A word about selfies

My sister was a model for some time, on a pearl white beach where the palm trees were outfitted with electricity outlets. She modelled in the sultry Caribbean, she withstood the wind and she splashed into the lazuli colored water as if she were a pro. She never was one, but more than I ever could be.

I am not a natural poser. As a child I would cast my little hands, smeared in dirt, in front of dad’s film device or fold my hands across of my face when mom pointed her camera at me.

When you follow my blog, you may have wondered whether I feel like a movie star? Or perhaps whether I think of myself as a terrific beautiful 45 years young? Or maybe you think I reached a delayed midlife crisis and feel like a 15 years old again? None of it. I like being my own model, as this cost me no effort. I am not shy in front of my own camera, but maybe that is because I was a photographer, albeit of food.

The reason of selfies is that a photo often gets better when a person is in it. It makes for different compositions. Being on my own, I have two options: with or without myself.

I admittedly tell you that I am vain, because I would always choose the best photo and not the ugliest. A photo does have the same effects as a film, movie, or any kind of medium which is not life: acting.

I rather have other people in the photo, but I don’t see many and if I do, I am not always in the mood to ask whether they want to pose, and exactly as how I want them to. Quite many people are actual not into the exhibit thing at all, and besides, no one ever shows up at my camp to be my private model. And I am thankful for that!

Selfies take practice. It is best to take a pose, to act sturdier than you would behave in real life. In reality I would not lay on the tarmac -as I have no desire to be roadkill- neither would I practice yoga postures on a huge bolder -in fact, I need a teacher to be able to practice yoga-. It’s for the photo.

But sometimes, I do get wildly enthusiastic from the natural surrounding I am in, and great poses spring up from my mind.

What I try to conceive is my mood. I can take many photos of, for example, an endless stretch of road, but it doesn’t show the total picture, the hardship or happiness of it. With myself, I try to bring the mood to the one who is seeing the photo, including myself.

It is just fun to pose and get great shots. I like being a model for someone who sees me exactly as I do (that is, myself). Or does this sound too much like a split personality?

With my blog I try to inspire people to follow their dreams. To travel in a self-propelled mode (no airplanes!), to overcome fear and leave the comfort zone, to be out in nature: because true happiness lays here. And to love thyself, and make a selfie or two a day.