Today I’ve been home alone again because DM is out playing on his motor bike with Gary again. They’ve gone to watch racing down near the South Coast. So, I’ve been working on my photography all day and I’ve updated two galleries of horticulture pics that I’m pretty pleased with.

For some reason, since I discovered I could get some nice shots of my friends, I’ve been really interested in experimenting with people pics and hence the increase in mugshots, both of others and of me. It’s not really possible to ask your friends to pose for ‘sleazy’ shots like this one though….I’m worried they’ll get the wrong idea!!! So, my love of the ever so slightly sleazy means I have to try to get those shots of me.

Pete commented a couple of days ago that she thought I was a secret extrovert and I smiled because I’m actually an out-and-out extrovert in many ways but there are a few things that I find very difficult. Years ago, my mate Claire and I would go out to clubs dressed in matching rubber or plastic outfits and keep a tin of Pledge in our handbags to polish each other down after going to the loo. You don’t do that unless you’re an extrovert.

To me though, extroversion and exhibitionism are not the same thing at all. Even though I made and wore things that made people go ‘wow’, I was always covered up and never showed any ‘flesh’. People didn’t notice that the things weren’t revealing because they were eye-catching and sexy. I do feel sad that there seems to be a trend away from ‘alluring’ to out and out ‘here’s what I’ve got’ – it makes me wonder whether young men get the same level of excitement from their first sexual encounters with their girlfriends these days – I’m going to sound really ancient now but ‘in my day’ one of the pleasures of the start of a relationship was seeing your new love naked for the first time. These days there is so little flesh covered up that it must be a screaming anti-climax when undressing for the first time. Ah well, maybe the young have discovered a different way to thrill one-another?

I had this idea for today’s pic a while ago, after posting my Holland-Dozier-Holland pic and Dan Chusid made a comment about turning the mirror so he could see if there was lippy on his collar! I did feel a bit cheesed off at the time that I could only get so much of the composition I wanted because of the difficulties of composing something when you are the subject. It had occurred to me that an eye or lips in the reflection in the mirror would have provided a wonderful additional bit of detail that I just couldn’t quite manage to get them into the composition – it was difficult enough getting all of me into the frame, the focus right and my hands and arms in the right spots. I have endless admiration for Jeanne who seems to be able to turn out wonderfully composed and pin sharp self portraits at the drop of a hat….well so do DM and CJ of course too.

It occurred to me that day that I should do a shot tight-in over my shoulder into my make-up mirror and just look back at the camera. It’s taken me a while to get around to it because I knew the lighting and composition would be hellishly difficult and I always put off that sort of shot ‘for another day’. Today is ‘another day’ because I’ve got time on my hands and it’s pretty crappy weather this afternoon – it’s been raining hard here. Here is the resultant pic. I played around with my focus and had difficulty choosing between the one with the eye in focus and the one with my hand in focus but decided to go with the photography ‘good practice’ view of getting the eye sharp. The other one can be seen here.

I like the level of sleaze – the broken mirror is an integral part of the overall feel of the photo. I’d have preferred both eyes in the shot but I couldn’t get that to work. Khol and mascara have been my stalwarts since I first started to wear make-up and I can’t see me ever leaving them behind.