take a bow

The Style Crusader's beautiful post today got me thinking: would I post a shot of myself in a swimsuit? How much of my soul (or my body) am I prepared to reveal to total strangers on the internet?

Where do you stand on the subject of self exploitation? How far would you go in the name of Art?

I remember the day this was taken: I was in NY, it was a hot summer day and I went to the roof of the building I lived in with my dad's Pentax (which I still use) and my tripod. I was wearing a pale pink scarf a friend had brought back from Paris as a gift, a black silk vintage strapless swimsuit/dress (WHERE is it? I bet it's in storage somewhere in the North of England for the past 10 years), a pair of coral cotton socks that I adored, and black lace up boots.



The thing about self portraits using film is the surprise element: you have to focus on a certain spot, jump into the shot on the timer, and hope for the best. But you don't know til the film is developed, what you look like. Ah, those were the good old days. And apart from a handful of (male) photographer friends, I didn't know one woman who was into this self style photography stuff. I'm sure they were out there, I just didn't know them.

It's hazy and overcast and feels endlessly summer out there.

This has been a freaky week: my brother blames the summer solstice, something he called the 't-square' (anyone know about it?) but hasn't elaborated because he, too, is too busy. My nephew Anders has had emergency surgery for a collapsed lung - he is very tall and thin and just graduated college, and apparently this freak condition happens more with tall thin young men. No one can remember the last time that Wimbledon, Glastonbury and the World Cup have happened all at once, and a cute American beat an even cuter French guy in tennis after playing for 9 hours straight, then another two.

Let's see... have I left anything out? What are you doing this weekend?