(Snapped on 5/28/15, on the shipwreck Pamead, in Road Bay, on Sandy Ground, Anguilla, BWI - using a Sony Cybershot, and edited on iPhoto)
I went into the shipping container that sits on my yard beside my little shack here on Anguilla yesterday - searched for, and after digging through one box after another, I somehow miraculously unearthed my poor, neglected Sony Cybershot. I was on a mission to locate, dust off, charge up, and ultimately set the timer on the derned thing, in order to be able to try my hand at taking some selfpics for the first time since last April (see outtake from that shoot below…a rawther dreary contrast to today's pics., dontcha think?)
(Snapped on 4/14/14, in Frederick County, Va., USA - using a Sony Cybershot, edited on iPhoto)
And just
what exactly could've possibly com
pelled me to come out of my self-imposed, presumed permanent exile from self-portraiture, you might be puzzling? Welp…although it's probably gonna sound pretty silly, the reason is this:
Elvis' Beach Bar (my
most favorite haunt on the island) announced on their FB page a few days ago, that they wanted folks to take pictures of themselves, their friends, and/or their loved ones - sporting Elvis Beach Bar attire…and the person whose photo ends up garnering the most "likes" by June 30th, 2015 - will wind up to be the proud winner of a $100 bar tab…(Incidentally, if you'd like to help my chances of winning, visit
Elvis' Beach Bar's FB page, and then please "like" my submission photo - found in the comments, Thank You so
much!)
Never one to pass up on a photo challenge (nor one to forgo the possibility of being issued comped cocktails), I felt that I simply couldn't not participate. And after mulling over a few different ideas, I decided to stage Elvis' Beach Bar attire-inspired selfpics on the Pamead…not only because upon first sight many years ago, I've been particularly fond of the shipwreck for her photographic comeliness, but also because I knew that if I aimed my camera over her starboard side, I might chance to include Elvis' Beach Bar (or roughly thereabouts) in the pics., which I reckoned would make my submission that much more relevant. So there ya' go.
After gingerly hurrying back and forth numerous times between camera and pose, across the rusted out deck that crunched, and crackled, and threatened to give way which would've sent me plunging through jagged rotten metal to the level below - I packed up my gear and disembarked what's considered to be a landmark for some (like myself), but sadly on the contrary, an eyesore to others - I then set up my camera so that I might snap a next set of pictures with (the majority of) Pamead's likeness in the background. Only 3 frames into my second set of self-portraits however - completely without warning, and to my utter surprise - my dear friend Frankie came tromping out of the sea and up to greet me - and (naturally) he then promptly ask me for a cigarette, haha!
He sweetly obliged when I petitioned him to first pose in a few pics. with me, and after reviewing them all, I ended up liking this ^ one the most out of the lot. Thank You, Frankie - for being so willing to collaborate with me, you absolute doll, You!
Anyway, so here's the new deal…I am suddenly and very inspired to resuscitate my love of self-portraiture, in an effort to document my new(ish) life here on Anguilla. The pictures won't be as racy, nor nearly as dark and depressing as the ones that I used to take back in The States (at least I think they won't be)…but I'm looking quite forward to charting new waters here on and around my favorite rock on the planet, for the sake of revisiting an art form that I've dearly missed, since I begrudgingly gave it up a year ago…