A Selfie a Day Keeps the Doctor Away: Creative Studio Self-Portraits by Mike Mellia

Michael Zhang

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Mike Mellia is an advertising and fine art photographer based in New York City. Over the past year, he has been working on a project titled “A Selfie a Day Keeps the Doctor Away.” It’s an ongoing series of self-portraits captured in a studio and shared through Instagram.

Mellia poses as a wide range of fictional personas and includes clever and humorous captions to go along with each image. He says the photo above shows “that one time an affluent divorcee invited me to clean her pool.”

It’s a series of self-portraits that “combines society’s technology-driven love for selfies with unusual references from advertising, culture, and art,” the photographer writes.

That one time my rock and roll band performed at the neighborhood ice cream parlor
That one time my rock and roll band performed at the neighborhood ice cream parlor
That one time I embarked on a strict regimen of lunchtime martinis and light calisthenics
That one time I embarked on a strict regimen of lunchtime martinis and light calisthenics
That one time I played backgammon in an old warehouse in Mongolia
That one time I played backgammon in an old warehouse in Mongolia
That one time I won First Prize at the Hungarian National Poetry Competition
That one time I won First Prize at the Hungarian National Poetry Competition
That one time I asked the workers of the world to unite
That one time I asked the workers of the world to unite
That one time I flew a hot air balloon in Paris with a wealthy businessman and a Swedish balloonist
That one time I flew a hot air balloon in Paris with a wealthy businessman and a Swedish balloonist
That one time I spilled my Rogaine
That one time I spilled my Rogaine
That one time I was a traveling door to door encyclopedia salesman
That one time I was a traveling door to door encyclopedia salesman
That one time I bought 99 camels in Marrakesh
That one time I bought 99 camels in Marrakesh
That one time I floated on a raft down the Mississippi River
That one time I floated on a raft down the Mississippi River
That one time my guitar gently wept
That one time my guitar gently wept
That one time Tony Soprano bribed my union boss
That one time Tony Soprano bribed my union boss
That one time I let Bjork dress me
That one time I let Bjork dress me
That one time I founded the Roman Empire
That one time I founded the Roman Empire
That one time I visited a Dutch astronomer
That one time I visited a Dutch astronomer
That one time I read Wikileaks
That one time I read Wikileaks
That one time my wife cropped my picture
That one time my wife cropped my picture
That one time I saw who shot JFK
That one time I saw who shot JFK
That one time I developed film using only my mind
That one time I developed film using only my mind
That one time I joined a cult
That one time I joined a cult
That one time I hung out on the Tokyo punk scene
That one time I hung out on the Tokyo punk scene
That one time I knew it was you, Fredo
That one time I knew it was you, Fredo
That one time scientologists tried to brainwash me
That one time scientologists tried to brainwash me
That one time I had breakfast with Mick Jagger
That one time I had breakfast with Mick Jagger
That one time I stared out my rear window
That one time I stared out my rear window
That one time my artwork travelled to Belgium, Luxembourg, and Denmark
That one time my artwork travelled to Belgium, Luxembourg, and Denmark
That one time it was my birthday
That one time it was my birthday
That one time my daughter was born -- Aria Adelaide Lanteri Mellia
That one time my daughter was born — Aria Adelaide Lanteri Mellia
That one time my daughter met her grandfather
That one time my daughter met her grandfather

You can find more photos from the series and follow along with it through Mellia’s Instagram account and website.

Image credits: Photographs by Mike Mellia and used with permission

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