Posted by Judy Weiser, PhotoTherapy Ctr on 1/7/2009, 3:40 pm, in reply to "Self Portrait artist and Dr's that have written reviews on SP artists needed for thesis help"
Message modified by board administrator 1/21/2009, 11:17 am

I have today (Jan 21, 2009) edited this reply below that I wrote originally on Jan 7 -- in order to add missing words that I just realized I had not typed to end the sentence of the quote I used. Here is the correction now: At first it said this: "To quote one of the early PhotoTherapy pioneers: A photograph can never reveal -- it can only " but it was supposed to say this instead: "To quote one of the early PhotoTherapy pioneers: A photograph can never reveal -- it can only suggest -- and it suggests differently to each viewer who encounters it" Now the sentence is complete!! And below is the originally-typed message, replying to Alex's original... I notice that Alex has not responded to this below, which took me a long time to type, so I'm hoping that this will soon happen, as I'm curious to hear the reply... Judy Weiser ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hello Alex, and thanks for posting your request. One thing I would like to mention is regarding who you are actually hoping to hear from -- and this is because, while the Title of your message asks for "Doctors", your second question asks for "therapists who have written reviews of professional photographers" and then "what those therapists think is being revealed about the artist"... Both of these make assumptions that might confuse readers... Let me explain: a) You did not identify the country where you live... so perhaps this is different in your country, but I think it's important to mention that, in most North American countries, not all therapists have a PhD (and thus not all will call themselves "Dr." before their last name). A good example of this is myself -- I am not "Dr. Weiser"! and also b) you ask for "reviews" that therapists have written about professional photographers"-- but writing art criticism ("reviews") about photographic art, actually has nothing to do with the work (and art) of doing therapy with clients who might use self-portraits during their therapy process (at the therapist's direction). WHY would a therapist be writing photographic reviews?? Perhaps, if English is not your first language, you meant instead some sort of therapeutic analysis (or professional academic article) about such photographs?? If so, again, let me explain that unless such photographers were also the therapist's clients, there's not much chance that the therapist would have any interest in photographic (art) criticism (unless this happens to be a side-hobby)... I wonder if you are presuming that therapists who use PhotoTherapy techniques, can somehow be trained to externally "read" the meanings of anybody's photographs. If that is your assumption, let me alert you to the fact that this is not possible to do! (as most of the basic literature about phototherapy explains!: It is a basic tenet that therapists do NOT interpret the meaning of people's photographs FOR them -- and this is because we CANNOT do that! It is not possible for someone to view your photos and then be able to tell you ANYTHING about yourself...) -- but of course it could always suggest some good questions to begin asking, in order to open a dialogue with the person, about their self-portrait Yes there are books where people try to show this can be done -- but they are all severely lacking in consistent proof -- because objective external-observer interpretations are impossible. Any "reading" of someone's self-portrait I might attempt, would likely say more about ME than about them! This is explained in a lot of the basic writings about this field, and so I'd imagine that any therapist who do their own self-portraiture, would cringe at the idea that some stranger could look at these photographs and somehow be able to know what they "reveal"... To quote one of the early PhotoTherapy pioneers:A photograph can never reveal -- it can only A finished photograph is only the beginning of the story that it tells at deeper levels, to each viewer -- and every viewer will always interpret it differently, based upon what each brings TO that moment of looking (in terms of their own multiple background "filters"through which they see it)... Hope this help you focus a bit better on what you are trying to study, and please see this webpage to find out more how ALL photographic meaning is ALWAYS projected onto ANY image (SELECTIVELY and SITUATIONALLY only) -- including self-portraits: http://www.phototherapy-centre.com/photo_projectives.htm Judy (Weiser)

Link: Getting meaning from photographs (including self-portraits)

Posted by Cristina Nunez on 1/10/2009, 12:35 pm, in reply to "Self Portrait artist and Dr's that have written reviews on SP artists needed for thesis help"
213.140.22.70

Hello Alex, I've been taking self-portraits for 20 years as a sort of "self-therapy" and I now use my self-portrait method in workshops and corporate training. You can check my website www.self-portrait.eu Contact me so we can discuss the usage of my work in your thesis. best, Cristina Nunez

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Posted by Jenny Loshaw on 2/4/2009, 10:02 pm, in reply to "Self Portrait artist and Dr's that have written reviews on SP artists needed for thesis help"
75.70.222.118

Alex, Please feel free to review my thesis project at jenniferloshaw.com. The project is self portrait based.... self examination resulting in my own healing process.... thankfully... Jennifer

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