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Hi friends! Welcome to another week of me making a vlog. Today I want to talk about how self-portraiture connects me to myself.

I first started taking self-portraits in…. I actually don’t know what year because it’s been a very long time. I started seriously taking self-portraits, like for specific art purposes in maybe 2010? but I was definitely taking self-portraits way before that, maybe since I was like 14 or 15, but I didn’t start taking nude ones until I was 18 and older for obvious reasons. 

I learned quickly that self-portraiture helps me feel more into my body and feel more connected to my emotions and myself, and part of that is because I feel like I’m more able to release all of everything else like societal bullshit and just be myself when I’m in front of a camera and it’s just me that’s taking the photos.

It’s very different when I’m posing for someone else taking photos, because I feel more like, “oh, I need to take pictures that they will be happy with” but when it’s self portraits, I can do whatever I want because it’s me taking the photos. So it’s whatever I’m feeling and if I like them, I can share them. But if I don’t have to, and there’s no pressure of like, “oh I have this expectation from someone else”.

So because I don’t have the limitations of someone else’s ideas of what they would like in these photos, I’m able to really connect with “Okay, how am I feeling today, in this moment? And how would I like to portray that in these images?” And sometimes I just take photos, and I never share them. And it’s just so that I can get emotions out, because sometimes I feel like it’s hard for me to just, like, sit in my emotions if I don’t have something that I’m doing to allow me to move through them, if that makes sense.

I think it’s kind of hard to just be like, “Oh, I’m having feelings and this is it. Like I’m just experiencing them in my body” because I kind of tend to want to like do something else instead and push away the emotions but when I have the container of a photoshoot with myself, then I’m able to really like focus and be like, “okay, the whole purpose of this moment is for me to connect with myself and my emotions and my body, and how I’m feeling and move through those emotions in a way that allows me to express them in my body and that shows in the images”. And for me, usually the most powerful images that I’ve taken have been self-portraits where I’ve allowed myself to FEEL. 

So yeah, that’s the cliff notes of how self-portraiture connects me to myself. I’m also able to kind of experiment with who I am and who I want to be, and if I want to pretend to be someone else, and express different parts of myself, because I feel like there aren’t a lot of chances for us to explore different facets of our personalities and our thoughts and desires. There’s not a lot of context for that most times, but if I’m taking self-portraits, it can be whatever I want it to be and I can be an evil villain or I can be an innocent child, or I can be totally myself or someone else. I can be anything and it doesn’t really matter because they’re photos that I’m taking for myself. So I feel way less pressure to create something specific and I can just, I can be all of those selves in one photo shoot if I want and I think that’s very special.

So I hope you are inspired to take self portraits. I would love for you to do that. I would love to see what you create! I have a Discord server, I’ll link below, but if you’d like to take self-portraits and share them with people that appreciate art and nudity and self-portraiture, you can share them on my Discord, it’s free! You can join for free. Just come on and join us! Yeah, I’d love to see what you create.

Share your self portraits! Click here to join us on Discord!

If you would like to create self portraits in a group setting, where you are off doing your own thing, but then you can come back and communicate and collaborate with others or do a group self-portrait. We will be doing Conscious Creativity, August 27th and 28th in Ypsilanti, Michigan with Lior Allay and Roarie Yum. I’m so excited! This is gonna be our first in-person workshop since the pandemic started, so that’s quite an opportunity. I would love for you to join us if you’re able. I’ll share the Eventbrite information below. It has all the details of all the information you’ll need to know. But if there’s anything that you’re wondering about and the information is not the Eventbrite, just shoot me an email or comment below and I will do my best to get back to you and give you the information that you need. Yeah. I’m going to link the Eventbrite below. I’d love for you to join us. 

All the information about Conscious Creativity is at this link!

Let’s take self portraits together! August 27th and 28th, it’s 2days, they’re both half days. And yeah, I’m super stoked for this event. I’m very excited! So, if you’d like to join us, information’s below and I will talk to you soon. I love you! Bye!

Create self portraits with me at Conscious Creativity!