Self Portrait
My daughter, Miranda, loves photography. For Christmas, she was given a very nice DSLR camera. Last week, she started taking photography classes from a local photographer.
Her first assignment is to take a self portrait. But, here’s the catch: she can’t be in the self portrait. So, she has to take a picture of something that represents her. She decided to put together several items that are important to her, and take a picture of that.
Her assignment started wheels turning in my head. What would I include in a self portrait of me? What items best represent who I am?
Well, this is really tough. There are items that I would want to include, like Scripture, and maybe a picture of my family and friends. Other items like books and computers are a big part of my life. Perhaps I could include some of my favorite foods: Thai, Ethiopian, Steak. I would want to include something that represents my concern for the least and lost of this world.
Then, I started thinking, I wonder if my family, my friends, and other people who live with me believe that they are important to me… Would they agree that they should be in a picture that best represents me?
I don’t know… food for thought, I guess.
But, what about you? If you had to take a self portrait that didn’t include you, what items would you include in the portrait that best represent who you are?
I would probably have a Bible, a cross, my laptop, books, a picture of my family, and a basketball. Also a picture of some sort of nature scene, like mountains or the beach.
For your daughter, this sounds like a wonderful way to engage her creativity. But if you want to see yourself in a reflecting light, you might get a more accurate portrait from your friends/family doing this for you.
We are not generally very apt at self-assessment, which is perhaps why we are counseled “not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith” Rom 12:3. We tend to either over-estimate (more highly) or under-estimate ourselves (but…accordingly as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith).
I almost guarantee you would be surprised (I think mostly pleasantly).
Fred,
Thanks! For me, it would definitely be the mountains!
Art,
I think I would probably be surprised positively by some and negatively by others.
-Alan