I have never liked having my picture taken. In most of my high school yearbooks you can search and search for me, but for the most part all you will find are footnotes reading “Picture Not Shown: Luke Copping”. I was the kid who was mysteriously sick on picture day (except for one very unfortunate and very 90’s looking school portrait of me with long hair, a bright purple dress shirt, and a very bad tie – I promise I’ll share it someday) But in the last few years I have become more comfortable with being on THAT side of the lens – mainly due to my girlfriend’s complaints that there are almost no photos of me other than the occasional Instagram or night out party shot, and her almost paparazzi like urge to snap photos of me when I am unaware. Over the holidays, as I was spending a lot of time in the studio doing yearly equipment inventory and maintenance, I decided to embrace her suggestion that I should take some time to work on some self portraits.
I had a lot of fun.
It was nice to slow down and work on something like this, given the rapid pace of the corporate and editorial projects I have been working on the last few months, it gave me a bit of open air to have a good time, experiment, fail, start over, and just play. I enjoyed the process so much that I have decided to try a little experiment; in addition to the new work, news, and other regular features that make an appearance on the blog I am going to feature a new monthly self portrait – the picture above is the first from this ongoing side project.
The Blog of Luke Copping 
I love how it turned out!! Let’s face it – you did this photo more for your beard than me, ha ha
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The beard must stay!
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That is a GREAT portrait!
It will be hard to outdo this one….and while I’m not the one who has to deal with the beard, it is very good looking!
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Thanks Katie
I’m certainly gonna try and outdo it – or at least have a lot of fun trying – in the next few months.
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I really like this portrait. Reminiscent of Stephen King but not the goofy Stephen King pics one usually sees… this is dark, mysterious, and intense. I am a huge King fan so for me, this was very cool to see, Luke. I hope you find my comment complimentary as it is meant to be 🙂
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I really like this! Your eyes are the first thing I see, full of personality and expression. Love the processing and how the lighting is suitably dark and moody without going all charroscuro. It’s very much your style, and let’s face it (no pun intended), the beard is pretty ferocious.
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Thanks A lot Kris. The beard has gotten significantly more fierce since this was taken. Its a journey, not a destination.
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I like the looks of your ‘side project’ I’ll be back to see more, soon.
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Love it!
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[…] month I launched a new feature on the blog which unveiled the first new self-portrait I have taken in a long time. Despite a general disdain for being on the other side of the camera, I […]
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