I don’t know if you are a Jim Carrey fan or not, but there was one movie that he did I really liked. At the time, I thought that it was just pure fun; however, later, as in this morning, it took on greater meaning as I thought about this post. The name of the movie is The Mask. In it, Jim Carrey plays a character named Stanley Ipkiss: Here is a brief synopsis:
Stanley Ipkiss is a bank clerk that is an incredibly nice man. Unfortunately, he is too nice for his own good and is a pushover when it comes to confrontations. After one of the worst days of his life, he finds a mask that depicts Loki, the Norse night god of mischief. Now, when he puts it on, he becomes his inner self: a cartoony romantic wild man.
This movie probably would have be more appropriately named: The unmasking.
I really like Jungian psychology. I find it interesting and it rings true to my heart. He talks lots about shadows and about personae. That is, we all have multiple masks that we wear. Often times we become confused when we believe the mask to be who we are, instead of a roll that we play. I wear a number of masks: Software Developer, father, husband, friend, photographer, etc.
Carl Jung said:
The persona is a complicated system of relations between individual consciousness and society, fittingly enough a kind of mask, designed on the one hand to make a definite impression upon others, and, on the other, to conceal the true nature of the individual.
Believe it or not, I’m not, in my opinion, an outgoing person(ality). I have no problem with lots of alone time. However, it is rather odd that when I pick up a camera, I become this more outgoing, chatty, open person. It just seems to happen. It happened again this evening. I’ve found that my cure for the blues is to grab the camera, go to downtown Charleston and walk around shooting photos. So, I went today.
My first stop was East Bay Coffee. This was where the poetry reading was held last week. I stopped in for one of their delicious scones and a glass of iced tea. While in there, I was chatting with the the lovely lady pictured here who works there. She commented on my cool, old-looking camera. I was touting the Olympus 35 LC today. Yes, it is old. It was made in 1965! After a trip to camerarepair.com, it’s in tip-top shape and working well. Anyway, I struck up a conversation with her and she told me about her having been in a commercial back in Philadelphia. At that time, she had been working in tourism and she wondered how many photos of her existed in complete strangers’ photo albums. She said that she’d been photographed hundreds of times. So, since she was so used to it, I continued to snap away!
While sitting at the table enjoying my iced tea, I happened to look out of the window and see Justin riding down the street. Unfortunately, I couldn’t catch up to him. Just was was the guy that I talked about in this post. Not to fear though, I did catch up with him later on another street! After I finished my tea, I said goodbye and headed on down Bay street looking for some shots.
I ran into a cute, vivacious, 20-something young lady named Coco. She was working for Blue Green Resorts. Her job was to stand in the doorway and offer to set people up for tours, etc. We chatted for about 30 or 40 minutes and she told me how rude people could be and that they often ignored her or were downright rude. She said that she didn’t care, though. She’d developed a think skin. She said that it was made worthwhile by meeting cool people like me. Awww shucks!!!
Off I went on another adventure. I set off to find Justin. I knew that he usually parked his bicycle rickshaw on Bay Street, near the market. He wasn’t there. I kept heading down Bay St. and within 2 blocks, I found him. He recognized me immediately, came over to shake my hand, asked about my wife and two sons and if Pedro had found a job, etc. Of course, I asked about him and his jobs and found that he had taken on yet another job! 3 jobs, now. However, the newest job is teaching creative writing at a high school for 3 hours per week! After I chatted with him for about 20 minutes, I headed on home.
Although I truly had a great time, now it’s time for some ‘me’ time. Time to recharge. That took a lot out of me, but not in a negative way because I got so much from it. Oddly, Charleston feels like home. I’m becoming a fixture. People are starting to know me and I them. Had you told me that more than a year ago, I certainly would not have believed you! Now, when people ask me where I’m from, I simply say Summerville, SC. I don’t go on with the Charlotte/Charleston explanation. I feel like I really do live here.
Related Posts :
Coco This image has been hanging around in my camera for a couple of weeks now. I didn't fi ...
This is a photo of Justin. He looks pretty laid back, no? I was walking down the sidewalk an ...
The sale that got away I thought the title of this post fitting. During my conversation wit ...
11 Responses to “Camera and Persona”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
Wonderfully enjoyable story about yourself. I like to read how people venture out on the streets for photo opportunities and meet people. I’ve become more aware of the masks I wear and when I need to take them off as I grow older. I also find the quiet to recharge and discover a bit more about my true self. I’m going to look up that coffee shop you mentioned and maybe take a visit. It would be cool to meet you and maybe even Justin
Monte: I’d love to meet you and spend time chatting. I’d be happy to introduce you to Justin. He seems to be easy to find. Do you live near Charleston?
Sometimes I believe we wear layers of masks, one over the other–remove one and there’s another. It calls to question if we even know we’re wearing them sometimes.
@Earl: Amen! I have so many of them. Like you said, I take one off, only to discover another, and another, and another. Sometimes it’s tiring.
Paul, I agree. I think that for many of us, childhood/teenage/early adulthood is the time when we acquire many masks and as we grow older, we start to take them off. Part of it, I think, is that it’s so hard when we’re young figuring out who we are and whether that ‘who’ is okay that we pretend to be someone else who we think IS ‘okay.’
For me, many people knew me as Gerry Klug. My full name is Gerard Christopher Klug, and in school (catholic grammat school) they called me Gerard but my parents always called me Chris. That continued through high school (school-related people calling me Gerry and family and neighborhood friends calling me Chris) was 35 or so before I unified the whole thing and told the school people to call me Chris. I don’t think some people ever adjusted.
I never really thought about it but after 26 years in law enforcement I am sure I had a couple. It is very rare when my wife and I are out and about with our cameras that I approach people but I do try to grab the candids when I can.
Ah, so you have got your Olympus back? That’s great, the images you made with it certainly justifies more use from it. I especially liked the lower one, with the woman reading. I think it is the contrasts between the street colours and structure, to the woman and the well maintained façade that attracts me mostly. And those tones…
First thing that came to my mind reading your writing and then others comments on this with masks, was an onion. We are like onions, with many shells. When there’s only one shell left, it might be that you’ve turned into a nut case…
Second thing that came to my mind was that I really enjoyed reading and following your thoughts on this walk. Good that you start to feel like home in SC.
What a lovely post with so many nuggets to explore.
Masks are a fascinating topic that I could get lost in for hours. I know I am stepping on a mine field here and these thoughts are just my opinion. Goodness knows I am not trained in psychology and don’t pretend to be an expert.
Still, I think we spend too much time trying to discover that single person we are beneath masks. That certainly would simplify our lives. However, I think it is healthier for us to recognize that we are multi-faceted beings, maddeningly complex, and therefore more perfectly equipped to adapt to situations that call for different aspects of our complicated personalities. Is that a bad thing or a distinct advantage?
After decades of self-exploration and teaching a discipline that absolutely required delving into the self, I am more convinced than ever that being so complex is a blessing so long as we embrace it as such and concentrate on qualities such as courage, compassion, humility, and honesty. If we lie about our feelings because we are trying to live up to someone else’s expectations we are giving up responsibility for who we are and letting someone else tell us who to be. That’s not quite the same as calling on different facets of our personalities in different circumstances.
I believe that the secret is to get our attention off ourselves. We spend far too much time focusing on “Am I measuring up to standards?” (mine or someone else’s), “Am I being true to myself?”, rather than “Am I being effective, am I solving the problem, dealing successfully with the issue at hand, fulfilling my intention?”I think if we focus on the needs of the situation and call upon our internal resources to deal with that rather than scrutinizing our behavior and hoping for approval, we cut through a great deal of the confusion.
Goodness, I got wound up. I love Ove’s observation regarding peeling off all the shells.
Well Paul, it pays to visit your site and be rewarded with posts like these. Thanks. Just a note, I’ve posted some book titles that you may find of interest on my blog site.
A year ago … Well, I changed places a year ago, at least in Carinthia. After 20 years in rural remoteness, the city of Villach, though not big, only 50.000 people, felt strange. And now? A year is a long time, and if you think of it and that we only have a relatively small number of them, this is just rightly so
@Ove: Yeah. I would probably keep feeling and find a nut at the center!
@Anita: I’m glad to have wound you up so much.
It’s good to see long, well thought out comments! Of course I agree with you that we spend entirely too much time wondering if we measure up to external rulers instead of wondering, questioning, and trying to understand if we are living our authentic life. I’m still searching for mine. One thing is for sure, I still have lots and lots of questions.
@Robert: I saw your list of books. Thanks. I’ll have to check out a few of them a bit later. I can only read one of these types of books at time.
@Andreas: I’m glad that this has happened. It makes life a bit easier to live as is often the case when we finally make it to acceptance.