This week’s theme at 52Frames was “Self Portrait.”  This theme (and others like it) tend to give me problems as I much prefer to stay behind the camera.  Like many photographers, the number of photos I’ve taken far outweighs the number of photos that I’m in.

However, after submitting every week for two years, I certainly didn’t want to give up.  I considered several ideas before finally coming up with this shot.

I happen to like sunset shots and I figured a “back shot” of me would probably be better than a front shot of me (for which, of course, I would have had to turn around and have the sun at my back).  I liked the lighting I was getting from the sun (there’s a reason why the hour before sunset is called “the golden hour” for photographers) and I was hoping for a sunburst to form across my back, as it did.

I did some post-processing to enhance the image.  However, one thing I was unsure about was the lens flare.  I kept going back and forth between trying to remove it or just keeping it in.  In the end, however, I figured that a lens flare would be acceptable in a shot that is shot directly into the sun as this one is.

Zev