The Fan A to Z – #D

/ June 12, 2018

I have arrived at destination.

That’s what happens when you bring your laptop on holiday. I was working for two hours this morning – after getting green light from my mother and daughter who are lounging by the pool as we speak. But seeing that I have the laptop out already, I might as well use the moment and get D out of the way.

D – which of his selfies is your favourite?

Until recently my scathing reply would have been “none”. For basically the reasons that Zee mentioned in her post on exactly this question. And because I always feel as if the word “selfie” does not stand for “self-portrait” but for “self-indulgence”. You can’t take the protestant morals out of the lapsed protestant…

But for some all the wrong reasons, this latest selfie somehow got me:

I reiterate:  It is probably due to the wide-eyed look, possibly caused by the contact lenses in his eyes. I’d prefer it, if the eyes were his natural colour, because then they would really be blue pools of infinite depth that you could get lost staring into. But even in brown, the wide-eyed look of innocence and openness does not fail to touch me, nor does the faint smile.

Honestly, I never thought I’d say that I like one of his selfies – and I still really disapprove on principle. I am simply too old for selfie sh*t. But since this is a blog about guilty pleasures, I might as well compromise my principles. I just really, really wish he’d lay off those skin-smoothing filters. Honestly, there is no need for them. In fact, the signs of life and age are greatly enhancing his attractive mien – because they are adding history to an otherwise smoothed (you could also say: self-censored) version of reality.

But ok, grist to the mills.

Ok, and now I’ll go to the pool. 💦

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51 thoughts on “The Fan A to Z – #D”

  1. I’m with you on selfies! One of the reasons I dont like them of RA is that I dont think they look like him… something to do with the camera angle? You will know why that is, I’m sure. Having said that, I agree this one isn’t bad. 🙄

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    • Arrgh, he has the habit of shooting himself from above – the teenage camera angle, designed to hide double chins and give maximum exposure to the cleavage. Totally unsuitable and unnecessary for someone who has neither double chin nor cleavage. I mean, he could show off his pecs of course but since he demurely keeps his kit on at all time, the cleavage angle is superfluous…

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  2. I confess that as much as I enjoy seeing almost ANY photo of RA, I also am hesitant about his selfies. Not that I think they are worse than anyone else’s, I just agree with you that any selfie is too staged to be that enticing. I’d rather a behind-the-scenes moment in which the subject is caught off-guard, laughing with mates. But, like you, this one touches me. The thing that gets me the most, ironically considering the skin-smoothing filter, is the touch of silver at the temples. It’s vulnerable and real, not something an actor would usually let escape. I kind of recoiled in horror the first time I saw this selfie, because of the brown eyes, but the sweetly curved lips and the silver hair drew me back in. And now I quite like it.

    In general, I also like his selfie from the end of filming “The Lodge.” He is in a car with some crewmembers, which is cool. A pulling aside of the curtain to let us see the man behind the wizard type of thing. I also like the one in the art gallery where the press for “Urban and the Shed Crew” was held recently. It seemed more personal, more open than some others, like he was highlighting the great space as well as himself. After all, he is using social media to promote a product, and he knows full well that the product is himself, which must be a weird thing to experience as a human being. “Hey, looka me! Aren’t I great!” So it’s nice when there’s more to it than that.

    And by that token, who can forget the utterly goofy photo of him showing off the handmade sneakers that a fan gave to him to celebrate “Love, Love, Love”? The messy hair, the impish delight on his face, the adorkable pose. Yeah, I guess that’s my favorite. And yes, I am trolling through his Instagram to remind myself of all of these.

    So now it’s time to get back to work for me. No more gazing at selfies (well, maybe just a few more). Hope all is going very well with you!

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    • [Now, time for a proper response because I am back at my laptop – because I am working again. A situation that you may find familiar, LL 😁]
      I totally second your arguments. The bit of silver in the latest selfie did not even occur to me at first glance, but I think you are spot-on. It is nice that that escaped his eagle eyes, as it feels a bit more real than otherwise sanitised self-portraits.
      Like you, I prefer images – even if they are selfies – that give a bit more context. I.e. where there is more background visible, allowing us a glimpse into the sitter’s actual current occupation. In that sense, both the NIFF selfie and the Lodge selfie (which I can’t remember right now), are much more to my liking. It puts the pretty face into a context – of his work, the company of people he likes, places he enjoys being in. There is much more ‘meat’ in such pictures than in an isolated close-up of a face. Ok, I really don’t want to say that I don’t want to see his face – of course I do. But I am also eager to know what his life is like – without being a nosy parker; just as another facet of the person whose work I admire…

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    • I agree with you all the way. A lot of his selfies in my opinion don’t even look like him. I like the couple with Mina Tander where he is funny and sweet and in a real setting(restaurant eating real food!) and with Michelle Forbes where he looks so relaxed and you can tell where he actually is. The one in the gallery at NIFF was sweet bec you could see the background where he was which isn’t it the point of most selfies to document where you are in the moment or whom you are with. I also agree the one in the car after The Lodge filming with the crew member or the one with the actor Michael Chan (I think?) where they are goofing around are just so sweet. I wish he would share more behind the scenes selfies with crew or cast members bec those I feel I’m there with him as a viewer. I also have gone back thru his Instagrams post multiple times esp at night sighing over them.

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  3. I recently acquired a gadget that lets me take selfies, and I tried a few. Weird distortion of face, weird camera angles, and oh my God you can see every pore and hair follicle. Made me realize that there’s something to having good material to begin with, so I now appreciate his selfies more.

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    • Oh J, I am laughing here. “Gadget that lets me take selfies” 😂. And “good material” 😂. Yeah, well, he’s got *great* material to work with, so why the F does he need silly filters? Those should be left for us, who *don’t* have the material!!!

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      • Exactly! My selfies show everything I don’t want to see-baggy eyes, puffy babyfat cheeks, just had sex hair (I wish I wish but no no ) and I wouldn’t want it any other way. I don’t know why he has to filter almost all of his selfies. The one in Vancouver by the water/beach looks pretty real but then his shades and dazzling smile lit that pic up for me. I get it is to look younger but the most recent professional pics like Dan Kennedy’s Lost Daughters ones he looks phenomenal with the gray and wrinkles-I mean he looks devastatingly handsome and 46!

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  4. Ode to RA and Selfies

    Can it be unhealthy,
    To take a filtered selfie?
    It’s probably OK to erace,
    Some lines from yout pretty face.
    But there might be a limit,
    To lines you can inhibit.
    For if your selfie wrinkles are too few,
    In RL no one will recognize you.

    Kathy Jones

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  5. I have a particular hatred of selfies, as they can smack of fakery and self-obsession, particularly the hundreds of pictures posted with the awful “kissy-pout” that quite a few of my younger acquaintances seem to post on social media. Perhaps it is a question of what and how much is taken and posted?
    I don’t much like being in photos generally, not having the raw material to begin with and a “resting bitch-face” to boot 🙂 I blame my parents…
    The other side of the coin though, is the quick reminder of being somewhere or with someone when you are enjoying the place or company, and these should not appear every 5 minutes. One of my favourites of RA is the one with Peter Jackson on the Great Wall of China when they went for the Premier of one of the Hobbit films – it was a relaxed pic in a fabulous and unique place with someone he enjoyed being with and therefore was personally meaningful.

    The best selfie however, in my opinion, is the one that Richard took on my phone of both of us when I met him at NIFF. He has long arms, I don’t, and it gave us the perspective to get both of us in! It is a bit fuzzy, but that is just my phone and I treasure the pic. I am also smiling very widely (unsurprisingly) and the “soft focus” does me a bit of a favour too xx

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  8. My favourite selfie (I don’t need them in general, either, and I HATE the filtered ones) is that from LIFF, with him with a broad smile in the foreground (on stage) and the girlie actors screaming in the background (in the audience). By accident, there is a ray of light in the corny picture. I love it.

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  9. Ah! IMHO Richard has a pretty good knack for taking pleasing selfie portraits of himself–must be his long arms 😉 –at least, compared to me. I have no knack at all. Ha! Have a great vacation! Cheers!

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      • Ahh! To each their own. And here I was thinking that a few of RA’s selfies had such bad lighting conditions that the images could use a bit of finessing. Ha! And if he or someone does photoshop an image of him–whether to fix a lighting glitch or hide a wrinkle line–it doesn’t bother me. His face, his choice.

        For example, I wear makeup to enhance–and not scare anyone with–my face. And when my hubby and I had our 25th wedding anniversary photos done by a professional photographer friend a few years ago, I definitely asked for some photoshopping around my double chins (to lessen a triple chin effect caused by a shadow, Kkhhh!)–on one pose that was my favorite otherwise. 😉

        And RA changes his look/physicality for roles and in RL–haircut, thinner, more meaty, clothing etc.–that he is quite the chameleon. At a college reunion a few years ago, a friend happened to see my RA gallery when my friend was trying to get my cell camera to work for “our” selfie. And he asked me, “Who are all these men?” They were all RA. Ha!

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        • Oh, it’s totally up to him to do whatever he wishes to do – with his cameraphone, his face, and himself 😁. And totally up to us to like or not like what we see. In general, I *do* like his face. Just not with silly ‘teenage angles’, snapped from above, and devoid of context. There’s not a Single selfie that is better than any of the pro photos of him. But I would say that, being a photographer myself… 😂
          And a photographer who hates photoshop, to boot. I prefer in-camera editing.
          But as You said – to each their own. In any case, I will concede that it is nice of RA to give (some of) his fans what they want.

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  11. i’m going to try this again. Not a big fan of his selfies either, I never thought they looked like him. If I had to chose it would be the one where he gave us the first hint of the Red Dragon tattoo. All you can see is his eye and the side of his face and the first hint of that lovely tattoo.

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    • That’s an interesting choice of selfie because it didn’t focus on his face but on his bum cleavage 😂. I remember the 🀄️ symbol he carefully painted all over his bummage area.

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  12. Nothing like a selfie can destroy my inner image of him 😒 but I liked the one with brown eyes. He looks a little like Alan Rickman, do you remember when in Die Hard his character, Hans Gruber, falls down and die? That’s almost the same face.

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  13. Richard Armitage with Peter Jackson at the Great Wall of China taking pictures with a selfie stick.
    or Richard Armitage with the old lady in a China garden, while sport training . With is great Boyish Smile.

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  14. While some of the selfies aren’t taken from the best angle, I always liked that he shared them. Many of them are gorgeous. Favorites? One is the one he posted around Sep. 29 2016 in the wee hours of the morning when he had to catch an early flight. He looked so innocent, so sleepy. Since I can’t post photos here, hopefully this Instagram link will work. https://www.instagram.com/p/BK79fvFAFo4/?hl=en&taken-by=richardcarmitage Or this Twitter link: https://twitter.com/RCArmitage/status/781441364194189312
    The other selfie I still love was the first one he ever posted…I think it was the first one. His beautiful blue eyes, his beard. It was taken on the set of Sleepwalker in 2014 according to Servetus, which is where I finally found a link that you can see: https://meandrichard.wordpress.com/2017/02/05/that-is-richard-armitage-in-that-picture/

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