Reflecting on Portraiture

For me, this project was much more difficult than the still life assignment; many of my friends and family seemed uncomfortable in front of the camera as did I when I included my body in the self-portraits. A lot of my discomfort came from my insecurities in how I look, from feeling too “posed” in front of the camera, and from feeling exposed in sharing different aspects of myself. But the more photos I took the more I embraced and worked around my difficulties. Instead of facing the camera head on, I looked to the side to feel more at ease, I focused on the parts of my body I do have control over (my hair, tattoos, etc.), and focused on allowing my friends and family to feel calm in front of the lens. Asking to photograph strangers was challenging since I’m rather shy but the two girls I asked to photograph were so happy to do so- they just went about playing skeeball as if I wasn’t there. They even gave me their email addresses to pass along the photo once I was finished editing it! This project allowed me to discover how to best represent different aspects of myself and how to convey a mood and backstory in a single image. This project pushed me out of my comfort zone and I’m thankful for the opportunity to explore.

 

 

 

Pensive

With Me

Identical

Reaction

Gift of Happiness

Stolen

 

Focused Light