I mean, it depends. A self portrait can certainly be used as a person's profile picture. I use my self portraits as my profile pictures almost always. Every once in a while, I'll use something humorous, etc., but most of the time, I want people to know I am a photographer. Most people can at least tell with the difference in quality there often is say between my profile picture and others. Of course, it also depends on what you think the definition of a self-portrait is. If it is just a photo that somebody took of themselves, then profile pictures are almost always self-portraits. If you believe self-portrait generally means a well thought out photo, done artistically and with some sense of composition and other artistic/design/photographic principles, then most profile pictures are not self-portraits.

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_{-bryce
check me out on: dA| facebook| myspace}

Note: I chose Yes.

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_{-bryce
check me out on: dA| facebook| myspace}

can it be no...
simply by using online profile pictures as an artist's s.p?
this is jumping the gun a bit but I thought I'd use it to reply to this comment?

the reason why I might pose this is because I am using the medium of a social-networking service here (dA) in order to present my self-portraits; as an alternative to a canvas, paper or sculpture.

In my presentation this decision was queried. I was asked whether the decision to question or challenge self-portraiture through the medium in which i was using to question it in the first place was a sensible and productive one?

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The Protean Self Project

Proteus; the Greek Sea God of multiple forms. The protean self evinces mockery and self-mockery, irony, absurdity and humour.

interesting - i think the word artistic in this question is quite off-putting actually...

you are right to question what a self-portrait is - and if we fail to come up with a clear answer to this thought then we shouldnt be able to make a comparison to the profile picture in the first place.

the idea of quality within self-portraiture (as you mention in the last few sentances) could take us down quite a subjective route.

what do we mean by 'quality' and how would we go about about quantifying this?

i would however put forward notions of representation, likeness and portrayal as more valuable headings in which to analyse the self-portrait and a new potential online version...

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The Protean Self Project

Proteus; the Greek Sea God of multiple forms. The protean self evinces mockery and self-mockery, irony, absurdity and humour.

Well, the quality of any photo is really a subjective thing. I don't think it is really possible to quantify it. And if the quality of the photo goes into determining if said photo is a self-portrait or not, what other factors play in? It's a very tough topic, and I am not sure anybody could ever come to one clear, concise answer.

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_{-bryce
check me out on: dA| facebook| myspace}