Julius Caesar.

Back in December 2016, I got really into Roman history after stumbling upon a video of Julius Caesar's tactics at the Battle of Alesia. I spent the next few months listening to the History of Rome podcast, and eventually reading an in depth book called Caesar: Life of a Collosus by Adrian Goldsworthy. In the middle of the book, there were photos of historical busts of the major players in the book, including about a dozen of Caesar during his lifetime, shortly after, and centuries later.

One thing that struck me about all of the busts of Julius Caesar over the years was how his features changed with each new bust. During his lifetime, the features focused on realism, including his wrinkles and receding hairline. After his nephew Augustus took over, and deified Caesar to validate his claim as emperor, busts of Caesar were made to look stronger, more heroic, and more flattering. Over the centuries, busts of Caesar became almost a caricature of the man, turning him into a legendary figure.

I was curious what I would look like as a bust. So I asked my friend Natalie Price to help me out. First I bought some sunglasses that look like the glasses I wear every day, knocked the lenses out, and spray painted them white. Then Natalie airbrushed my face & neck completely  and thoroughly white. And then I took some self portraits in my living room, using my laptop tethered to my computer, trying to get this final image...

There's just a touch of Photoshop on all these to get rid of the slight hint of color in the shadows, and a tiny bit around my eyes that wasn't safe to paint. I think it'd be fun to do this same photoshoot again every few years to notice how my own features change. Also it's just fun to do because it looks so strange.

This was the first photoshoot I did knowing that it would strictly be for my new portfolio for Vision & Verve, and I liked it so much, I based a good deal of my branding around it, including painting one of my 8mm film cameras and 35mm rangefinders completely white to match.

P.S. Just wanted to include my favorite story about Julius Caesar was that when he was 25, he was kidnapped by Cilician pirates that held him for ransom. Caesar was insulted at how low he thought the ransom demand was, and demanded they ask for more. While waiting for his friends to raise the money, he played befriended the pirates and promised to crucify them once he was free. After his freedom was purchased, he assembled a small army, captured the pirates, and crucified them.