P52 Photo Challenge - Self- Portrait - Week 4

When I saw the theme for the fourth week of the P52 photo challenge I cringed. My picture - taken by others or myself - has to be one of my least favorite subjects. If I can avoid being photographed, I will. I much rather be on the other side of the camera.

After taking a lot of different shots with a simple point-and-shoot camera of me looking out the window so the trees and newly-fallen snow were in the background, I didn't like how any of the images turned out.

Took a break...fed the horses and filled up their water buckets...took out the garbage and brought it to the side of the road for pick-up tomorrow...made dinner...and tried again. Except this time it was dark outside. So much for the natural background.

Took some shots with the white walls as the background. Nothing was working. 

Decided to lay down, rest a bit, and think about what else I could do for a self-portrait. Ended up holding out the camera and just clicking a whole bunch of times.  Picked out a photograph I thought that was workable.

After seeing other P52 participants play around with their photos in photo shop programs last week, I decided to import mine to Paint Shop Pro. I never modify pictures with a photo shop program, so this was something new. 

Ended up cropping the image a bit; changing the photograph to black and white; and doing a soft focus. 

This is the final image:

...needing to rest...