Experiment - Myself

Because I was inspired to start the project as a result of questoning my own identity and also self-perception, it seems to make sense to start with me before I photograph others. Using postcards and text is also a big idea of mine so below is a small contact proof of several images I shot.

The idea was very basic:- To write the various things I remember people describing me as in the last week or two. Some were said by friends or family but several came from people I'd never met before and I perhaps cherished their opinions the most because they had no angle, no role in my life and I found myself more likely to believe what they said.

Like the idea, the shoot was very basic. It was just me, a postcard and the camera. As I don't have a remote, it was a case of trying to make it work as I shot them late at night, stupidly, when no-one was around to help. It was more of a quick experiment and to see whether the raw idea could be pulled off.


Some shots quite clearly work better than others and it was about seeing whether I could shoot the image in my own environment or whether I deem it too casual. At the bottom of the post, I've included several that I quite liked from the shoot, though it was very experimental.

When I originally envisioned the idea, I imagined doing it in a studio with passport style images being the outcome. As I've been researching, I've seen that this may not be the best way. For a start it limits the identity I can show for the person (whereas a bedroom or a place of their choice can illustrate this better) and may also make the subjects feel less at ease.

As much as I set about the idea for this project thinking that I wanted the outcome to involve people and portraits, having researched and done this very initial shoot, I'm also tempted to experiment with just text and if this can effectively communicate what I was trying to achieve with my project.


For this, I've not included what I think about myself or whether I believe or disbelieve any of the words used to describe me. If I was going to exhibit, I'd like to have a portrait for each person and a piece of text written by them below that discusses identity and their self perceptions. It's a project meant to engage people and make people think.

You as a viewer can see the words described, but my own identity is largely concealed by the postcard, clues about me visible in the environment and the small pieces you are allowed to see. I think this might be quite an effective method. It is about exploring identity without having to use the subject's face and that idea intrigues me.