My friend rauf and I were chatting about the luxury of getting a portrait taken. He does portraits that are amazing.
Well, just because I was thinking about it, and because I'm a little strange, but mostly because I've never had my portrait taken, I went to the local photobooth and had some shots taken of myself.
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Have you ever had this done? It's peculiar to say the least, because you're sitting there by yourself, posing and making faces. Unless you're there with someone else, which would be more fun. Don and I had one taken in Paris at a photobooth after seeing "Amelie."
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I think it would be a fun blog idea to have everyone post their own self portrait taken at a photobooth on the same day. What do you think?
23 comments:
OH, YES! Ruth, this is a fabulous idea of what you did here. I love it! I love YOU. Glamorous you. This would never work for me, I'm afraid, because I don't have a glamorous bone in my body (as you well know). So if I did it, it would kinda be a joke. BUT for YOU, it's wonderful! I love it!
Oh, Boots, my beautiful sister!! Drat it all. But anyway, photobooths are not about glamor!! And wouldn't you and Nicholas have a time hamming it up??
Now you're talking. I would definitely do that and it's a great idea. Why didn't I think of that before?!!
Its my turn to smile ear to ear Ruth, You are absolutely, absolutely absolutely gorrrgeous. i am so jealous of that stupid camera, wish i was hiding there in the booth taking your pictures. But unmanned camera has surely done a better job than what i would have done. i would have done one little thing though. i would have popped my head out and said 'don't try to be funny and this is not a police station '
i am really amazed at the quality of the pictures Ruth, i think this should be your second attempt. At the first attempt you would have observed where the light is falling. i have seen some picture booth portraits, they are uniformly harsh. These pictures are so soft. Remember 'Amelie' the movie ? pictures are harsh there too. This is the best result i have seen so far, perhaps because you are sitting there.
Boots, now you're talking! :D
Ha, rauf, well you don't see the ones I DIDN'T post. :) But thank you, you're kind.
I laughed about the poses for the police! I didn't have you there to tell me what to do. But I wanted to show more than one side, so to speak. :)
Tag, you're it, do you have a photobooth nearby in Chennai?
And please don't ask me which one is the best. its too hard for me to decide.
i just poured some coffee from the flask, my sis keeps filling it up. black coffee, without sugar, i don't have diabetes, i don't know, never had a check up in 30 years.
Filled my pipe and i am enjoying the smoke. i am refusing to move out of your page. i just want to keep typing something until my shoulders fall off. These pictures say so much about you Ruth.
Ruth, i think i told you that i have no passport as i don't intend to go anywhere abroad. so i have no ID of any kind. if i am arrested as a terrorist or as a spy i have nothing to prove that i am an indian. one chance came, the State introduced voter's ID, i did not take it seriously since i was not interested voting these clowns to power. they give no options Ruth please believe me, you have to choose the least harmful clown of them all, best of the worst amoung the crowd of contestants. i don't know them at all. My sister nephew and niece insisted that i should get some kind of ID. when they came for the last round to make IDs i was forced to go. i had to go to a local primary school, close by. Saw the long queue, my turn came, i saw a computer and a web cam. i was made to sit on a broken chair with a fluorescent light almost touching my nose. the chap kept struggling with the web cam. Perhaps he was shocked to see me on the screen. He told me to bend my head down. i did, little more he said, i crouched. suddenly he came and pushed my head down i nearly fell out of the broken chair.
you can go he said.
next day i had to go to the same school to collect the ID. Our government workers are very lazy. they don't want to work. one chap gave me a bunch of cards and told me to pick out mine. i went through the whole lot. i said its not here. check again he said. still i couldn't find it. do you have the slip ? yes i have, i said.
that chap hated me. they hate any one who make them work. Here it is , he bawled at me. right on top.
Is this me ? he did not answer. the number is same i checked, name is right, but who is this frankenstein in the picture ? the chap gave me a cold stare, probably he thought frankenstein is a movie star. he did not say anything obscene because he saw some of my neighbours wishing me good morning. As soon as i entered home my sister grabbed the ID from me. she said she'll get it xeroxed and she would keep the original with her as i would lose it. i said i am not going to show the ID to any one, i can't be taking the people to the hospital when the faint after seeing my ID. and a xerox is still worse. Now i carry the xerox in my camera bag, i have not shown it to any one.
Yes, I think that sounds like a marvelous ideas- I agree Rauf, she is gorgeous! I'll keep my eyes open for a photo booth. I love the ones from when I was a child. What treasures these photos are of you!
rauf, that sounds like a ridiculous fiasco with your ID. Bureaucacy was like that in Istanbul too. So I take it you're telling me you won't be going to a photobooth. :|
I can't remember if your sister is older or younger than you?
Thank you, Rachel! I hope you will find a photobooth, it is fun. You and Swede would have a good time with it. Don and I squeezed into one in Paris, it got the middle half of our faces together.
we don't have photobooths here Ruth, i am not sure as i avoid shopping malls and crowd. i don't fit into sophisticated areas. i am fine with the monkeys. i have a few pairs of jeans and t shirts, my friends keep bringing expensive shirts which i give to my nephew. i don't wear them, my nephew and niece do all the shopping for me. only thing i buy for myself are shoes. i enjoy some luxuries because i am lazy, things like blank CDs, photo prints are delivered at home.i don't go out much while i am in the city. i don't eat out. when i travel i eat only road side food with rickshaw people. have to go and buy 'God Delusion' by richard Dawkins, little beyond my pocket. i hold him in high regard. i have to dress well to go to the book shop which is in a sophisticated shopping mall. i am afraid to go there. Ruth, you have absolutely no idea how haggard i look. i can only try to look less dreadful.
i'll check if they have a photo booth
rauf, if you get and read that book, tell me how it is. I've wanted to read it too. Do you have a library that might have it? I will check ours to see if it's not checked out so I can read it.
But no, don't go to the library, because then you won't go to the bookstore, and the mall, and the photobooth!!
aha ! i read your comment on Rachel's page,
so, you are good at symbols too !
you are going to write a book.
Ruth, i think i asked you many times. and i think its time you start writing a book. Please don't wait till you retire, a person like you cannot retire, no one will let you retire. you've got a nice place, your great grand uncle's crystal lake cottage ??
i was actually expecting you to announce your book immediately after you met your old classmate who wrote a book on Vietnam war.
Oh, glory, rauf! Thank you for your confidence, and wouldn't that be grand? I would love nothing more than to quit my job and write, write, write. I'm afraid that might be the only way it ever gets done. Heather and I love to write, but we have to work, but she is doing much better at sending her poems out and getting published. She's inspiring, actually.
these are such amazing photos of you my mammas! is it the first time you've really shown your face on your blog? i think so...
have you seen my photobooth photo?
i think i'll have to post it on my blog now. it was taken about a year ago.
you are so beautiful.
Yes, Lesley, I think it's the first I've shown my face. I vaguely remember seeing a photobooth photo of you. I hope you will post it on Elle!
and
the look in you eye doesn’t
am I to assume
in answer to a comment on aleks blog
I like them all
but number four is my absolute favorite
and
please say to your husband [apart from liking his chickens ]
the good news about a chainsaw accident
its so quick it doesn’t hurt but very messy and damaging
and then hours later it hurts a lot but the bad news is like …………
it took me nine months to walk properly after an accident
last year
its a great blog by the way
love the photos throughout
jack
Jack, I am trying to make the connection to the comment at Alek's blog . . .can you help me remember?
You picked my favorite too. By the way, these photos make me look younger than I am AND than I look in person. I have no idea how that photobooth did that magic.
I told Don what you said about the accident. OH MY GOD! That sounds horrifying!! I suppose the the pertinent point about it related to his recent endeavors with our fallen maple is that he would not have worn any protective gear on his legs. I mean, what could a person do to protect from what happened to you?
How nice that you are reading these old posts, hard to remember I even posted some of it.
as stories go
I have had two accidents on the same foot in the same place at either end of a decade
severing veins -tendon -bone- apart from ruining a perfectly good pair of shoes
that was annoying – as good shoes are hard to find here
alek is a chain saw fiend -who works unprotected as I still do - yeah it’s dumb -
in America there is some very good protective pants and boots- unlike here where
every one works unprotected – and accidents common – three people at the hospital
when I was in -
blunt or lose chains snag- mainly on small bits of wood like branches or twigs
-spins the blade round into the body
on the upper legs it could go in and one would bleed out in minutes –sorry -I was lucky
because I was alone when it happen –could not stop the bleeding- it was a ten minute walk to the road – to find a taxi – I don’t drive -fortunately my neighbor found me on the way – later- alek blew a fuse –
your comment was on a portrait I am wearing a black suit
you said those eyes unnerved me
and teasingly this reply was meant to read
and
your eyes don’t am I to assume -
well alek and I believe you are beautiful - your face is good for portrait – interesting for an artist – lots in it – to dwell on
and the side look remind me of an American portrait painter who posed his society models that way - I am struggling to remember his name he was immensely famous
jack
Good night almighty, now I am worried about you both. I assume this is for sculpture or some such art form? Thank God your neighbor found you. It was not your day to pass.
Thank you for clarifying about the comment, about the eyes.
About these photobooth portraits. I am completely bewildered about them, because they make me look better than I really do, younger and make my eyes bigger, etc. It is some kind of 'truth' that is untruth, and yet, because they flatter me, they also please me. I only wish I saw this in the mirror every day. Maybe I discovered the fountain of youth in a photobooth.
It would be a luxury to sit for you, or for Alek. I hope I will see your work sometime. I have seen hers and it touches me, as she must have told you. It goes somewhere deep that I didn't know was there before.
Oh, and I know you will tell me when you remember the American portrait painter.
I am sorry -don’t be alarmed it’s the way of life on this island
for alek it was sculpture at one time- for me it’s about what needs to get done
we have to find about six tons of wood or more for winter
so we go to the forest - gather in the fallen trees - cut and transport
re cut and chop- I do that by myself or with a family member [unless injured]
but alek will chain saw the day to day stuff whilst I chop or she will go up the trees
where I might to be to heavy or she don’t trust me
then we have in excess of a hundred and fifty mixed trees which are aged olive trees
the oldest was possibly planted around the time the pilgrim fathers landed
that is not old old by olive trees
also exotics fruits and nuts and general fruit trees
plus vines as this was once a vineyard
I have pulled up many vines to replant with olive trees
but a large amount remain -producing sweet wine
several varieties of eating grapes
so I am busy year round with mechanical equipment in turning the land
trimming pruning blah blah and rebuilding the dry stone wall of the terraces
those fall under immense rains in the winter - i rebuild my neighbors also as an exchange of service
when they they swell with water locals refer to it as a woman’s belly
then I have the art to produce- laundry and cleaning and my son to deal with
who seems to like working against the grain of things
alek cooks shops and looks after the practical things along with her photography
me being somewhat useless at that
one of the reasons I can chat on at this moment is that its to hot to work outside until evening but I am thankful for the conversation and getting to know
and
by the way open range is a very good film [I watched four times]
and I believe I might understand why you like it
which may also be the reasons why an artist would paint you?
it is as much what’s happening inside as the look is outside
when they combine they produce subject
great I would love that …yes you would be perfect for alek
jack
Jack, loving this . . . will continue on email . . .
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