5 Tips To A Badass Self Portrait!

Posted by Tiff in Our freeplaylife | 3 comments

Starting along the path of self portraiture is intimidating, to say the least. Staring down a camera lens takes some serious balls. Especially when you are also the one snapping the shutter. It’s like, all of a sudden, every insecurity you’ve ever felt comes pouring out of you. But I wouldn’t be asking you all to do it if the rewards weren’t fanfuckingtastic. You will be in good company on your journey…so far over 400 women have joined the self portrait group I set up in flickr, 52 Weeks of BAM!

What is BAM? You are. Not because of what you look like, or wear, or say, or do. Just, simply, you. You put the bam in ‘bamtastic! And you’ll see this start to shine when you can capture all that in a self portrait. First you have to clear away some insecurities, doubts, esteem “issues”, uncomfortableness, and sheer panic. The only way to do this is to just keep on clicking the shutter of the camera with your face in front of it. Stare into the lens and be fearless. BAM!

Here are 5 tips to a badass self portrait that I’ve learned in the 3 years I’ve been doing this (year 1, year 2, and year 3 are here…)

TIP 1:
Take lots and lots of pictures. For every one self portrait that I’m happy with, I’ve already taken probably 30 that I don’t like. This isn’t uncommon, and it’s not a sign that you are failing. You know that image of a photographer taking a million pictures of a model? Ya, it’s not because he wants a million pictures of her…even models have unflattering angles and take bad pictures. He’s taking that many in the hopes that at least ONE will turn out! And you also know, in that same image of the professional photographer, that the model constantly changes her expressions & body movement. While you are taking picture after picture, also change yourself up. Click and move, click and move, click and move. You will either be laughing or crying by the end of it. Maybe both! Treat yourself to some wine and consider it a job well done!

this one simple pose? Just a picture with me beside it?! I had probably 55 outtakes. grrrrrrrrr….

TIP 2:
Talk to yourself like a best friend would. If you had a professional photographer around, s/he would be saying things like, “perfect!” “wonderful!” “yes! stay just like that, the light is perfect!!!!”. When I take portraits of people, part of my job is to relax and encourage them. Make them feel awesome and totally comfortable in their own skin. You aren’t going to have anyone there to do this for you, so it’s something you’ve just got to learn to do on your own. Talk to yourself they way you would talk to your best friend if she was trying to get all dressed up and pretty for a night out. If there’s one thing self portraits can bring out, it’s alot of bitchy, negative self talk. Be mindful of it, and gently change up the tone and negativity as if you are trying to talk your friend out of hating on herself. This is actually part of the magic of self portraits. Pretty soon, you actually develop a really nice attitude towards yourself.

at first all I saw when I looked at this one was, “omg I have no boobs, my forehead is wrinkly, my hair is oily, my nose is crooked, my bed is unmade…why did I even take this?!” and now I see a woman with a happy smile and gentle eyes. Often we find grace through self portraits.

TIP 3:
Start out by taking your picture in a reflective surface. There are a few different ways to capture yourself in a self portrait.

You can use a tripod and then hold a remote shutter in your hand (or set your in-camera timer to 10 seconds, which makes you do the “10 second dash” to get into position before the shutter releases):

you can hold the camera at arms length and turn it around to face you:

Both of those require a rather advanced level of self possession. However, if you are taking a picture of yourself looking into a mirror, then most of your face is covered anyway, so it’s less intimidating. You don’t have to stare down into a camera to do it.

A great place to find your perfect reflection shot is in public bathrooms. Among photographers this shot is called “Damn Hell Bathrooms” or DHB for short. (My friend Jessica’s are classic!) I mean, you’re in there all the time anyway. Or at least, I am with my kids either pooping or washing dirty stuff off or whatever. Bathroom self portraits are a great way to pass the time.

TIP 4:
Be you. Even the most mundane thing like housework becomes something special when you take the time to document it. Erika has some of the best everyday life selfies! To you it may just be the same old same old routine and totally unworth a photo. But it’s more than that. It’s proof of life. “Here I am! Kicking ass and moping floors!” and “Fuck yeah diaper changing!” Eventually that won’t be your routine anymore, and you will look back at this time in your life and actually feel nostalgic for it. Take it from someone that no longer is nursing or changing diapers…I wish I’d documented more of it. Not enough to have another baby to actually document it, mind you…

TIP 5:
Give your camera to your kid and ask them to take a picture. Then, instead of looking into a camera, you can instead focus on the kid behind the camera. And that will bring out something special in both of you. You will get to see the special smile that your child sees whenever you look at them, and they get to feel special that you are trusting them to work a camera (which feels oh so very adult when you’re a kid). And when your child says, “why do you want a picture of you?” you can say, “because I’m a superfly bad mofo!” By standing up for yourself, you are also making it OK for your child to feel like they are a superfly bad mofo, too.

If you are sharing your self portraits and family (with you in them!) photos on twitter, use #fplphoto so all of us can share together! If you are sharing them on facebook, you can tag @freeplaylife and they will show up on the freeplaylife facebook page.

Now go forth and take badass self portraits!

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