Self Portrait: Month Three

7 May

Surrounded by sand, beach grass, and crashing waves. This self portrait session was my favourite so far, and I am so excited with how to images turned out. I feel powerful in many of these pictures, and that is something which I do not typically think of myself as. I like the contrast between the soft setting and the powerful woman that I am - captured in these images simultaneously. There is a gentle ambiance to the images; soft lighting and tones really set the stage for a lovely afternoon shooting.

The actual process of taking the images, however, was far from soothing and calm. The beach was packed full of people on this warm April Saturday - to be expected for a Scottish spring! There were so many cute dogs running about and playing in the water, children building sand castles, and people wind surfing and paragliding. There was a lot going on, and plenty of eyes watching me frolic about in the sand, trying to get the perfect picture.

Prior to this self portrait session, I had only done these sessions in the comfort of my own home - only buddy watching me. On the beach there were hundreds of onlookers, some walking past, and others sitting nearby well aware of my camera/tripod set up, watching me go back and forth checking shots and posing, re-posing, and running around!

Quite a few of the images turned out blurry, as I had a hard time nailing the manual focus. I really don't mind, though, as a blurred image can sometimes add character.