there is a price that most, (if not all?) artists have to pay

in order to be a producer and creator of art. and there are many pop cultural figures who would counter to to such a theory, but i still identify a type of sacrifice on the artist's part. as a casual photographer, i spend quite a bit of time, behind a lens. making aesthetic judgments on what i perceive. this in turn, eliminates the ways in which i control my perception. i can offer you many stills and shots, of your personhood, and in doing so, i am responsible for that presentation.

is art constantly an experience of self-sacrifice?

no.

look at beyonce.

but maybe, in the mediums i choose to participate in - i lose the artistic capacity to construct my personhood in a specific way. i could try self-shots, and i could spend more time writing on myself, than on the other characters i surround myself with - i could, but i doubt i'd be as good at it. what i mean is, i'm better at perceiving and portraying that which i am objective to experiencing. my exterior judgment, accounts for the way you (he or she that i surround myself with) are presented to the world.

it's like that perma joke my friends make - that all their cool facebook profile pictures are owed to my camera and i. but when others are looking at these photos, no one knows that i took them. that it's my perception. they read what is featured in the photos themselves. him, her, they.

also. no one ever takes pictures of me.