Reduction to the Body by Aurora
January 19th, 2008 10:49 AM / Location: 40.623594,-79.15632First I had to find my camera (it's been hiding on my desk, forgotten and lonely). Then I had to find a memory card, and curse the disorganization of various parts of my apartment so far. Here we go!
I started with my head and worked downward, and right to left so I could recognize the pictures when I uploaded them. I wanted to get the more difficult pictures (face, hands, etc) out of the way before my battery-devouring camera lost its live view feature (usually about 10 minutes into any given photo session). Without a viewscreen it's much harder to see what you're aiming at when you're trying to point a camera at your back.
Moles popped up in some interesting places but I was overall disappointed at the -lack- of interesting ones I have. There's one on my chin, which my friend once tried to make into a beauty mark when playing makeup parlor, but it's a little too low and too far from my mouth. Then my neck (an artistic shot, hooray!) arms, one on the back of my hand (which I think looks really cute), my armpit mole/birthmark (it's HUGE and I used to be embarrassed to wear tank tops at all because it peeked out of all of them like a little armpit monster, until I grew breasts and it moved forward a bit), a few on my shoulders/upper back and some on my legs.
My crowning discovery during this was the mole right below my big toe on my right foot. I hadn't remembered having it and I think it looks good. None of mine are really raised or hairy or ugly moles, just little melanin spots, so I'm not ashamed of them at all. I was actually disappointed by the lack of interesting places the moles are hiding. I am sad to report that I do not have any endearing little moles on my otherwise perfect bottom. :(
Me, before the exploration.
Yep, it's Saturday and I'm sitting at home.
Face
Yep, the "beauty mark" on the left side of my face. My camera loves to overexpose pictures when the flash isn't on, and uses the flash to overexpose the pictures when it's allowed. So flash is off and these will be light and grainy.
Binary System
You can see three little moles here. Middle of my left forearm. They form a triangle but the two more visible ones reminded me of a binary star system for no good reason.
A Hand
Another cute one on the back of my hand. It's rather dark so it showed up better despite my awful camera. When I am an old lady, I will have lots of age spots... I can just tell.
Swanlike?
This one exists on the back of my neck, right where it meets the shoulder. Normally my clothing or hair hides it.
Let's Do The Twist
Another one, right shoulder. This one took some real twisting to get a picture of, and I had trouble holding my hand steady while dangling a camera over my shoulder in such a way that I could still press the button. Thank goodness for the preview screen!
Armpit Monster
The big mole under my right arm. I raised my arm while taking this so the skin's stretched and the camera angle isn't great.
A Better View
The edge of this one is delicately lacy, like someone knitted a little brown doily into my skin, which most websites will tell you is a sign of melanoma. But I've had this one for years and it's an almost-perfect circle and has never changed in color, shape or pattern. I've almost grown fond of it, because it's unique (or so I think).
Where?
It's my back, near my tattoo. Left side, just about level with my armpit.
Tat
While I was exploring my moles I also attempted to get a few better shots of my tattoo. It's on my left shoulder/back, right on the tip of my shoulderblade, which makes taking a straight-on picture by myself about as easy as licking your own ass. I felt like a contortionist and made some funny faces (which thankfully the camera didn't get to see!) but I finally got a half-decent shot.
And now, Below the Belt.
Right thigh. A little one hiding out here. This one is quite possibly new and should probably be checked out further.
The Triumvirate
Three of them on my right calf. The middle one in the picture is my Butterfly, my favorite one of all.
Blurry Butterfly
My favorite mole. You can't see it clearly here but it really does have a perfect butterfly shape upside-down on my calf. I love looking at it and think it's like nature's greatest tattoo. Of course, "non-circular shape" and "ragged or fading edges" are also indicators of melanoma, but I refuse to think something so lovely could be hiding such a dirty little secret.
Tiny
My left calf, showing an obvious lack of exercise. And a mole, showing... my completion of this task.
*Thigh*
(That was a *sigh* with a lisp, if you didn't get the joke... ha, ha.) My left thigh. By this time the camera's digital preview option was gone, having sucked the dollar-store batteries nearly dry (although they'll still power a CD player for a few minutes after use in this camera, they're no good for anything else).
Knees tell a story...
at least, mine do. They're laced with scars, and oddly, my left one also has this charming little mole hiding out there. I hate my knees most days and refuse to wear short skirts.
Unshaven
Yep, there's my hairy shin. I don't shave my legs often during the winter because there's no one to see them except my fiance, and he doesn't complain loudly enough. (Plus I take forever doing it, and can't afford to waste so much time in the shower!)
Flash!
I turned the flash on for this one because I couldn't get a good close-up without it over-exposing unless I let it have its stupid flash. This is quite obviously my smelly big toe, sporting a little mole on the knuckle.
Foot!
I hope no here here has a fetish. My left foot, where I discovered a mole hiding out on the arch. It's invisible from the top. And yes, I do have big feet.
I Almost Forgot.
After I had put my socks back on and was contemplating the meaning of moles, I remembered one last dark spot. I had already tried to check behind my ears (without success) but had completely forgotten the small, fuzzy, brown dot on my left ear (it's the one on the right in this shot, and I'm sad that my piercing showed up more clearly than it did). Thus ends my reduction of my body to a few spots of melanin.
