[Davidparis]

Greetings folks,

This subject may have been discussed before, but it's starting to rear its ugly head again in my modest little life; as a photography enthusiast and the "go-to" man for pictures...I'm never in them! Be it vacation, family events or whatever, I'm busy taking the pix and do not appear in them.

Less than a month ago, my dear father passed away. During the sad preparations, we went through and dug up hundreds of pictures for his Celebration of Life ceremony. There were many pix from childhood through adulthood including his older years and then some (that I took) in the days preceding his passing. We were very thankful for those pictures.

It then suddenly occured to me that, when my time comes, as the primary "camera man" in the family for so many decades, I am only rarely in a picture. How and where will my life be recounted through pictures taken through the years?

Quite often it is felt that I should shoot the pictures in order to have proper results. Quite often I don't necessarily like handing my equipment over to someone unfamiliar in order that I make some cameo appearance in a shot. When that happens, it's in green mode and you hope for the best. On the other hand, it would seem odd for the "camera man" to insist on appearing somewhere in some shots (that he or she is making, primarily) when the general expectation is that he or she will be ensuring that good pix are taken and the occasion at hand properly recorded for posterity.

Anyway, I'm getting older. The kids and wife, immediate and extended family have all been recorded nicely for many many years. But yours truly?
Quite the conundrum indeed.

To counter any confusion, I generally do not desire to be in the shots and do not even think about it. I'm perfectly non-photogenic and usually hate to see my mug in a picture. But then, some years down the road, who will have taken pictures of Mr. Photographer man's life?

Kind regards to all.

---

Last edited by Davidparis; 08-24-2015 at 01:51 AM.

[clackers]

Yes, who heals the physician? :-)

[officiousbystander]

All your family photographs exist because of you. You don't need to be in them to be part of them. Your life will be recounted because at all those events you were the one documenting them.

[clockworkrat]

Give a P&S to one of the kids.

[rod_grant]

My son (Canon shooter) takes plenty of me for family occasions.
On vacation my wife occasionally takes out her (Canon ) P&S and records me.
So there are a few of me that are OK for the occasion.

[biz-engineer]

You need to setup a photography chain: a photographing photographer being photographed by a photographing photographer being photographed by a photographing photographer being photographed by a photographing photographer... or a Ricoh Theta for 360degree group photo.

[interested_observer]

Give a P&S to one of the kids.

Give a P&S to all of the kids.

[Mazhe]

Funny, those times, I was under the impression the majority of people with cameras (read phones) had only pictures of themselves

[Edgar_in_Indy]

Your original post could have been written by me (except that I'm probably a bit younger than you, since my oldest kid is 8).

I do make a point of forcing my wife to take a picture with me in it every once in a while, and I've gotten a few nice ones. But like you said, I don't particularly like being photographed (and I'm not nearly as photogenic as my wife and kids), so I'm pretty satisfied to only make occasional appearances.

My wife usually doesn't have much luck using my DSLR with a fast lens attached, but she's gotten some nice pictures over the years using some of my mirrorless cameras, such as the Olympus PEN E-P1, Sony RX100, and Panasonic LX100.

In fact, that's one of the great things about mirrorless cameras. With "face detection" you can hand your camera to almost anybody and have a good chance of getting a picture with your face in focus, instead of something 20 feet behind you. Maybe you could pick up an older m43 body and a used Panasonic 20mm 1.7 to let your wife or someone else use. For around $300 you would have a high-quality compact camera that takes great pictures and is easy for a novice to use.

[rod_grant]

biz, your system would leave you with a pic of an ear, an eye and a lens: and that's what a lot of my son's pics of me will look like.
(Here's one that I took of him) Typically this kind of shoot is spur of the moment with no thought of shadow on wall, hair combed etc.

[splash_fr]

The only photos I have with me in them were done with self timer on tripod in holidays...

[BrianR]

Self-portraiture is a time honoured artistic tradition that started with the first cave-paintings, long before that hideous narcissistic word inspired by the smartphone generation make it sound like something you should only practice behind closed doors and be thoroughly ashamed of after the fact. Make a point of periodically taking a few of yourself how you'd like to be remembered.

[Davidparis]

You need to setup a photography chain: a photographing photographer being photographed by a photographing photographer being photographed by a photographing photographer being photographed by a photographing photographer... or a Ricoh Theta for 360degree group photo.

Sounds a bit complicated, but just might work !

[RobA_Oz]

It's a question that's haunted me for most of my photographic life. My children now have children of their own, and photos of me are few and far between. I don't mind having my photo taken – it's a sign of maturity to accept who you are – but if I'm the one with the camera it doesn't tend to happen, and I have an acute aversion to the current narcissistic trend of "selfies". Taking a cue from the work of Vivienne Maier, perhaps we should all be taking our own portraits incidentally, as she did, as a part of photographing something else. It might make a good theme for a monthly contest!

[rod_grant]

A selfie contest!