The man not in the mirror
I read this article on cbc.ca (virutally the only place I get my news) and was fascinated by Francois Brunelle's project of photographing look-alikes. It took me a minute to realize that these were people who not only looked very much alike, but they are not even related!
The more I read, the more interesting I found the whole idea of this project. It was interesting to read his comments about how the look-alikes were toward each other during the photo shoot. Some were apprehensive and were not comfortable touching each other, where others seemed close:
In many cases, Brunelle has learned, look-alike men resist his invitation to touch one another: "These guys are two Parisians, so they know everything. The guy in back, when I asked him to be in close contact with the other man — who he already knew — he was really reluctant to do so. He put his hands the way they are in the shot. Some of his fingers were up in the air. I didn't say anything. I just shot the pictures as he was. After a while, I asked him, 'Why do you have your fingers up?' He said, 'Oh, oh, sorry!' And then he put them down.
And more interesting still, was his observation that many of the look-alikes did not think they looked much like their mirror-image.
...he says, 'you know, François, I don't think we look the same at all. Between friends, I have to tell you the truth.' Paul is the most visual person I know in the world. He couldn't see that he looked like the other guy. Coming from him, that was the best."
I enjoyed the photos so much that it almost made me wish I had a look-alike. (People used to tell me I looked like Shania Twain, but I think that ship has sailed. I haven't had that comment since before I had kids.)
Check out Francois' website on the project here.
That's really interesting. It makes sense that they don't feel they look alike. If you think about all the times that you tell someone they look like someone famous or not, it isn't often that they respond saying "You know? You're right." We probably all have an attachment to who we are and the image we have of ourselves that prevents us from seeing ourselves objectively. Just a thought.
I'd love to participate in this project, though.
Posted by
Anonymous |
11:04 PM
That is such an interesting project.
I once worked with a man that insisted on calling my Lydia because he thought I looked like Winona Ryder's character in Beetlejuice. That's the only comparison to someone famous I've ever heard, though.
Posted by
Miss Kelly |
2:51 PM