Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Self-Portrait Tuesday: Time, Week 1

The 11:11 Self-Portrait Project The Self-Portrait Tuesday theme for March is "Time". Kath says: For one month I would like you to document time - in order to ... - document and observe physical changes in yourself - create a discourse on identity - keep a visual diary of moods - tell stories She goes on to list several different examples and ideas, but I decided to keep my effort deceptively simple by choosing a time and trying to remember to take a photo of myself at that time every day. I say "deceptively" simple because it turns out it isn't always simple or convenient to not only remember the project at the correct time, but to then interrupt what I'm doing, even if only for a few seconds, to take the photo. I've done pretty well this past week though, consistently getting two photos a day and most of them have been right on time. It'll be interesting to see how the rest of the month goes. The time I chose for my daily photos is 11:11, both morning and night. I know a lot of people are attracted to the number 11:11. It's considered in some circles to be a sort of gateway number with a lot of spiritual significance. I'm not going to go into all that here. If you want to know more, google "11:11" and you'll find LOADS of info about it. For me, the attraction is more personal. It's a number that I - and several of my family members - associate with my Mom. I was originally going to go into some of the reasons we associate that number with her, but this is getting so long already that I don't think I will, at least not today. I don't know that the reasons are really all that important to anyone but me and some of my family anyway. But suffice it to say that I really NOTICE the number 11:11 these days, something I don't remember noticing when Mom was alive, and whenever I glance at a clock and see that the time is 11:11, I always feel like Mom is close and I whisper hello. This monthly series will be intended to try to capture an image of that moment twice a day, every day. Here is the first week (clickable if you want to see it larger in a new window): "11:11, Week 1"