Saturday, April 5, 2008
Upon Reflection
This is that narcissistic entry:
As I was going through some of my old digicam photos I came to the realization that I am rather fond of self-portraiture, the mirror variation.
A few weeks ago, I was at Saigon Restaurant with Dave and LuAnn and I took this photo as I was sitting on the toilet. I liked the nearly complete blotting out of my face.
This cell phone self-portrait, taken in Kelly and Jean's bathroom, features the rare profile view, courtesy of the twin mirrors.
Another bathroom photo, this one taken a half-world away, in the bathroom at Kachi-kachi-yama, the bar on the seventh floor of The Kaisha building. It was late--but not too late--and I was chotto yopparai, a little drunk, when I took this photo. I had my camera on me and thought, I want always to remember this strange, early, near-drunken feeling.
Here's another bathroom photo, this time in my own bathroom in my apartment in Tokyo. I have no idea what prompted me to take this photo.
Here I am in the elaborate bathroom at Konami Sports Club. I mean, I know that gyms often have elaborate bathrooms with places for people to shower, do their hair, etc. But this bathroom was a work of art. There was a sauna, rows of private showers, a changing area, and this extravagantly mirrored area. The mirrors in there fascinated me.
I was in a bathroom in Singapore's Changi Airport, waiting for Akira to arrive. I look happier than I was. This took a lot of posing.
I was in a bathroom in Ginza station. I was meeting Toshi for lunch that day at WAKO and I was very early, nervous early, and stepped into this bathroom to check my makeup. I looked damn good.
It was spring in Tokyo and during my break, I walked down to Hibiya Koen, Hibiya Park to get some pictures of the cherry blossoms. I stepped into the public bathrooms in the park and took this picture. I had just returned to Tokyo from Albuquerque after my younger brother's funeral and I still felt very disconnected from the world. This photo was supposed to remind me of that feeling.
Here I am again in the bathroom of my tiny Tokyo apartment. It was my first day of work. I was excited and nervous and felt very strange going to work in a business suit.
It only looks here like I am in the bathroom. In fact, I was in a sleeper car on a train in Thailand. The sink was part of the car. The toilet--a squat toilet that became progressively less pleasant over the twelve or fourteen hour train ride--was at the end of the car.
This isn't a mirror photo per se, but you know how sometimes when you're inside at night and you turn a light on, the windows turn into a kind of shadowy mirror? This was that. It was New Year's Eve and I was alone somewhere in Japan.
The elevator going up to the fourth floor entrance of Konami Sports club was mirrored at the back. I took this photo one night on the way up. I was hurrying because the elevator doors opened almost directly in front of the sign-in desk and I didn't want to be the strange gaijin taking her own photo in the elevator.
That's a self-portrait in the little mirror in The Kaisha back room. All the women used that little mirror at one time or the other to check their makeup. That's my serious face, the face that could be transformed instantly into friendly, happy gaijin face as soon as I stepped through the door that separated us from the students.
It was a sunny afternoon in my Tokyo apartment and I was amusing myself taking pictures in my little mirror. I like this photo more than a little.
Here I am with Kazu on the Nippon Maru, the museum/ship that he helped to sail around Japan.
Here I am with David in Kamakura, the home to the Daibutsu, the Big Buddha. We were walking along the road to the Daibutsu when we came upon this traffic mirror and stopped to document the moment.
Again with the traffic mirror. Me, on my way to the gym, somewhere between Higashi Mukojima and Hikifune perhaps.
Me, a long time ago.
As I was going through some of my old digicam photos I came to the realization that I am rather fond of self-portraiture, the mirror variation.
A few weeks ago, I was at Saigon Restaurant with Dave and LuAnn and I took this photo as I was sitting on the toilet. I liked the nearly complete blotting out of my face.
This cell phone self-portrait, taken in Kelly and Jean's bathroom, features the rare profile view, courtesy of the twin mirrors.
Another bathroom photo, this one taken a half-world away, in the bathroom at Kachi-kachi-yama, the bar on the seventh floor of The Kaisha building. It was late--but not too late--and I was chotto yopparai, a little drunk, when I took this photo. I had my camera on me and thought, I want always to remember this strange, early, near-drunken feeling.
Here's another bathroom photo, this time in my own bathroom in my apartment in Tokyo. I have no idea what prompted me to take this photo.
Here I am in the elaborate bathroom at Konami Sports Club. I mean, I know that gyms often have elaborate bathrooms with places for people to shower, do their hair, etc. But this bathroom was a work of art. There was a sauna, rows of private showers, a changing area, and this extravagantly mirrored area. The mirrors in there fascinated me.
I was in a bathroom in Singapore's Changi Airport, waiting for Akira to arrive. I look happier than I was. This took a lot of posing.
I was in a bathroom in Ginza station. I was meeting Toshi for lunch that day at WAKO and I was very early, nervous early, and stepped into this bathroom to check my makeup. I looked damn good.
It was spring in Tokyo and during my break, I walked down to Hibiya Koen, Hibiya Park to get some pictures of the cherry blossoms. I stepped into the public bathrooms in the park and took this picture. I had just returned to Tokyo from Albuquerque after my younger brother's funeral and I still felt very disconnected from the world. This photo was supposed to remind me of that feeling.
Here I am again in the bathroom of my tiny Tokyo apartment. It was my first day of work. I was excited and nervous and felt very strange going to work in a business suit.
It only looks here like I am in the bathroom. In fact, I was in a sleeper car on a train in Thailand. The sink was part of the car. The toilet--a squat toilet that became progressively less pleasant over the twelve or fourteen hour train ride--was at the end of the car.
This isn't a mirror photo per se, but you know how sometimes when you're inside at night and you turn a light on, the windows turn into a kind of shadowy mirror? This was that. It was New Year's Eve and I was alone somewhere in Japan.
The elevator going up to the fourth floor entrance of Konami Sports club was mirrored at the back. I took this photo one night on the way up. I was hurrying because the elevator doors opened almost directly in front of the sign-in desk and I didn't want to be the strange gaijin taking her own photo in the elevator.
That's a self-portrait in the little mirror in The Kaisha back room. All the women used that little mirror at one time or the other to check their makeup. That's my serious face, the face that could be transformed instantly into friendly, happy gaijin face as soon as I stepped through the door that separated us from the students.
It was a sunny afternoon in my Tokyo apartment and I was amusing myself taking pictures in my little mirror. I like this photo more than a little.
Here I am with Kazu on the Nippon Maru, the museum/ship that he helped to sail around Japan.
Here I am with David in Kamakura, the home to the Daibutsu, the Big Buddha. We were walking along the road to the Daibutsu when we came upon this traffic mirror and stopped to document the moment.
Again with the traffic mirror. Me, on my way to the gym, somewhere between Higashi Mukojima and Hikifune perhaps.
Me, a long time ago.
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