March Self-Portrait Project | Days 11-21

I wanted to do this project for a couple of reasons. One of them is I'm always taking photos of my kids, and sometimes it feels a little repetitive, especially when winter is dragging along and we have been stuck in the house for too long doing the same exact thing every day. I feel maxed out. I want to go outside and run around, or go for a walk around the neighborhood hunting for blossoms. No such luck this month.

The other reason is I want to learn more about posing and connecting with my subjects as I'm photographing them. But here's the big revelation of self portraits (are you ready?!): since I can't be both behind and in front of the camera, I'm not learning a thing about how to direct and connect with my subject! It's a lot of guessing and checking, but not connecting. I need to photograph someone else to do that! (And, don't worry, I will be soon!)

But! I am learning a ton about conceiving an idea and figuring out how to execute it. I'm learning how one thing leads to another and suddenly I am doing something totally different than I expected, but it's working! I'm also trying to push myself creatively so these photos don't feel and look the same, which is a real challenge. I have no idea how anyone can do a year of self portraits. It's really hard!

So, without anymore of me chatting away about all this, how about some photos? Here's the second leg of this project -- see you at the end of the month with the rest!