Q. What is the difference between a picture of someone’s likeness and a picture of their essence?

A. The image above is a very good image of Robert Mapplethorpe’s likeness – it shows us what he actually looked like in 1987.  Mapplethorpe’s self-portraits below are more intimate and unguarded and, therefore, provide access to his deepest self – or his essence. His self-portraits are intensely rich statements about who he was as a complex person.

Think back on all of the pictures that have been taken of you over the years (or which you have taken of yourself). Which ones express likeness and which ones express essence? How and why?