Untitled, (Self Portrait) Prague
Rovinj, Croatia
Self-Portrait with Pipe
Portrait of Photographer Jean-Jacques Heilmann
Portrait of Belgium Surrealist Artist Marcel Marien
Perry Expedition to Japan of Photographer with Camera
Portrait of Beaumont Newhall with Photographs
Self Portrait (Clenched Thumb II)
Self Portrait: Back and Hands
Untitled Triptych (Nude Self Portrait)
Self Portrait in Pantheon, Rome, Italy
Self Portrait with Camera and Mirror
Portrait of Onésipe Aguado
Jean-Baptiste Henri Durand-Brager, Photographer, Marine Painter and Printmaker
Jean-Baptiste Henri Durand-Brager, Photographer, Marine Painter and Printmaker
Fashion Photoshoot, Place de la Concorde
Industrial Plant at Saint-Gobain, Le Havre, France
Portrait of Josef Sudek
Portrait of Photographer Robert Doisneau with His Nikon F1
W. Eugene Smith
W. Eugene Smith, NYC
Self Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, New York
Millers Bros. Circus, St. Louis, MO (clown and camera with football style shutter and bird)
Lizard Boy
Reclining
Portrait of His Father, Emile Zola/Portrait of His Adopted Son Jacques Rozerot (Later Jacques-Emile Zola)
Self-Portrait of the Photographer with Camera
Ted I (Self Portrait)
Untitled (Self Portrait)
Lajos Tihanyi and Andre Kertesz Going down in Plane
Self Portrait as a Painter in Rouzat, France
Untitled #65 (Self Portrait)
Group in a Pull Cart (Self Portrait)
Self Portrait in Theatrical Costume and Sword
Self Portrait Sitting at a Table Reading a Paper
Standing Self Portrait next to Balustrade
Charles Negre, Self Portrait at 21 Quai Bourbon (His Studio)
It is much rarer to see images of photographers themselves, instead of their friends, family or acquaintances. Perhaps that reluctance stems from a self-consciousness that they felt more comfortable behind the lens instead of in front of it. Of course there were some notable exceptions: Nadar was notorious for his self promotion and many self portraits.
Most of these images were simply self portraits. Only a few were taken by other photographers. Again, the reluctance to be taken by others may be an exhibition of ego or just a shyness--and the portraits show both emotions readily. Some photographer sit for their portraits in pompous splendor or in retiring simplicity.
Photographer's portraits were made almost from the beginning. Hippolyte Bayard's bizarre joke of an image of himself as a suicide victim (because the French government had not recognized his pioneering efforts and had given pensions only to the Daguerre/Niepce team) was certainly an early and rather startling portrait of the artist.
In these examples from both the 19th and 20th century, you will find photographers who pose with their equipment, who are in the process of shooting themselves, who sit or stand stiffly for formal portraits, or who pose casually. Some, like Duc de Massa and Franck Chauvassagne, dress up in theatrical style. Others, like Margaret Cressman, shed their clothes completely.
But I find all of these images to be very revealing and shed an interesting spotlight on who these artists really were/are. Many are famous names and others are just minor footnotes in the history of photography, if known at all. But all show personality.
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