Yesterday I took a self portrait of me and my wife Mina while we are at the lake fishing and having a cookout. It was a great day and after viewing this shot, taken with a Leica D-Lux 4 I realized I must have 30-40 self portraits that I have taken over the years.

I started doing this in 2001 as a way to get a shot of myself with each camera I have owned and to check focus as I would always focus on my eye. Over the years it has become something of a tradition and as a result I have a bunch of these images of myself on my drive.

I though to myself “wouldn't it be cool to do this until you are in your final years?” I then decided I was going to keep doing this until I am in my final days, and at that time I can put a collection of them together to not only look back on, but to hand down to my son so he and his children (when he has them) can see how their Grandfather has aged through the years. I plan on putting these in a self printed book when I am 70 or so (if I make it that long) and plan on having self portraits with not only myself, but others in them as well. My wife, my mom, my son, my sister, and friends will all be a part of this lifelong project.

This self portrait project is not to make artsy portraits, but more of a documentary of how I am aging, and to document the various stages in my life. Many others have done this I am sure, so its not original, BUT it is something that can be fun to do. Once you get a bunch of these images they are pretty fun to look back on.

I have found some of my past self portraits that range from serious to ridiculous, but will start with the most recent from yesterday with my wife Mina. Keep in mind, I have a TON of these, and these were just a few I happened to find doing a quick search of my hard drive. Also, the sample below only represent a time span of 6 years as my 2001 and 2002 portraits are on another hard drive and I do not remember where I put it :0

MARCH 2006 - NIKON D200

2003 - CANON 1DS - VEGAS HOTEL ROOM -  man, this camera is a monster!

I have some from 1999- 2001 but for some reason can not find them.

I will continue this project until I am on my death bed as it is fun, and I know it will be nice to look back upon them as I get older. Also, I will get to remember all of the cool cameras I was able to shoot with, as well as remember the fun times I had with family and friends.

SUGGESTION - Go get yourself an ultra wide angle lens and start shooting yourself at arms length and start your own self portrait project!

Until next time!