Week 1: Self-Portrait Storytelling.

Challenge: Take a picture that tells us who you are, without actually showing your face.

Oh boy, starting the year with a kicker…

Its not enough that I am building up courage to put my heart and soul into the photos I take and share, but I need to figure out who I am too? And then take a picture of that?! Where to start, you may ask? Well, I asked myself questions such as these.

Who am I? What do I value? What do I want people to see? What defines me? What makes me unique? What do I represent? What do I hide? Etc.

A self-portrait should portray who I am, as told by me, but in this case doing so without a glimpse of my face, my eyes or expressions (which are the usual characteristics we think of and draw from) was indeed a challenge. I must admit, I struggled this week. I had many ideas but little time or opportunity to achieve them (I had other things going on, mkay.) So, I simply tried to hide my face in ways that are so me. Chocolate. My hair. Bubbles. More chocolate.

Out of all these, as played out as it may be, the one with the phone is perhaps my favorite. I was just testing out the app-to-camera connection and ended up seeing an opportunity. Fantastically so, my phone cover is a galaxy. I don’t know much about astronomy, but I do know inside of us all is a universe of its own, and this galaxy herself takes in what she sees and projects her colors and lights whatever way she can.

Blurrgh, yeah, I said that. Enough cheesiness though, I also love bubbles. You have no idea how long I tried to get the perfect shot I had in my mind, nor how many photos I took in one sitting, but you can imagine how frustrating it is to try to have a bubble perfectly float just in front of my face long enough to take a focused picture. I tried it with help, and I tried it solo, and either way its really hard.

Also, the Nutella thing? Its my vice. And its bad for the environment. And probably my health. And those closest to me know its my signature thing. Everyone has their thing. Some have multiple things. I have Nutella. But I also have so much more. Hopefully you’ll see that in the weeks to come.