Recently, I've been feeling uncomfortable and anxious, thinking about shooting selfportraits outdoors alone. I absolutely adore shooting outside in the wilderness, but this has kept me from exploring ideas and retreating to creating work indoors. Don't get me wrong, I can easily have a great session at home—and we don't even have a great deal of space for it, but I can always find a little corner for myself, put up a backdrop, the works. But outdoors is always calling me, so I did what I hadn't done before—I asked my other half to come with me. Usually, selfportraiture for me is a solo adventure, a self exploration. But, we had a deal: he'll come with and bring a book to read (on our little foldable chair we keep in the car boot) somewhere nearby, while I go do my shoot. So, even though he wasn't right by the camera, knowing that I can see him a little farther away, gave me enough confidence to do my session outdoors. It's strange really—I've done all sorts of shoots outdoors, plenty of them in public (or in an area where public is likely to be), and yet something inside of me just wouldn't let me feel that security when working with just myself. But, finally, I was able to.
