I found Smithson's series to be absolutely hilarious. She has an old lady dressed as a Grizzly Bear, terrifying doll faces repeated in multiple scenes, and a series of celebrity portraits, which she doesn't blatantly explain as being taken in a wax museum. Although I did enjoy the "Portrait of the Photographer's Mother," "Hugo," and "Shooting Stars," I found myself most drawn to her "Self Portrait" series. She discusses in the little blurb that she hates being photographed and therefore hates self portraits of herself. I find it amusing that we can learn so much about her, and maybe she is learning about herself as well, just by taking on her point of view as she looks down to her feet. In twenty-one images we learn that she lives in Los Angeles, is on a diet (or has been recently), owns a yellow lab, is interested in fashion and dressing well, uses a medium format camera, isn't afraid of heights, has a son who plays lacrosse, has spent time in Hollywood and is possible a Jackie Chan fanatic, is married, enjoys soap operas and the beach, and knows how to garden and drive a car. What fascinates me about her approach is that not only do we not see anything but her feet, but we learn more about her by seeing images of her feet than we often do by simply looking at a traditional head-shot of a portrait.
The majority of the images seem fairly thought out and posed, but I have no problem with this as the composition is strong in each and they hold my attention. I think that people are generally interested in getting a sneak peak into other people's lives. It is rare that we do actually get information like this about a stranger, but it is almost as if we can't resist finding the truth out about a complete stranger. On that note of truth, I find myself not worrying about the validity of these images. I would be surprised if she would stage a scene that wasn't characteristic of her. So, no lies.
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