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| Jorge Alejandro Waterhouse-Hayward - 29 August 2026 |
Traditionally
I take a self-portrait on my birthday, 31 August. My birthday has always been a
complex problem.
My Argentine
birth certificates states that I was born April 18 1943. All my documents have
that date. To make it even worse my name in all of them is Jorge Alejandro
Waterhouse-Hayward. My mother explained, and after all these years I do not
think it is the truth, that my father forgot to register me when I was born.
Here in
Vancouver I go by the name of Alex. I am very careful when I get phoned calls
and they want to reach Jorge which they mispronounce jorgie and not horhe.
Today I
decided I would take my self portrait (I hate the word selfie) because it is a
lazy Saturday. My two daughters will celebrate my birthday on Monday so I will
have photographs for whatever blog I write on that day.
Today I
figured I could take a self-portrait unlike the ones I have done previously. I
connected my focusing spotlight to my ancient Dynalite flash system. I attached
an adapter to my Fuji X-E3 camera so I could use it on my large Manfrotto
tripod I bought in 1978.
Few know
that if you connect a high powered flash unit to a digital camera you can burn
its insides unless you use a safesync device. It is in my scan here. In this
scan is my metal venetian blind gobo (go between). And, lastly, the long rubber
bulb so that I could face my camera and take the picture. Those who have film
cameras and digital cameras must know that the B on the shutter dial stands for
bulb.
I am not
going to worry about thinking how to take my self portrait next year. I am
going to be 84 this year. I might not be around to take another one.
