It’s an Introvert’s World

As early as your first steps and words, people begin to tell you things about yourself.  What you’re good at.  How you should behave.  How you can improve.  People uplift you. People put you down.  It’s hard to figure out who you are when you barely have time to decide for yourself.  But once you discover a part of who you are on your own, even if it is the absurd fact that you prefer Mondays to Fridays, or that you have an insatiable desire to sneak into private pools, these parts become vital to forming the ever-growing identity known as “you”.

I’m intrigued by how personality plays a major role in who we are; more specifically, I’m interested in how extroverts and introverts live their lives both entwined and separate from one other.  About 68% of the population is ambiverted, which means that most of us have both introverted and extroverted tendencies.  However, I’ve noticed that we the world tend to applaud the people-oriented types, rather than consistently appreciating those who would sometimes rather be alone. In this series, I attempt to capture the small, quiet moments, the bold defining traits, and perhaps even some unexpected quirks of what makes up the at- times- hidden, magnificent world of the introvert.

I found that our differences fascinate me, and yet, our common humanity seems to provoke me even more. This project became an exploration of myself, my interests as a photographer, and the overall beauty of humankind.

Ellen Picker

Ellen Picker

Ellen Picker is a student at the University of Virginia who spends her Thursdays babysitting and her Fridays <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ellenpicker/">taking photos</a>. Working on her Maste