-21 days: Why self-portraits?

"I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best." -Frida Kahlo, painter.

Why take self-portraits?

Learn to put your best face forward. Many people hate being in front of the camera, I know several that made the specific choice to be behind the camera so they could avoid being in front of the lens. When you take a self-portrait everyday for a year, you will learn your angles, you learn how to position yourself in front of a camera, and you usually pick up some editing techniques along the way to minimize your flaws.

My skin is an issue for me. I have learned many techniques for how to edit the photo to make my skin look nice. Sometimes I don't care, but other times it is a detail I feel needs to be addressed with Photoshop ;)

You are your most convenient model. You are never without a model if you are willing to do self-portraits! Asking someone to pose for you can be a challenge, especially if you don't feel like leaving the house, and models can sometimes be unreliable. Your model won't ever show up to a photoshoot late if it is yourself ;) 

Explore and share your interests. You have complete control over your self-portrait, it is the perfect opportunity to analyze what your favorite things are and then share them! During my second 365 I did "Oz-month" for the month of May. I now have 31 days of Oz-themed photos because the books by L. Frank Baum have been very influential in my life. While planning that month I got to dig deeper into the books and learn even more about them.

Dressed up as Ozma of Oz during my second project.

See progress in yourself. A year can make a big difference in your appearance. By doing a portrait a day you will be creating a time capsule of yourself for that year. Because of my first 365 I have my entire 20th year of life to look back on. I know what I wore every day that year! With my second 365 I have most of my 24th year on record as well. The is going to be a tiny bit silly, but I can look back on my hair growth progess through my 365s, which is important to me! It may be something else for you, maybe weight loss or growing a beard, whatever it is, you can look back on it and see the changes.

During my first 365 project, I cut off over a foot of hair. I regret it now, but have the photos of the big cut to remind myself not to do it again.

Become humble. Some people might think that taking a self-portrait of yourself every day for a year is vain, but I would challenge anyone who said that to try it out! I have never been so humbled in my looks and in my photography skills as when I was doing my first 365. I felt ugly on many days and that I was foolish to ever think I was "good" at photography. Looking at your own face with all of its flaws blown up on a computer screen makes you the opposite of vain. You become aware of your flaws and will hopefully develop a realistic attitude about them. I eventually got tired of editing my bad skin during my 365 and now I am much more accepting of the skin I live in. It was a humbling process, not one that made me love my looks more.