One’s own self is well hidden from one’s own self; of all mines of treasure, one’s own is the last to be dug up.
Friedrich Nietzsche

For Ron, a glutton for punishment.

Ya, I haven’t posted a self-portrait in a while, a Saturday night ritual I engage in when extremely bored. I was bored last Saturday, hence the photo. Thanks for reminding me, Ron.

I hauled all my stuff to the roof and set up with a flashlight, thinking I would be relatively safe from interlopers. I was wrong. Just as I started to get the image I was after a random guy walks across the roof, at 9 pm on a Saturday night. What was he doing on the roof? I have no idea. It was obvious what I was doing: Engaging in vanity photography out of boredom. He decided to stay and watch.

I packed up, took my lovely Phottix Cleon Remote Shutter Release back to my apartment, and drank a can of Shandy (I can longer seem to stomach beer. Ya, call me a girl. I wish China had Beer Gift Baskets.)

Captured: September 23, 2008.

I haven’t posted a self-portrait in a week or two. My vanity must be on the wane. No, that’s not true. You’re not vain when you know you’re the coolest man in China. A snarky blogger recently called The Stevo “tasty vittles.” I’ll take that as the ultimate compliment.

If you view this image large you may notice my ensemble. A purple plaid shirt and camouflage shorts is Stevo’s China Wear at its finest. My rationale is simple: I’m going to be stared at any way, I might as well be entertaining to look at. If you saw some of the clothes in Mrs. Stevo’s closet my above look would seem tame.

Clothes shopping, actually all shopping in China, is cheap. Instead of buying used clothing (as I did in Canada) I can now afford the ugliest of un-preowned shirts. I’ll take you shopping in China, if you visit, I know some place with reasonably attractive garments, and a great tailor.

Captured: July 23, 2008.

I haven’t published a self-portrait lately, maybe I’m not feeling overtly vain. This was taken in the bathroom of my Hong Kong hotel room, on a recent marketing trip to fragrant harbour (Hong Kong - translated). Why do I take self-portraits in Hong Kong hotel rooms? Maybe the same reason people have gratuitous sex (or masturbate) while in their secret rented domiciles. I could investigate the phenomenon, but it could get messy.

I look bad in photos, no matter who takes them.

I always seem to shoot self-portraits on Saturday nights when Mrs. Stevo is away. Bored? Yes. The less-than-intelligent gent that I am, I left my DVD player at school. No movies for The Stevo. Watching flicks on the computer screen doesn’t have the same feel.

I took the opportunity boredom presented to try out my new remote flash trigger. After seeing the stellar work of Craig Ferguson and reading The Strobist I decided to branch out. I bought a V2 remote flash trigger from Gadget Infinity in Hong Kong. Linked to my Canon Speedlite 580 EXII, I shot this with the flash set at 1/2 power and f/22, 1/160 sec. The cheap less-expensive remote triggers don’t use Canon’s ETTL II flash metering system. This image’s exposure was trial and error, and a little work in Adobe Photoshop.

Captured: March 1, 2007. Canon EOS 400D, Canon EF 24-104 F/4L

A morning-glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books.
Walt Whitman

Self portraits are what I seem to do when bored or feeling agoraphobic. I’ve always wanted to shoot something in this stairwell. The afternoon light is divine.

January 1, 2008.