Selfy, neologism of the year last year as I understand it. Lately on the BBC programme Room 101, Roisin Conaty cited them as one of her pet hates, asking, in essence, if all these gorgeous narcissistic young things on Facebook have got so many friends how come they haven't got anyone to take a photo of them but themselves?
However since I don't fit that description I don't see why I shouldn't indulge in the odd one or two to pass the time here, as I was rather taken by the effect to be found in the reflections of next door's windows. The house is empty, its owners, our previous neighbours, moved out some years ago, but being farmer of a farming family who always prefer to accumulate property than part with it, and because their son, who was just a little lad at the time but must now be about fourteen, said he wanted to come back and live there one day when he was grown up because he liked it so much, they've never sold it. A couple of years ago they let it for a short time to an old lady, whose son lived in the village, and it was given new windows which had some kind of reflective coating, and rather old ladyish lace curtains, which remain.
My reflection was quite sharp because of the light bouncing off and the shadow of the bank behind, while the curtains make it look a bit like a kind of old-fashioned double exposure. In order to further enhance this rather retro effect, I rendered the other one I took into sepia, and the white frame of the window makes it look even more like an old print.
In fact I think these aren't really selfies in the strict sense of the word, as that implies a photo taken at arm's length, possibly with a camera-phone, so there's a bit of a pun on 'cell phone', but never mind.
14 comments:
Amazing shots! The best kind of photo-op, not a self-centered selfie at all!
Like the sepia one, in which you appear to be wearing a marvelous garment and to have persuaded the light to live in your hair!
looks like those magical double exposure photos in which realities blend.
Perfect illustration for an E. Nesbit story - mysterious lady (ML) who scares all the kids, except for one, usually a girl, in fact a somewhat shortened adult, who has the temerity to wander round ML's garden, is caught there, turns out scariness is all a sham, offers tea and if not sympathy a predictable life story, becomes neighbourhood benefactress... you fill in the rest. Modern day equivalent (by the young Joanna Trollope) has slightly different ending - starts a fashion for those kind of hats, makes millions in late life.
Next time: carry a shotgun.
J'ai cru à une apparition! L'effet est génial!
These are beautiful. And no, not selfies...
Gorgeous! And, Lucy, you look like a young girl!
i've copied the second picture in to my rogue's gallery
How lovely to see a picture of you! x
Texture! Catches the imagination.
Thanks very much, this has proved to be more popular than I imagined!
ML - thanks, quite arty aren't they?
Marly - I am wearing a marvellous garment in the shape of my long stripey Baktus scarf (essentially a long shallow triangle striped as one wishes), made from Peruvian alpaca and Japanese silk and wool, the stripey tail of which rather by a clever chance curves into the Paisley pattern on the lace curtains.
PC - yes, I used to have a bit of a thing about making those by photo editing, but these happened quite spontaneously, and other than the sepia, have undergone little editing.
Robbie - if I carried a shotgun I couldn't carry the camera. Are you saying my hat isn't fashionable? I fear you are right; it is in fact a fleece tube with a drawstring at one end, but it doesn't itch, doesn't fight, in terms of colour and texture, with the scarf and keeps my hair out of my face so I can put off visiting the hairdresser for a bit longer. I've read very little E. Nesbit, though they were always around, and I have 'The Book of Dragons' on the Kindle for when I might be feeling whimsical.
Lyse - merci, mais je suis assez solide!
Jean - thanks and nice to see you about. Attempts at self-portraits with the camera held at arm's length always show me very grotesquely shaped!
Bruce - thank you, you are most gallant.
Tristan - I think your rogues gallery should be displayed, in the public interest!
Francesca - thanks, I do occasionally dispense with that form of vanity disingenuously called modesty (in other words, oh my god do I really look like that I'd better not let anyone see...) and publish a selfie. Not my favourite subject though!
Joe - thanks, yes, and pattern. The reflective surface softens things agreeably.
Many of your photos inspire poems and stories. These, and in the previous post, the jet (a magnificent shot, and the jet itself has a ghostly quality to it, like it's made of nothing more substantial than vapor).
Wonderful! Not only (especially) you but the lacy ghost-coat, the cool expression, the subtle tones. A gem.
Gosh, you're just a child! I had imagined you much older.
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