Reasons Why Everyone Should Do Self Portraits
If you follow me on instagram, it’s probably no surprise that I am a huge advocate for the self portrait - I have been steadily doing self portraits since the pandemic hit as a way to create content, but also as a way to quell my lonelinee and allow me to connect with others. Since 2020, however, I have learned a whole lot from putting myself in front of the camera and the phone to take photos and I want to share with you a few of the reasons why I think everyone should take self portraits.
TIME WITH YOURSELF
I never realized how much I missed just spending time with myself. I missed being in my mind, trying things and fucking up, creating with 0 expectation, feeling the sun on my skin and really just being present with myself. Time to oneself is one of the biggest hurdles folks face when it comes to taking self portraits - why do you think you aren’t worthy of your time as much as everyone else?
2. SEEING YOUR BODY FROM EVERY ANGLE
As a photographer, I am used to understanding that with every session there will be a bunch of outtakes/images that do not pass the test. While I am certain my view on what is a good and bad photo has been persuaded by the patriarchal beauty standards, I try my best to select images for clients that I think demonstrate their story the best. When it comes to self portraits, however, we somehow think we are going to end up with a massive amount of images that are perfect and adhering to beauty standards - when that doesn’t happen, however, we get disappointed and if we haven’t worked through our body image, we let it take us down - vowing to never see ourselves in images again. By taking self portraits and facing the very thing you are afraid of seeing, you will be able to get curious and ask yourself why you let a specific angle or view of your body hold so much power over you (this is something I work people through in my upcoming Love Thy Self(ie) Course through the Unraveled Academy.)
3. A DOCUMENTATION OF AN INTERESTING LIFE, NOT A PERFECT ONE
Self portraits are a great way to showcase yourself expressing more than one emotion. Those of us that have been socialized as women have been taught that photos of us are only worthy if our bodies and facial expressions sell something: sex, beauty, power, etc. But what about anger, disappointment, rage, frustration, sadness, depression, resentment, guilt, shame, etc. These are also part of what make us human, so perhaps they deserve to be worked through in the form of art. Again, self portraits allow you the opportunity to give yourself time to think, process, and then explore those emotions in art form - this allows them to be less scary AND it shows you lived an actual life - you weren’t just smiling all the time.
4. CONTENT
While this seems like it takes away from the intimate experience self portraits can bring you, I find that my self portraits give me the opportunity connect to my community in ways that I can’t when I share photos of my clients. When I share photos of myself, I am able to talk about bodies like mine while showing bodies like mine, I am able to use the word Fat when talking about my body because I know I am okay with identifying myself as such, I am able to use my body as a form of activism - to show folks that fat, asexual women exist and this is just one way that they can exist. I can use my body to contradict YEARS of messaging that showed fat bodies in one way. This content allows me to do my work on a bigger level beyond working one on one with clients.
5. CREATIVITY
The creativity that self portraiture allows me to explore is unparalleled to photographing other humans. I mean I am sure I could ask certain people to do some of the things I do in my self portraits, but its just easier to get dirty, slather paint on myself, dress up in odd ways, photograph my body at angles that challenge the societal norm, jump around, etc. I am able to start in one place with one idea and then gradually move to another with a patience I rarely afford in my photoshoots with other people - I feel like I am inconveniencing them. With self portraits I am able to sink into a state of flow that allows me to just see where things go. Sometimes they work out, sometimes they don’t!
Now, it’s your turn! Start taking self portraits with your phone, your camera, whatever picture taking device that you have. Play with angles, try different poses, put on outfits that make you feel awesome. Do the damn thing.
