You Are In Every Portrait

Self Portrait  #9136,  2016

Some say every portrait is a self portrait of the photographer.  In the case, it is the truth.

Saturday morning I went to the Mpls. Farmers Market with Karl's daughter, Carla.  She had to buy some Minnesota cheese curds to take back to her co-workers back in Colorado.  I had a small inkling that maybe, just maybe I'd buy some flowers if something called to me. My birthday is coming up and I could make an early still life that was autobiograpical.

I walked through the market and did a comparison shop of what flowers were available at the best price.  From the onset the purples called to me and I knew that the yellow lilies would be the perfect contrasting color.

Got home and double checked that the green background was still up and usable for today's still life. I did however pull the fabric more taut to minimize the striped lighting pattern this time.  Then assembled the following elements:

Poetry books, always Mary Oliver and my new collection by Wendell Berry
Cameras:  tiny crystal Swarovski camera and gold plated miniature camera
Wine glasses: three glasses that represent Karl, his daughter Carla and me with a nice white wine
Glass paperweight which displays a picture of me from 2nd or 3rd grade in my school uniform
Fabric to add color and texture

It could have contained more elements but I've learned that less is more.

Repetitive elements that almost always appear in my still life portraits are
natural light
poetry books
living flowers
beautiful vase
beverage vessels

To my mind they are all representations of love.