inspired me to try getting into photography.

However, I've been unable to take the kind of self-portrait that I like and, for the most part, I feel self-concious when taking them.
Maybe I don't have the necessary mixture of technique and narcissism. Or maybe, it's because I'm not a blond icelandic woman with a lot of creativity and self-esteem.
posted by Memo at 10:23 AM on August 28, 2008

Part of what makes Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir so compelling is that she is both hot and really good at using photoshop.
posted by chunking express at 10:25 AM on August 28, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

What? The mirror project wasn't good enough for you people?
posted by mikhail at 10:29 AM on August 28, 2008

I'd really like to see a big collaborative poop-blogging project.

PoopReport.
No need to thank me.
posted by Sailormom at 10:40 AM on August 28, 2008

I was reading through the categories of the site, looking for the categories of "painting," or "sculpture" or really anything besides photo. obviously, it's not there. huh. ok. also, I thought rules 2 and 3 of the site's submission guidelines were interesting:

2. You must put “self portrait challenge” Or something similar so we can find your self portrait post.
3. Upload your permanent link

huh. so... if they have to upload the permanent link to the site, doesn't that take care of SPC having "find your self portrait post?" why would they need the words put there on the blo-... ohhhhh, google page rank. I get it. ok. this is all kind of meh I think.
posted by shmegegge at 10:45 AM on August 28, 2008

No need to thank me.

Thank you nonetheless. Oddly, my corporate nannyfilter blocks that site.
posted by cortex at 10:47 AM on August 28, 2008

That didn't work out for you, cortex?

Let's see...

NSFW NSFW NSFW NSFW
Will this doo?
NSFW NSFW NSFW NSFW
posted by Anything at 11:04 AM on August 28, 2008

.

.
posted by Zambrano at 11:23 AM on August 28, 2008

Really? I think Rembrandt and a Van Gogh among others might object.

You mean VAIN Gogh amirite?!

Sorry.
posted by backseatpilot at 11:33 AM on August 28, 2008

You mean VAIN Gogh amirite?!

It was when he took his own off ear that Van Gogh established being emo and cutting yourself as high art.

Will this doo?

I always wonder if someone from IT actually reviews the nanny-filter hit records here at work. I've been waiting for a stern phonecall for years now.
posted by cortex at 11:37 AM on August 28, 2008

hehe .... from the poopreport: Fun With Feces .... "This Shit's Hilarious!"
posted by mannequito at 12:06 PM on August 28, 2008

I'd be a lot more interested if these were drawings or paintings. As it is, not so much.
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 12:17 PM on August 28, 2008

Part of what makes Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir so compelling is that she is both hot and really good at using photoshop.

Not again...
posted by kittens for breakfast at 12:21 PM on August 28, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Not again...

Are we not supposed to point out the obvious here? Those really are two reasons why she's so popular on Flickr. Can you pick out photos in this set that would be interesting if she wasn't pretty, and nifty and using photoshop? It really is a defining part of her photography.
posted by chunking express at 12:50 PM on August 28, 2008

I believe kittesn for breakfast is referring to the shitstorm that started over in this thread about the relevance of Gudleifsdottir's attractiveness. I took her comment to be more of a "let's not boyzone the whole damn discussion again," thing. This is a viewpoint I happen to agree with.
posted by shmegegge at 1:18 PM on August 28, 2008

*self link alert!*
my photo site has a handful of these users, most notably ketane and randomvacancy. they each have some excellent photos, but part of me wishes they changed it up a bit with the skill they have. and, oddly enough, they both have nose rings, i'm guessing they want more people to have a reason to look at their faces.
posted by Mach5 at 1:19 PM on August 28, 2008

Yeah, that was almost certainly a literal not again. As in, god help us, let's not literally have precisely the same discussion about precisely the same person again sort of thing, which would probably be best for all involved. At least not without taking the time to read through both of those old threads in their entirety first.
posted by cortex at 1:20 PM on August 28, 2008

Isn't this what myspacefacebookflicker is for?
posted by elwoodwiles at 1:21 PM on August 28, 2008

not again

Those were some entertaining threads.
posted by everichon at 2:51 PM on August 28, 2008

I don't believe it's necessarily narcissistic; it can be simple laziness. What could be more "meh" than using the object nearest at hand to make iteration after iteration of digital camera technique? People want to "put themselves out there," and photography communities are a way to do that. Unfortunately, imbedded in the culture of photography is a big emphasis on interestingness, and faces are damnedly interesting, so much so that those who grab that low-lying fruit day after day after day engender resentment in others. I try to keep my camwhoring in a photoblogging/scrapbook vein, just a record of what I did when, and maybe what I put on that was cool or memorable.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 4:13 PM on August 28, 2008

No live journal self portraits? I hope today's yearbooks have everyone's portrait taken from above, at an arm's length distance.
posted by milkrate at 7:52 PM on August 28, 2008

Sorry, I didn't realize she had come up before. I'm not trying to be dismissive of her photography, I quite like what she does. I just think it's silly to ignore the fact that the way she looks is most certainly an important part of the photography she makes.
posted by chunking express at 7:04 AM on August 29, 2008

Though really, I guess no one was asking me for my opinion on this, so sorry.
posted by chunking express at 7:14 AM on August 29, 2008