Selfie Autobiography: What the Selfies tell us

    In my last post (yesterday), I admitted to having become a rabid selfie-taker, and I also committed to posting some selfies every day, going backwards in time, and seeing what kinds of stories they tell -- perhaps creating a kind of Selfie Autobiography.

Lisa's female lineage:  great-great grandmother, great-grandmother, grandmother,
mother, me, daughter

    Selfies are, in fact, self-portraits, aren't they?  (Okay, it's true, sometimes they are merely, "look at me, look at me, look at me." It is not this aspect of selfies that fascinate me.)

   Consider this:  My selfies (and I presume yours too) fall into genres -- shadow selfies, merging-with-the-art selfies, seen-in-reflections-of-buildings selfies, abstract portraiture.

   And this:  the setting of selfies -- the background, the place -- is often more important than the visual they offer of the person.

Lisa in 2009 in Worcester, MA

    Consider the photo I posted in my previous blog, the first photo I dared to take of myself, a leap of faith at that time.  I placed myself in the corner of the photo and made sure that the living room was prominent.  I knew exactly why I was doing this -- all of the objects in my living room were expressions of new interests which were taking me in a different place than I had been.  In this photo, I'm not only telling the viewer, "here's what I look like at 51 years of age," but also, "I am a flea marketer; I like vintage objects which tell stories of the past; I love art, and I am just starting to love to paint."

    The following selfies, all taken in June of this year (2019), tell a story about that month's Rochester experiences.  And this is what is most essential about my selfies -- they are autobiographical; they are a map, a diary of what I have done here in this city which is most important to me.  Rochester is my fresh start, my second life.  Rochester is where my relatives, the Dossenbachs, lived, where they walked, where they played, where they laughed and cried.  Everything I do in Rochester has some relation to them.

6/19 Lisa and Kahlua at Ontario Beach Park

    Here is a shadow selfie, my dog Kahlua and I at Ontario Beach Park.  The Dossenbachs and their bands played at Ontario Beach Park from 1902 and throughout the next four decades.  In my book, I will tell many marvelous stories of their times in this park, back when it was known as the "Coney Island of the West."

    Above is another shadow selfie, a video.   I am in Fairport, a village on the Erie Canal, with a fascinating history.  Of course, the Dossenbachs played here (they played everywhere!).  In the video, I am walking towards the Perinton Historical Society, where I gave a talk last March, and where I intend to look more closely at their fascinating exhibits and a gorgeous Carl Peters mural.

06/2016 Lisa at the
Perinton Historical Society

    I also used the restroom in the Perinton Historical Society, and this is another selfie genre -- restroom photos.  These are great, because all restrooms have mirrors, but they are also tricky, because you can only get the photos if there is no one else in the restroom (otherwise, it is decidedly weird).  The Perinton Historical Society restroom is a treasure in and of itself, with a gorgeous hanging lamp and a vintage toilet paper holder; I've attached these to the selfie, for your viewing pleasure.

06/2016 Lisa reflected at bottom
of photo in the Powers Building

   Earlier in June, you could find me getting a tour of the Powers Building, where my Dossenbachs gave concerts and played for important meetings and dinners -- here I am reflected in the glass of a framed photo.  Now this is an unplanned selfie in that I only discovered afterwards (and, in that sense, it perhaps doesn't really qualify as a selfie at all, but then, there I am in the photo, anyways).

   Jazz Fest in June, and Bob Jordan and I were downtown.  I can prove it because of the photos (below) I took of us reflected in the glass of buildings .  (And for the life of me, I can't remember the name of this important building -- please tell me in your comments.)

06/2016 Lisa reflected in a downtown Rochester building
-- the insert at the bottom enlarges the Lisa part,
which is seen in the photo just above the right side of the insert 

06/2016 Lisa reflected on the right
and Bob on the left
during Jazz Fest downtown Rochester

 





      So this was part of my life last June, as viewed through the selfies I took, a month given towards dogwalking, history-searching, and music.   It is a wonderful life, to be sure, for this lucky and grateful local history researcher and writer, living day by day, in this place we call Rochester.

    More tomorrow.