Here we are, day 98, held hostage within the confines of our rather small abode high above Toronto. So what does a mostly travel photographer do when all your travel plans have been squashed for at least the next year? We look for inspiration elsewhere.
When we're forced to make do, we must improvise and open one's eyes to new possibilities. We search to others for inspiration and to hopefully land an idea that stimulates and challenges us. Perhaps a nudge most of us need to step outside our comfort zone to create something different for ourselves. To experiment, discover, and to keep learning.
I've never really given much thought to doing self-portraits. Street photography is about as close as I get to shoot people. But what I wanted to do was to create a project that I could take on every day. Sometimes twice a day, each time capturing moments of my life during this COVID thing.
I wasn't interested in your typical Instagram beautified selfie. I wanted to check my ego at the door and see myself in everyday situations, looking the way I do, no prepping, and very little staging. Admittedly it's a bit humbling to share oneself so personally, to risk rejection, or worse, indifference.
My work here is far from original. But the act of shooting me is, and if anything this exercise taught me that I need to push myself in directions that I may never have taken. To learn something along the way and actually have some fun doing it.
Maybe my self(ish)-portrait project will inspire you.
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