Early this fall I began work on a series of self portraits. Not portraits of me specifically, but portraits taken by the subjects themselves…I left my gear set up all the time and had the camera on a wireless trigger with a large mirror set up behind. Anyone who stopped by the house was requested to stand in for a few portraits exactly as they were. I felt that if the subjects knew the exact instant they were to be photographed (by pressing the remote shutter button) their reactions, poses and everything else would be more genuine or at least somehow different than if I were to stand behind the camera and decide when the moment was right. The progression from the first photo a subject took until the last is often quite interesting. Often they started unsure, shy and timid, then progressed to some state of enjoyment. Although the full series is not presented here, this is a small preview of a few favorites…
The device you can see in most of the subjects hands is the remote trigger. Although this project is ongoing, I have been at a standstill on it for several months, stop by sometime and take your portrait if you are in the neighborhood…
Taylor Mahoney Photography 