inez van lamsweerde said in an interview with the gaurdian "it's much easier being the subject. you don't have to be polite with yourself. i always want to show other people at their most magnificent. but i can understand why cindy sherman photographs herself: because you can make yourself into anything, and not worry about ugliness. regarding retouching she goes on to say "i can't say that i like it when an image is retouched to death, or when the person doesn't look like themselves any more. when it comes to retouching wrinkles, we try to be as conservative as possible. but it is part of our culture now: we have all become avatars."