Selfie-ish: When Your Best Model Is Closer Than You Think

I’ve noticed that when I set “self portraits” as a project or assignment option for my students, it is usually greeted with groans and the almost audible sound of minds switching off. I’ve noticed that foreign students are much more willing to tackle the self-portrait than British ones. I have no idea why this is but I try my best to encourage people to at least have a go as it can be one of the most interesting subject choices if approached with an open mind. Strangely, the ones most reticent to attack a self-portrait project are sometimes the very people whose facebook and Instagram profiles are stuffed to the gills with “arm’s length” “selfies”. Hmmm.

I recently came upon a beautiful set of self-portraits by a young man by the name of Alex Stoddard who created many of his wonderfully expressive and inventive images as part of the “365 Project” (where one shares a photograph each day for a year). I’ve posted a few here but to see more, see Alice’s excellent full article and interview here.

By Alex Stoddard

By Alex Stoddard

By Alex Stoddard

By Alex Stoddard

Alex Stoddard is clearly an amazing emerging talent. His flickr page features work of an incredibly high standard. I hope these images might have been useful to my students who think a self-portrait is always a camera-phone shot in the bathroom mirror.