Since I frequently travel alone, I’ve gotten into the habit of capturing certain moments on the road by literally turning my camera on myself. The arm’s length self-portraits that result are usually kind of interesting, and — several years ago — when I rehauled RolfPotts.com, I posted a number of these self-photos into a tongue-in-cheek collection I called the Narcissus Gallery. Over the years, a number of readers have written in asking when I would update the Narcissus Gallery, and I always told them that I’d do it when I had a moment.
Well, finally I had to chance to sort through some old photos, and I’m posting my findings into a New Narcissus Gallery below. Pictures are posted in no particular order, though you’ll notice that I don’t have any shots from 2002-2004, when I was in the habit of traveling without a camera. Each hyperlink below pops up into a new picture window.
- Covered in dust after walking amidst the huge mass of humanity at the 2001 Kumbh Mela gathering in Allahabad, India.
- On the deck of the 55-foot sailboat Assos while on assignment for Outside in the Greek Cyclades last fall. The article from this experience, “Cycladian Rhythms”, should hit newsstands in the Spring/Summer Issue of Outside Traveler any day now.
- Exploring a Tokyo gameroom with my cousin Mary’s boyfriend (now husband) David Homa while on a visa run from Korea to Japan in 1998.
- Hanging out with Laotian kids in the isolated village of Ban Na, Laos, in November of 2000. My report of this journey into central Laos appeared in the January 2003 issue of Conde Nast Traveler.
- Checking out the amazing monuments of Bagan while bicycling across Burma in the spring of 2001.
- Cruising in the front of a cyclo-rickshaw in Phitsanulok, Thailand in early 1999.
- Aboard a rubber speedboat in Burma’s Mergui Archipelago while on assignment for Conde Nast Traveler in November of 2001.
- Making friends in a Burmese island village in the Mergui Archipelago. The written account of this experience, “The Last Archipelago”, appeared in Conde Nast Traveler in July of 2002. The sea gypsies of the region (not pictured) were later made famous when they “read” the sea and escaped the Asian tsunami of 2004.
- Exploring the village of Kalpa in the Himachal Pradesh region of Himalayan India in 2001. The wacky events that followed this self-snapshot (including detention by the Indian army, and being subjected to several hours worth of porn videos in a sacred Buddhist village) were summed up in my essay “Something Approaching Enlightenment”, which appeared last year in Lonely Planet’s By the Seat of My Pants humor anthology.
- I’m not sure where this 1999 shot was taken, but given my beard and “birth-control glasses”, it was probably some village in Laos, either before or after I drove a fishing boat 900 miles down the Mekong.
- Dandied up and ready to hit the town during a bachelor party in Montreal last fall.
- Enjoying the lap of luxury above the Chao Phaya River in Bangkok’s Oriental Hotel in the summer of 2001. The tale of this hotel experience, “Room With a Skew”, later appeared in the July 2002 issue of National Geographic Traveler.
March 23rd, 2006 at 5:24 am
Love your sense of humor. And the glasses aren’t that bad!
March 23rd, 2006 at 8:09 am
Rolf,
Hilarious! Just what I needed to start my morning. I just returned from a month in Laos, where I took self-portraits as well. Unlike you, no one will NEVER see them, but one did make it on my website.
Thanks for the laugh,
Terah
March 23rd, 2006 at 4:17 pm
Rolf,
Loved the pics, and yes those are the dreaded birth control glasses. The Navy’s were a little thicker in the arms, but that’s it. Anyway, I read the Laos article, and I wondered, was that the trip where you caught cholera?
March 24th, 2006 at 7:22 am
Scruffy Rolf! ha! Hope you are capturing some new narcissistic (misspelled?) pics with that camera we bought in NYC. I think that story about indian porno is one of the funniest things you ever told me.
-c
May 16th, 2006 at 9:34 am
These are great, a good way to illustrate your perspective on where you’ve been for those who weren’t there… I have some from the tour de France.. and they are equally as goofy. Hah, no, I love these. P.S. Vagabonding is the best book I’ve read on travel, period.
July 3rd, 2006 at 3:28 am
Sister of a former Miss Stark and a new fan- you open the eyes of a mainland hostage to what lies beyond, thanks!
October 23rd, 2006 at 1:53 am
Narcissus Gallery, what a witty name for a space full of candid, nice pics!
And, obviously, you haven’t seen the worst birth-control glasses yet. I’m planning on donating them to Busan Museum of Modern Art, Korea, before I pass away, something like the collection items at MoMA in NY, USA. ha ha!
Thanks many & best wishes!
February 23rd, 2007 at 8:16 am
Awesome shots. Love your stories too, and by the way…those glasses just make you look like a nerd, and nerds are HOT!!
August 5th, 2008 at 4:08 am
Usually I don’t like to take pictures of myself traveling. But you give me un unusual perspective in doing it: autoirony.
thanks
angelica
July 27th, 2009 at 8:08 pm
Interesting idea but I’m not sure it would work