I have started an online workshop with the inspiring photographer Marta Locklear. Our first lesson – take three self portraits. I’m not going to lie, these are HARD. AND, they all had to be done in different locations with different lighting. But this is exactly why I signed up for the workshop – I want to be inspired and stretched creatively – to get out of my box and try new things. So with my tripod and remote shutter in hand I decided my first portrait would be a simple black and white. I wanted it very close up with focus on my eyelashes. I had the tripod right next to me, about a foot above my head with the camera angled down. I sat beside my bedroom window to get some nice morning light on one side of my face and shadows on the other – perfect for black and white. This first one worked out pretty well. In fact I got the photo in very little time – so far so good.

Next photo. I wanted a winter scene with a colour pop. I threw on my yellow hat, packed the car and set out to find a location. I wanted snow, perhaps mountains, definitely trees or bushes. I drove around Springbank and found a really nice little area (don’t ask where, I trusted my GPS to get me back home). This photo took FOREVER. My camera would not focus correctly because, of course, I wasn’t in front of it when I set it up, then I’d get in front and it would focus on the tree or my sweater, argh. I was in a foot of snow, thankfully I have a tripod that extends quite high otherwise the poor thing would have been completely buried under the snow. This is the resulting photo.

Last photo. Something simple, it’s getting dark in the house, I’d better hurry. I grabbed a green blanket I often use for my newborn sessions. I wanted my face fully lit and to have a comfortable pose (so hard, most of the shots look like something is very very wrong with me, ha ha). Lay on the bed with the blanket – done.

If anyone’s wondering why there’s no real ‘happy’ ‘happy’ photos – I tried fake laughing to get some good smiling photos but when you’re by yourself, in a field, laughing to yourself, well, you kind of feel a bit insane.