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A "varilarguero" is a Spanish word used in bullfighting. It refers to the horseman or picador armed with a spear to resist the attacks of the bull.

on the back of a photograph of the garrowhill imps circa 1966 my gran had written only one name and position - glen, 2nd row. on the front in pen she'd added an arrow pointing down on him just for good measure.

This little guy sat perched in the tree Sunday morning just watching.  I eyed back through my lens. ~ Sensualist

Contrary to Mark's expectations I thoroughly enjoyed doing this theme, at every stage; thinking about it, planning the shots, executing the shots, and then processing them.

None of them are quite as I'd originally intended for when it came to actually setting up and shooting what I'd initially had in mind certain adaptations of the ideas were required. Nevertheless they're all sufficiently close to my first intentions as to make little difference.
And, unlike the previous two months' shoots, I'm reasonably well satisfied with the results.

Also, as a complete departure from my normal practise, the first two have been significantly "tinkered with".

So...

Self-portraiture - the theme

Superb choice for a theme because when I started thinking about it I began to appreciate just how many different ways it can be interpreted.

What is the "self" who's doing the "portraits" seeking to achieve? Is it for the benefit of others, or oneself... a journey of self-exploration and discovery perhaps?
Or to reveal oneself to other people? To reveal one's "true" self (if indeed we can ever know what that is) or as one see's oneself?
Or perhaps even to deliberately create a particular impression that may actually bear little if any relationship to reality?

Well, the approach I opted for was to share parts (and only parts of course!) of what I believe I really am with others... those "others" principally being this present little gang of ours.

Self-portraiture - the pics - #1

A large part of what this project is about, in the words of our Flickr group description, is...

"To grow one must be pushed and prodded to try new things. To think differently. To take on new experiences."

As Mark has (more than once) phrased it, to "think outside the box".

But before you can think outside the box you have to think about the box. What it is. What it consists of. Unless it can be recognised for what it is none of us really stand a hope in hell of being able to think outside it.

The box is constructed from many things but a significant part of it consists of thoughts, ideas, concepts, understandings etc. Many of which are gleaned from, or reinforced by, the world of books... the physical embodiment of the thoughts, ideas, and concepts of others. Which we either inherit or embrace... often without even realising it.

I love books! Always have, and probably always will. Not just the reading of them, but the feel of them, the look of them, the smell of them.
And it seems, wherever I go, books somehow manage to mysteriously attach themselves to me.

Many years ago I was the proud possessor of a library of some 6000-odd volumes, laboriously acquired over a significant part of my adult life. Then, in the late 80s, they all went. I kept a handful, maybe a couple of dozen or so, of the most cherished works. And that was it. In terms of books, that's all I brought with me when I came to my present town of residence.

Yet here I am, just over a decade and a half later, once more surrounded by books. Where the hell did they all come from? How on earth have I found the time to read them all? Dunno, and dunno.

Now it it often said that one can get some idea of what a person's like by looking at the books they read.

So I've brought all these strands together in the first of my contributions to this month's theme, in the shape of a box of course...

(This was originally uploaded to Flickr as a .gif with transparent background so the white wouldn't show. But Flickr seemingly converts all uploads to JPEGs, hence those bits of white. Sorry folks... you'll just have to live with it!)

Self-portraiture - the pics - #2

Picking up on something I mentioned just now, its also been said that one can get some idea of what a person's like by looking at the music they enjoy.

And I like music. Almost as much as books. All sorts of music. So I thought that for the second part of my contribution it'd be nice to share (figuratively at least) some of my CD collection...

The inspiration for doing it in this triptych-type form I can attribute to two influences.
The first was Darren, whose first month's contribution of a montage of sorts impressed me mightily.
And the second was a WordPress and Flickr contact of mine who recently uploaded a triptych of his own to Flickr.
This seemed to me to be a pleasing refinement to the montage idea, with the added benefit of helping to bring out the smaller details of the component parts.

But there of course we hit a slight technical problem. In the original of the above image all the album titles are clearly visible. However, due to the size constraints imposed by Flickr hosting your eyesight will need to be really spot on to discern even some of the titles!

But in a way that too plays into this month's theme, for very often it is the small yet important details of a person's being that observers are unable to see, or only able to see with the greatest of effort.

Self-portraiture - the pics - #3

Not much to say about this one really. It is the closest of the three to the traditional type of self-portrait, but even in this one I've managed to incorporate what I think is some rather neat symbolism.
For, amongst other things (see if you can identify all the other significances and symbolisms!), it is a reflection (!) of the fact that my birth-sign is Gemini...

After spending some time at Fisherman's Wharf (where a seagull attacked my friend and stole her Subway sandwich), we headed towards Lombard Street. We walked up the constant 45-degree incline to the curviest part of the street and my thighs completely died. Once we hit Lombard, my friend cartwheeled her way down, blocking traffic as she did so. It was genius.

Then we headed towards Chinatown, where we had to walk up another 45-degree incline for 20 minutes. And as we walked until our quadriceps had turned to solid steel, someone had spray-painted a wall with the exact thought that was frequenting my mind:

All-in-all, I had a fantastic time in San Francisco, and got so much exercise that I woke up this morning with aching inner thighs and hamstrings.

I have gone totally digital, and only miss a few things about the darkroom.  I love to experiment with new or unusual processes, materials and products.  I print on an Epson R2400 with ultrachrome ink.  I chose the printer because it uses pigment inks, which I needed to print on fabric.  When I began printing on fabric a few years ago, the main product was Bubble jet set.  You had to soak fabric (only cotton or silk) in the BJS, dry it thoroughly, iron it to freezer paper, and then you could print on it.  You also had to apply an after treatment.  I didn't have much luck with BJS.  I printed some silk scarves and some cotton squares, but had trouble with blurry patches and inconsistent results.  Luckily for me, other superior products quickly began appearing.

This picture must be seen in large / Cré-moé, cré-moé pas, mais tu vas l'aimer davantage en large.

I was reading an article in Pop Photo The Photographer's Guide to the Eye they interviewed this scientist (Science Papers)who said

"In top-down, goal-driven attentional mode, we move our eyes 3 to 5 times per second, about 200,000 times per day. In bottom-up, we don't consciously move our eyes, but we see 10 times faster."

Then he compared the Top Down mode with the artist Thomas Kincaid

"In the first 150 milliseconds of looking at a picture, those elements draw the eye. That's bottom-up seeing. Then, top-down spotlighting takes over: "Of special significance are images of biological relevance -- like fear, sex, gender, aggression -- which are much more dependent on training and culture," E.G. Top Down."

Of course every photographer most likely spends much more time thinking Top down as a humans window to the bottom up is very small.  The real artist can get in touch with the unmediated experience of reality and represent it.  The Scientist Bottom up example of an artist is the late Robert Rauschenburg

So it would seem that that would support the need for simple cameras that can be used intuitively.  This is much easier now than in the past because photographs are just about free. But the camera is still a pretty primitive digital instrument.  It won't be to long till the sensor is more sensitive then the eye (it is already in may respects) and is able to produce a resolution and detail that could be like looking into a mirror. I can't wait for that but in the meantime I always want me photos to show something people usually don't see eve if it is only altered perspective.  The continuing improvement of cameras will only add more possibilities to do this in more amazing ways.

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He is not happy with the above Kurta, so shivam Dhirendra Patel change his kurta. See the picture below with Rishi Patel. Rishi get ready go nice.