I'm not going to lie: I hate having my picture taken. I'd rather take the Physical Challenge (good for you if you understand that reference). Whenever I see pictures of myself, my first thought is, "Do I really look like that? Because I do NOT think so. Also, when did I get so old?" I do take a lot of pictures of my feet, but they're always there and they're always willing to participate! When I got an iPhone, I did not turn the camera on myself and take selfies from every angle. Oh no. Oh, no no no no no. I've done that just a few times and then I go in a corner and cry and resume taking photos of other unsuspecting people, cats, and plants. Bottom line: I prefer to be behind the camera.

But sometimes, I see some beautiful light coming through a window, I want to use it, time is short, nobody's home, and the vegetables aren't going to cut it. This is why nothing in my house ever gets fully completed: I could be dusting and then I'm all, BEAUTIFUL LIGHT! SHINY! SQUIRREL! and I drop my chores and walk towards the light. Anyhow, I decided the only option in this situation was to use myself, clearly. Taking self portraits with my "real" cameras is something I do occasionally and it's also extremely challenging. I'm always up for conquering a challenge. When you take self portraits, you have to be two people at once: the photographer and the subject. There's a lot of walking back and forth to check camera placement, settings, and most of all, focus. Focusing a self portrait is one of the hardest parts. The wider your aperture, the more difficult it becomes. If I was ever held hostage by a band of pirates and they said, "In order to let you go, you are going to have to take a self portrait with your eyes perfectly in focus at f/2.0, and you have 15 minutes, GO!"....I'm not going to lie, I might experience a little agita before tackling the task.

The results I get when I take self portraits are both funny and interesting to me. Following are some examples of what I generally end up with. Chance are, if you try this experiment, you may get some very similar results.

First up is the "oh my god, I look just like my mother" photo. I always get a bunch of these.

These photos are reassuring: no sibling of mine can ever use that whole "we found you under a rock" thing with me. Nope.

Next up we have the "I don't even know" photos. These generally make me laugh and are a pretty good representation of my personality but they make me wonder what exactly I was thinking when I pressed the remote shutter release.

Next up we have the photo that makes me wonder exactly when medium-sized poodle decided to take up residence on top of my head. A poodle that clearly makes me stare intently into the lens.

And then there are always a few, or maybe just one, that I almost like. Almost. I look at them and say hey, that is kind of me.

While I much prefer to be taking photos of other people, taking photos of yourself can be a fun and insightful project. Everyone should try it! If I did it and I'm still OK, then so can you.