I’ve just indulged in a couple of ‘retro’ self-portrait sessions.

I monitor several sources to alert me of ongoing and upcoming scams using stolen pictures of me. In the process of checking them out, I started taking a wander down memory lane looking at some of my older self-portraits. That, in turn, reminded me that 2017 is the tenth anniversary of my 2007 365 Days project. At the start of the year, I was tempted to give a third year of self-portraits a go. I’m glad I saw the error of my ways and didn’t do it; I’ve been far too busy.

However, I couldn’t let ten years go completely unremarked; so, by way of celebration, I decided to take a couple of simple self-portraits standing at my desk. Of course — as I should well know — nine times out of ten there is no such thing as a ‘simple self-portrait’; especially if you haven’t taken a ‘proper’ hand-held self-portrait in many, many, years. For a start, with a different camera you have no idea where to point the dang thing to ensure that you are framed correctly. In theory, with my new camera’s tethering capability, I should have been able to see the picture I was taking on my phone. But the Gremlins were out in force and I could not persuade my camera and phone to talk to each other. Oh well, it had to be a traditional ‘click & chimp’ session instead. And then because I didn’t like the sour expression of the subject (that would be me), I had to set up and try it all over again.

I decided not to try and ‘copy-cat’ myself, at least one sensible decision then. To assess how kind (or unkind) the passage of time has been, I found a roughly similar unpublished shot, taken back in February 2007.

Apparently I was having a bad selfie day when I took this. It’s one of over thirty-five pictures I took while trying to get my 365 Day’s project picture.

Ginger calls this my “intransigent bastard” look. Not quite what I see, but her assessment is probably closer to the truth than I’d like to admit.

Happy To Be Here. Copyright © 2017 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

Taken at my desk using only my monitor screen for lighting. This picture’s a .jpg image taken straight out of camera.

If I had been thinking I would have dragged out my old camera to take the pictures so that the lens distortion would be the same (anything to make my face look a little less full).

The conclusions?

Yes, I am fatter around the chops, I’m thinner on top — unfortunately, that’s the only place I am thinner — a lot greyer, and (interestingly) my nose appears wider. I can’t see a whole load of new lines and wrinkles, but then I’m biased.

Older? Yes. Wiser? I doubt it. Happy to be here? Absolutely.

Happy To Be Here – Black & White. Copyright © 2017 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

Ginger calls this my “intransigent bastard” look. Not quite what I see, but her assessment is probably closer to the truth than I’d like to admit.

Copyright © 2007, 2017 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.