A self-portrait every day

September 2, 2006 9:09 PM

A self-portrait every day: Sven and Tobias Staude, Ahree Lee, Noah Kalina.
posted by MetaMonkey (16 comments total)

Tobias's face seems to get a lot 'harder' and get sharper features.
posted by delmoi at 9:22 PM on September 2, 2006

Although other things change, Noah managed to keep the same facial expression for six years - not one smile or grimace or squint...
posted by vacapinta at 9:30 PM on September 2, 2006

Ahree Lee did the best job, IMO. The position of her face stays exactly the same.
posted by delmoi at 10:02 PM on September 2, 2006

Noah's made me think of looking at Chuck Close--forever.
posted by hototogisu at 11:23 PM on September 2, 2006

I've done this since january 20th, 2003. I started spontaneously on the first day I got a digital camera. Only after I had done it a year did I start hearing about other people that did it.

I don't have a nifty video, just some short gif's and averaged images. Here's one of the averaged image. I'd link to the viewing page for my pics of the day, but I don't want to break my computer since that is what I am hosting it on. It's fun to look back on yourself over many years.
posted by Phantomx at 12:14 AM on September 3, 2006

Geez, I always remember something just after posting. The face in one pose method works best for consistent pictures, but it is so boring. When I've been putting a lot of images together, I've found that I still have plenty of useable images and there are some fun ones mixed in.
posted by Phantomx at 12:15 AM on September 3, 2006

This is how hacks make art. You don't have to have any talent, just the fortitude to take a picture every day.

Just take a picture of yourself every day (no stretch for egomaniac "artist") then turn it into a video. Instant art.
posted by bob sarabia at 12:43 AM on September 3, 2006

Roman Opalka has been doing that since 1965, taking a snapshot at the end of his daily painting session. However, the self-portraits are just an element part of his work, though I'm pretty sure I saw them presented like in the YouTube links. Interview here (in French, Real Player).
posted by elgilito at 12:53 AM on September 3, 2006 [1 favorite]

Though I wouldn't personally come down quite so hard on these guys as bob sarabia (hi bob!) did in his above comment, I do basically agree with him: this is pretty easy stuff. But it reminded me of something I took a very small part in many years ago. I was in Paris, at the Beubourg Center, and there was a photographer set up in the lobby. Visitors could sit in a chair, and get their portrait taken. These thousands of portraits would become single frames in a film, which when projected would of course be some kind of constantly morphing composite face. I thought it was a fantastic idea, and of course I sat for a portrait and got my face into the plot. (You know, us attention whores couldn't pass up something like that...) Unfortunately, I never saw the film, or ever heard about it anywhere. Maybe it didn't work!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 1:20 AM on September 3, 2006

Just take a picture of yourself every day (no stretch for egomaniac "artist") then turn it into a video. Instant art.

Since it has been done over and over, I think its a bit of a push calling art at all, it's just an interesting project - watching people age is neat (and probably even neater if it's you aging). Seems to me this notion of 'art' can get in the way of enjoying a perfectly fun video.
posted by MetaMonkey at 6:03 AM on September 3, 2006

Tagged as "Me", Then and Now is a somewhat related flickr set.
posted by NYCinephile at 7:02 AM on September 3, 2006

Similar to Phantomx's composite, but fewer frames and much more consistency: 12 years of my face, via lousy photo ID.
posted by cortex at 9:34 AM on September 3, 2006

Since it has been done over and over, I think its a bit of a push calling art at all, it's just an interesting project - watching people age is neat (and probably even neater if it's you aging). Seems to me this notion of 'art' can get in the way of enjoying a perfectly fun video.

Yeah, it's been done to death, but I'm not sure how "interesting project" is distinguishable from "art". These would be a lot cooler if they were drawn or painted, but just because something is easy doesn't disqualify it from being art.
posted by interrobang at 9:48 AM on September 3, 2006

Yeah, there's a difference between "art" and "really groundbreakingly original art". You might as well say a cover band isn't making music.
posted by cortex at 11:05 AM on September 3, 2006

I walked right into that one, had a feeling I'd regret that comment. I didn't mean to impune the validity of the work, and I don't really want to debate The Nature of Art, because then we'll start on Truth and Beauty and that'll just get Ugly. Drawing a line between art, artisanry and fun is a game I try to avoid, so I shall cease digging this semantic hole any deeper. It just pisses me off when Art gets in the way of fun.
posted by MetaMonkey at 12:02 PM on September 3, 2006

Cool and slightly creepy: I made a movie from Noah Kalina's original, by averaging successive frames. This is Noah, on average
posted by MetaMonkey at 6:15 PM on September 5, 2006