Self-Portrait | June 2012

I graduated from high school 20 years ago this month. Gasp! I know everyone says it, but I seriously have no clue how it has been 20 years since I graduated! It certainly doesn't feel like that many years have passed by since I walked across that stage and received my diploma, and I definitely don't feel like I am 20 years older. In my head I'm still 25 and I still look like I did back in high school.

In honor of this milestone, I decided to do something a little different for this month's self-portrait. I held a contest on facebook and asked fans to vote for which of my high school senior portraits I should recreate 20 years later as a self-portrait.

It was only after the winner was selected that I started to really consider what it was going to take to recreate the chosen portrait.  First, I was going to have to try to find some clothes that sort of resembles the outfit I had on in my senior photo.  Second, I was going to have to track down a chair.  Third, I was going to have to squeeze myself into it!

Obviously, I was never going to find the exact shirt I had on in the photo so I opted for one a similar color.  That part wasn't too difficult since blue is my favorite color and I have tons of it in my wardrobe.  Every pair of jeans I own is very dark in color with wide legs that I didn't think I'd be able to peg. But that issue wasn't too hard to solve by raiding my husbands closet and stealing a pair of his jeans.  I even still own the ring I had on in the photo, and dug that out of the jewelry box and put it on.  I wasn't about to cut bangs into my hair or get a perm, so I did the best I could to mimic my hairstyle with a curling iron.  And it just about killed me to take this photo with next to no make up on!  I didn't realize how little make up I wore back then until I was trying to copy the photo.

Next up was the chair, so I put a request up on facebook and luckily a friend offered to let me borrow a chair from her.  I knew there was no way I was going to come up with a solid white background for the photo, so I decided not to try and instead just took the photo in the backyard of our rental house.

And finally, I have to admit that the squeezing myself into it was a bit harder than I thought it would be, and I'm surprised that I don't look uncomfortable in the photo because I definitely was!  It kinda felt like I was attempting to fold myself in half to squeeze into that position and it was a challenge to resume it quickly enough after clicking the remote.

So, I give to you, Michele Whitacre

Now...

And then...

So, how did I do?

Honestly, I had a ridiculous amount of fun setting up this photo and bring everything together to make it happen. Although, it is a bit depressing to compare the photos side by side and realize that I don't quite look the same as I did back then no matter how much I wish I did.

Did you miss some of my past self-portraits?  Clicking here will take you to all of my self-portrait blog posts. Clicking here will take you to my self-portrait Facebook album.

Michele Whitacre is a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona and the surrounding area. Visit Michele's website at michelewhitacrephotography.com. Become a fan of Michele's work on Facebook. Follow Michele's updates on Twitter.