Self Portrait Studio at SeaCom

I'll be setting up the Self Portrait Studio at SeaCompression again this year! This year I'd like to make it a little bitty bit smoother for everybody by having a schedule of assistants to help with model release forms and information. I would like to have 5-7 people for 1 hour each . If'n yer interested in helping out for an hour the night of the event (10/23), lemme know. Your consolation prize will be a print of your favorite self portrait =) you must have your own ticket to attend SeaComp, sorry, I don't have money to "comp" you in.

You can see the previous work of the Self Portrait Studio at my website www.qathi.com

More about the Self Portrait Studio:
The intent of bringing the self portrait studio to SeaCompression is to have a controlled light set to capture the faces and personalities of the Northwest's Burning Man community *drink*. I'll walk participants through a short and simple set of instructions to make their own photos. Something quite magical happens with the sitter when they're in control of their 1/60th of a second. Giving the sitter the knowledge of when to expect the shutter, because they're in control of that split second, is empowering. They sit up straighter, smile bigger, they exude confidence and inner beauty which I find utterly stunning. I've been told by one self portrait maker, there is an unexpected dignity to the experience.

I like to think we're making pictures you could share with your family, as they are not your average party picture =) moreover how often do you sit down for a proper portrait? And these portraits are free!

The style of photography Through the Viewfinder and my collaboration with the sitter(s) make for quirky fun images. Through the Viewfinder is a technique I use that which incorporates two cameras, a digital capture device and an old twin lens reflex (TLR) camera - I aim the digital at the viewing glass of the TLR which is directed at the subject, I make the picture from that view. The technique has many distinct characteristics which I am absolutely in love with. The images are square with a black boarder, have some distortion around the edges from the imperfections of the glass, a slight fish-eye, the images tend to be a little soft, and tend to have a lot of dust and scratches present from characteristics of the old TLR (we can thank my cat for some of it). The images captured are reversed due to the mirror of the TLR, which you will see in the finished images. They are also upside-down, but I change that. I prefer to leave the images reversed because I feel that, if there is text in the image anywhere, its being presented backwards creates a comedic timing with the few seconds it takes the viewer to work it out.

After the event, I edit dust off the faces, "north" the pictures (turn them right side up and straighten), crop and make any final edits*. I will post the images to a set on flickr unless specified, flickr feeds qathi.com where the photos are easily found. Participants wanting to obtain a soft copy of their self portrait should find their own picture, email me the link to the specific image they want - I will email back a jpg for web posting and a tiff suitable for printing (300dpi, 8x10). This process can take up to a week.

Please join us to make your own portrait. The process takes only a few minutes =)


*My policy for glamor touch ups is, blemishes are temporary so I edit them out, permanent features are attributes and they stay.