Self Portrait in Shadows

Posted by willow (Chelsea, United States) on 29 October 2008 in Miscellaneous and Portfolio.

This one is for dj.tigersprout. I'm much more comfortable behind the camera than in front of it, but I had to take on the self portrait challenge. This is a shot I took two nights ago on my way home from work. There was a storm moving in to the east, bright sunlight to the west, and a stunning rainbow just out of the picture beyond the tracks. This wasn't a stop I had planned or the image I had thought I might use for self portrait day, but I really couldn't have dreamed up an image that was better suited to help me to describe who I am.

You see, I think it was my search for the answer to that very question ("Who am I?) that lead to me to Aminus3 in the first place. What a tough question that is. And the harder I try to sort it out the more confused I get. In my "real job" I am a scientist, an educator, a healer. But that isn't who I am. That's just a place I go (mostly to earn enough to support my photography habit). At home I am a parent, a spouse, a friend, a lousy housekeeper. But that's not who I am either. Those are just roles I play. I was born and raised and have lived all my life in the midwestern US and definitely qualify as a "mixed breed pup" with my lineage drawing branches from all over Europe and Great Britain. But that's just where I came from. So that leaves me with the same question - "Who am I?"

I am a series of contradictions - I love football (both American and the other kind) and ballet, flowers and fast cars, all things wild, the tiniest details and wide open spaces. I am fearless - I've been known to jump out of a perfectly good airplane - and yet afraid of my own shadow - you're not likely to catch me in scuba gear anytime soon. I can feel more alone in a crowded room than on a deserted mountainside. Some of my friends call me "random" or "scattered" and that I take as a compliment. Others see me as an organized overachiever (those are the folks I worry about). I despise being cold, but dream of photographing polar bears in the wild. I either know exactly what I want or can't make up my mind at all...

So, back to the self portrait - I don't like to be the main attraction, but I do want to stand tall in every scene. I'm always a little off the track and there always seems to be a storm brewing on the horizon. And just beyond it all there lies the truth of who I am - somewhere out there, somewhere over the rainbow.

Thank you for visiting and commenting and sharing your photos! I love this site and all the people that make it so great. Photography is my passion and this is the perfect place for sharing that passion with other people who feel the same way.

Don't forget Silly Tuesday!!!! For more info see Liner's blog.

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