Femme Photography

ARTICLE

Peggie, Mo.

The tragedy of Narcissus, was not I suggest, his suicidal love affair with his own reflected image in the pool at Donacon, but rather that he lived too many years before the invention of the camera. For certainly photography adds a whole new dimension to narcissism no matter how you interpret the term that grew out of the classic Greek myth.

I confess to being quite narcissistic, though I much prefer the term auto-visual, which is being suggested as more appropriate for Travestians, and photography has always been an intricate part of my femme enjoyment.

Like many of my femme-fancier friends I learned early the techniques of self-photography, and almost as quickly, those darkroom techniques necessary to the complete fulfillment of femme photography. Even today, although I regularly work with professional photographers, and have all my own film sent out for processing, I still enjoy a photo session in my own solitude and the fun of developing the film and making prints afterwards.

Even were this not so I might still make the pretense of working at my hobby because there is no better assurance of privacy and dressing freedom than that afforded by the sanctuary of your own darkroom - whether it is the kitchen you declare off-limits for the evening, or a room actually designed for femme-photography.

The necessity of desiring to carry clear through on my film processing so that I can have a room completely at my disposal has led me away from the Polaroid camera, though it is a most thoroughly enjoyable instrument.

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