Post 7:

I saw about twenty portraits today. The majority of them were on Facebook. Most of the profile pictures on Facebook are used to identify a person. They show the user how they perceive themselves, whether goofy, sexy, fun or athletic. On social networking sites, a person gets to choose how they want to be seen. For example, one of my friends is going through a bad break up. To infuriate her ex and get new male attention, she posted the sexiest picture she had of herself.

I also saw some portraits on billboards when I was at home in Detroit this weekend. Some of them featured politicians. In these photographs, the men and women wore capable-looking business suits in shades of blue or black. They smiled or had stern powerful looking expressions. Everything about these images is set up to make the politicians look capable and trust worthy to the public.

Finally, I saw 360 portraits of celebrities on E!’s coverage of the Screen Actor’s Guild Awards. These images are used to judge each celebrity’s ensemble, from all angles. It’s slightly embarrassing to put the actors on display for public scrutiny.

The difference between all the photographs is the intent. Social networking sites let you decide how you are portrayed. Billboards strive to impart a certain positive emotion to the public and The 360 camera on E! sets people up to scrutinized by viewers and Joan Rivers.