Self Portrait Project
I never wanted to do self portraits, wasn’t in my thoughts at all. But one day that I was trying to figure out what project to do for class, I thought I should challenge myself. And what bigger challenge than putting myself in front of the camera? Not only that but taking the pictures myself and doing all hair/makeup/clothes myself. A totally solo project.
Just to have mentioned it, I do not use makeup ever! So this was an even bigger challenge than you would think. I went to thrift stores looking for clothes, I shopped wigs and other small items (Makeup etc.) from Amazon, and started testing it all out. Needless to say there was quite a few failures… But overall, this project was more fun than I ever had imagined, but also very challenging.
All pictures are taken with my trusty old Canon 7D, a 17-85mm Canon lens and speedlites with umbrella/soft boxes.
The worn out housewife
One of my first pictures in this project ended up being one of my favorite ones. This is the kind of pictures most people wouldn’t take, because it isn’t pretty. But it is honest… How many haven’t felt like this a few times? Too much to do, boring laundry, tired and just simply feeling like shit.
I had a ton of fun with this one, and spent hours upon hours playing around with laundry, positions, light and so on. Except from some help to get the hair rolls in, I did everything on this shoot by myself.
The flapper girl
The day after I did the worn out housewife, I did the flapper girl. This was a natural follow up since the worn out housewife’s hair rolls produced a great Flapper girl hair. And I do believe these two pictures are the only ones where I wear my own hair, and not a wig,
The Geisha
It may not be 100% accurate image of a Geisha, but then again, I didn’t try to be 100% accurate either. It was more a “How can I look like a Geisha with very limited resources?”. Well, this is the result. This makeup was painful, I had to lay on very thick layers, and my skin was already getting sore from all the other pictures I had done earlier. So it may not show in the pictures, but my skin was burning from the makeup. (Note to self, buy better quality makeup next time…)
Nancy Drew detective
I didn’t try to look like Nancy Drew, but I realized after that there was some similarities. All I tried to do was to show a private detective in action. And I found the perfect background in my friends basement. Lots of stuff, a private detective’s dream!
The witch hour
I wanted to make a flying witch image, but how do we do that? First I was thinking about simply jumping and let the camera shoot like crazy, hoping for an OK shot. But when you have to handle camera, light AND being the object in front of the camera, this gets tricky. Solution? Some investigation online, and then I took a picture first with the camera on a tripod with nothing in front of it (just the lights). Then I put myself on a chair with remote control and hoped for the best. Many shots later, I finally got a decent one. Some work in Photoshop, and voila…a flying witch!
The Amish girl
I found this dress in a thrift store, and my mind went towards Amish style. Now, I do not know much about Amish or Amish style, but I knew I’ve seen them wearing blue, and the black hat was found earlier in another thrift store. I found a nice quiet place by an old train station. Then it was just to setup the camera and try to look Amish-ish…whatever kind of look that would be. Based on online info and the ones I’ve seen around, the picture to the side was the closest I could get.
The little elf...or fairy?
This was a weird one. How do you look like an elf/fairy? Hum, I’m not sure. The wig made me feel a bit blond, so I just went with it. The dress was hanging in my closet from a buy a few years back, never really used it, but for this picture it fit great.
I took the picture of me in the basement, then I paired it with a picture taken in one of the parks around here. Some Photoshop work, and we got a blond elf/fairy in the fall leaves.
The fight within...?
After successfully making the witch fly, I thought I should try a flying blanket also…why not? And from there on it kind of just expanded. In this picture all the persons are me, taken with multiple exposures with camera on a tripod. Some more Photoshop work and we got a weird picture that is very confusing. What is really going on here? Well…you tell me… 😉
The ghosts are here
My neighbors are pretty used to my weird ideas and camera setups all over the backyard. But I do believe they thought this was a bit over the top when I was photographing ghosts in my driveway at midnight…
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