I have been making some self portraits lately. A real photographic self portrait, as in done alone, is difficult to do but ultimately rewarding. This one was made with an old graphlex 4x5 camera, www.clickondavid.com/graflex.html, this is the same camera as used by the American photographer Weegee. The 4x5 film size renders so much detail it can be scary, especially with closeups. This makes me wonder, is a portrait actually a portrait if it doesn't reveal the truth? Understandably, I guess, most people would prefer to see an idealist photograph of themselves than confront who they really are, but the photographic portraits that are remembered are those those that reveal more than a persons ideal and at times vain vision of themselves.

One of my favourite self portraits is this one by Chuck Close


However, for a series of self portraits, American artist John Coplans 'body parts' is hard to go past, it is the ultimate self revealing.