I took the photo on the left in my studio. I’m wearing an ostrich feather adorned wedding dress and channeling Cindy Sherman as I compose a self portrait by moving many times from pose to iphone camera and back again.

The photo on the right, again me in the dress, was taken by professional photographer Suzanne Engelberg. Part of an afternoon photo shoot, this image captures a spontaneous sit down artfully enhanced by the photographer.

Both images took about the same amount of time to produce. The selfie realistically records me and my surroundings. The professional portrait renders me as I could not. I don’t have the technical skill, equipment or vision to create such an image of myself. Though I’ll continue to take selfies to record the events of my life, I’m glad to have Suzanne’s all together different portrait of me in the dress.

The Ostrich Feather Wedding Dress Project will be exhibited in Common Dilemmas, a “With The Earth” exhibition at Gallery Route One in Point Reyes, California from November 4-December 11, 2016. Common Dilemmas is a collaboration between artists Lorna Stevens and Joanne Easton.

The Ostrich Feather Wedding Dress Project is a group project of artists’ wall works inspired by a Lilly Rubin ostrich feather-embellished dress purchased on eBay for $50. Participating artists include Marcela Pardo Ariza, Mariel Bayona-Garcia, Ray Beldner, Suzanne Engelberg, Hadar Kleinman, Judith Selby Lang, Evie Leder, Cait Molloy, Thomas Van Houten, Katherine Vetne, Mary Hull Webster and Minoosh Zomorodinia.