Birthday self portraits

Yesterday, on my birthday, I did what I’ve been doing on my birthday for at least ten years. I took as many self portraits as the age I turned. This year I’m 56, so I took 56 self portraits. It’s hard (for me) thinking up that many new pictures every time, so there are some repeated ideas from previous years. But there is something new. This year I wanted to ask strangers if they’d be in a picture. So, there’s some strangers in this year’s self portraits, and some familiar faces with friends. This might be my favorite year, yet. Every year, I wonder if this is the last year I’ll do this. I don’t know. I guess we’ll cross that bridge a year from now. For now, I’ll be glad I had the time to do this again.


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If you want to see previous years, here are the images from the following ages:

2023 - Age 55

2022 - Age 54

2021 - Age 53

2020 - Age 52



Birthday self portraits

For eleven years now, I’ve done this project. Since age 44, I started taking self portraits on my birthday. I take as many portraits as the age that I’m turning. So, yesterday, on my 55th birthday, I made 55 self portraits. Some were on my own when I was at my office, some were with friends that came over in the evening for root beer floats. I don’t know how long I’ll do this tradition, but at this point I can’t see a reason to end it.

(Here’s where you can see what I did in 2022).

Some of the images are repeat ideas from previous years. I kind of like shooting how my day starts and ends, so that motif gets repeated from year to year. And some of the images get repeated because, I’ll be honest, it’s hard to think of 55 brand new self portrait ideas that I’ve never done before. So here you go. Fifty five self portraits on the occasion of my 55th birthday.

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Birthday self portraits - 54 of 'em

In my early 40’s I started taking self portraits on my birthday, as many portraits as I am in age. This year, I’m 54, so here we go, 54 self portraits on the occasion of my birthday. (Click on any image to view it larger.)

For part of the day, my son and I drove to an old mining town about 40 miles from where I live, called Eureka.

And if 54 portraits of me just doesn’t satiate you, here’s the self portrait birthday posts from 2021 and 2020.

This is fun for me to do. I look forward to it all year. But it is challenging. For one thing, it takes all day. Also, it’s hard to make 54 unique portraits, let alone, something that’s not a repeat of previous years. But some repeats I favor, and lean into, like starting each time in my bed. So some are repeats and some I’m trying to make new each time, and then overall, I just know not every picture is going to be a home run, and I can live with that. But I do feel like if I can get 5-10 that are interesting or surprising or compelling or amusing, then by golly, I’d call that a success.