The First Posting!

Hello and welcome to my new blog!

First thing I want to say is that I doubt that anybody will actually read this! But, then again, that is not the reason why I am writing a blog. The reason why I am embarking on this adventure is for it to be a sort of online notebook to help me collect my thoughts and to be a record of my reading as I am going through my PhD. But, of how long this will last for is anybody guess, and this could blog could be born out of self-isolation because of the coronavirus epidemic and doomed to end as soon as I get back to work.

Currently, I have got two projects on the go. The first is the continuation of my selfie thesis, which needs to be edited to better reflect the connections between the selfie and the self-portrait. This also means that I need to treat the selfie not so much as the infamous “other”, as in the post structuralist way, but more as a sub-genre of the self-portrait. From the last tutorial there emerged four main points for the new edit.

1) Reflect the selfie as an image “of” a person and a self-portrait as “about” a person.

2) Instead of using realism, concentrate more on the resemblance within the selfie.

3) Explore the connection between the selfie and the fashion photograph with less waffle! (Unfortunately, I am a firm believer in using 500 words instead of only 2, as this sentence has just proved!)

4) To have less polarisation between the selfie and the self-portrait.

I also would like to edit the dissertation down to 6,000 words and to create an academic paper ready for publication. Currently it’s at 10,000 words, but it can be cut back drastically by significantly shortening the conclusion.

The other project is creating a link between the self-portrait and phenomenology. I can see that there is a firm connection between how someone perceives their world, both internal and external and of how this “reality” is then reflected within the self-portrait. However, my thinking is still jumbled and not coherent and something that gives me clarity and cohesion is writing through my ideas and thoughts. Needless to say, this blog will become very rambling and random, taking twists and turns, which will lead down many an empty corridor.

So, if anyone does end up reading this, welcome to the magical mystery tour and I am very surprised to have company!