Return of the Scan

It has been three years since I posted face scans to this blog, and a solid eleven years since I started scanning my face! Time for more, right? Time to come back and crawl on top of the scanner bed like a mole.

So here I am, and I made a little friend to accompany me. I don't think I've changed too noticeably in three years, but I think the scanner has a way of making the similarities clear. The freckles on my face that are, apparently, permanent? I didn't really know, but here they are three, five, ten years later. Same is it ever was.

One strange thing about living is that "who you are" is a pretty esoteric question. There's something grounding about making these images and cataloguing a physical reality. Change is relative, and some things about you really never change. Still, I feel the weight of change a lot. Decisions happen, whether or not you're making them.

I got rid of my scanner some time ago. It was clunky to use, I was making digital art much more, and it was one of those big printer/scanner combos. I liked the space it left behind, and I didn't miss it - for the most part.

But after a while, every so often I would think about something, "hmm, it would be great if I could scan this". And so, finally, I got a new scanner. A small one that just plugs in and runs. You press the "scan" button on the side, and you don't have to think about anything else. You can have a new glass, and an old, familiar face.

And a paper friend, made strange through the merging of light and time. Not bad.