Birthday Blog!
In honor of my golden year, I decided to do another self-portrait shoot. Here is the collection of photos from the entire day of shooting. From glitter to gloves, I wanted to capture sophistication and poise— yet didn’t want anything to be too serious (because I am not a very ‘serious’ person). In editing, I realized that the photos showed a great amount of play. I was looking at myself like a doll playing dress up— and the more I leaned into that aesthetic and style while shooting (picking up the teacup and the flowers— having a little too much freedom with glitter) the more consistent each shot was.
Artistically I have been looking at the words ‘consistency’ and ‘collection’. What does it mean to create a collection of 70 images? Is it— sticking to a specific edit — chasing and emulating a specific feeling— wearing the same outfit— posing in the same scenery —? For me, I have found great pleasure in the challenge of creating a collection. This time around I planned out each look and created a collection of costumes that would best emulate sophistication, poise, and play. I creatively plan my creative shoots through an aspect I can control. This time it was the costumes and props. Other times it is items/words like ‘wicker’ or ‘disco’, ‘shadow play’ or it is the limitation/boundary of shooting only in b&w.
Lastly, what does it mean to be consistent? —to share an equal caliber of photo one after the other. I am still trying to harness this one. I usually create with one image in mind, and the rest are a sort of warm-up to the grand event. I’m learning that consistency in photography is also about setting boundaries for yourself— are you shooting up to 400 photos in one session or are you allowing yourself a margin of only 35? I find that putting a time limit on shooting, while also prepping everything from the scenery to the camera settings— allows for more freedom in front of the camera. Consistency also comes with rehearsal and planning everything from the scenery to the poses and camera angles. Even if you don’t rehearse every pose exactly, having a plan for posing, angles, lenses, makes everything work more smoothly.
I’m still learning and chasing those two words. Thank you for visiting and showing me some birthday love. Here’s to 24!
