Category Archives: Behind the Photo

April 18, 2013

The Importance of Outtakes!

Yesterday I went out for a wander to the local community garden in my neighbourhood. There are actually 2 community gardens a block apart. The first one, Cottonwood Gardens, is my happy place these days. But on that day it was packed full of gardeners (which is awesome) so I headed over to the second one a block away.

What I love most about taking photos or self-portraits in a community garden is that there is always SO much to see so it is easy to try one spot and if it isn’t grooving, move on to another. I had done this for a while, trying a few spots and then found my way to a beautiful blue shed and started taking some arms length selfies with my iphone.

30 photos later I felt totally happy from the experience and looked through them and found the one that felt most like me. The one that I could look at and feel like I see the woman I am becoming.

As usual after a photo walk I picked a few from the day to share on Instagram and felt drawn to share this one.

But I wanted to tell you how I got there and talk about how important the other 29 photos were.

I feel it is so easy to assume that someone just reached out their arm and got that one shot that they are sharing on Instagram or Facebook.

But for all of us (all of us, for reals) it is often a number of shots until we get that one that feels just right. I usually change angles, turn from side to side to see which light I like better and truthfully it often takes me a number of shots to just settle into the moment and get settled in my body.

The more photos we take, the more opportunity we give ourselves to get the photo that feels really empowering.

I also feel like those other 29 photos are just as valuable as that one. That even if they didn’t get picked for that one that I felt the most connected to, they are all me…showing up in front of the camera. We don’t tend to get that one (or many) we loved without the rest.

In Be Your Own Beloved we aren’t exploring how to take the perfect self-portrait or even capturing a certain type of beauty. Not at all, quite the opposite in fact. In BYO Beloved I am inviting you to just create the space to be seen, by you (and if you’d like, by the community in the class who are all doing the same brave act of seeing themselves with kindness).

Self-portraiture isn’t just about seeing ourselves with kindness too…it is about making space to say ‘this is me today’ or ‘i am worthy of this today’ or ‘I love this moment and want to capture it’ or ‘I feel ______ today’. It is about inviting ourselves into the visual story of our own lives.

And that process involves outtakes!

Often lots of them in fact.

So I wanted to tell you that this time (and every time I share a selfie) that it is one of many. That it might have taken 5 minutes or 20 minutes to get that photo. That I might have only loved this one or I might have been proud of many of them and that while I do this for myself. I do it in hopes that you will pick up your camera too and make the space for yourself today. I want to live it in hopes that each time I do you will feel braver in trying it yourself.

So, just in case you need it today, lets give ourselves permission to take a whole lot of photos today!

And I wanted to share some of the outtakes with you! The first are some outtakes from that one shot and the others are some outtakes for taking some jumping shots (and oh my….you often need to take even more to get that one jumping shot where you get air)!

January 23, 2013

Why Take Self-Portraits of Your Feet?

And if this makes you want to dabble in self-portrait fun, ponder joining me for one the upcoming self-portrait online class: Be Your Own Beloved!

January 17, 2013

How to take Amazing Jumping Photos {in 9 Playful Steps}

Step One: Find a spot to prop your camera! Then decide if you are going to shoot your feet or your whole body and compose your shot. Use your tripod if you have one. If you shoot your whole body, remember that you can always crop it later so don’t delete photos where you’re making a silly face (cause its kind of natural to do when you’re jumping)!

Step Two: When you’re ready to get started, press the timer on your camera or your remote. You definitely don’t need a remote to do a jumping shot, but it does make it easier! If you are using an iPhone to get a jumping shot, try GorillaCam or Camera+ which both have self-timers!

Step Three: If you don’t have a remote you may need to tell your camera where to focus. Try setting the focus on something nearby where you plan to stand!

Step Four: Experiment and get playful! Be silly! Try different ways of jumping. Jump off of something. Jump forward. Jump sideways. Jump on one foot! Jump lots of times in hope one of them will be captured in air. You don’t even need to get a lot of air, just a small jump can look big. Just go for it!

Step Five: As you are jumping, you’ll discover that one of the biggest things that helps is to get to know the timing of your timer. If you’re using the timer on your camera, get to know when the shutter actually clicks in relation to the countdown (for me it is a few seconds after the last red light goes off). It may not be exactly when you expect it to be, so its great to just slow down and notice when that shutter clicks and try to aim to jump at that time!

Step Six: Don’t get discouraged if you don’t get the perfect jumping shot right away! Be prepared to take lots and lots of outtakes until you get one that you love.

Step Seven: Be ready to change things up! Change the setting or where you are aiming the photo. Sometimes a change in scene or perspective makes all the difference!

Step Eight: Keep playing until you get your amazing jumping shot! You’ll get it. The more you experiment with jumping, the easier it will be to get that shot where you are in the air (and know what style of jump works for you) but don’t get discouraged if you don’t! Even if you’ve taken lots of jumping shots, it still takes us all many tries to get the one that works!

Step Nine: Don’t delete your outtakes before you upload them to your computer! You might see something different once you see them on a bigger screen! Remember that you can crop out a part if you’d like! Sometimes I might crop a photo down to just the feet or legs if I am making a funny face or feel vulnerable about the top of it. Often we get so focused on our feet in these photos that we might not think about our hands or face (thats always the case for me). Don’t get hard on yourself if there are some you don’t like, just seek out the one that you do and let it be the one that tells the story of this photo adventure! Share your photo!

Let’s get jumping! If you have a jumping shot or take a few minutes to try one today, please share a link to it in the comments section or use the hashtag #beyourownbeloved on social media. I would SO love to see your jumping shots and cheer you on!

If you are craving a playful yet powerful self-portrait journey…come join me for the upcoming session of Be Your Own Beloved!

November 29, 2012

Behind the Whimsy

Behind the twirling is a tightly wound sense of self-protection, from being told the way I moved my body was wrong.

Behind the jumping is a feeling of being held down by gravity, believing that nothing would ever change.

Behind the swirl of a skirt is a girl who sits on her hands as otherwise they fidget and fly freely when she talks.

Behind the feet standing in a ray of light is a woman who thought she was invisible.

Behind the dance is a life long journey to feel present in her own skin.

Behind the photo is something different than the viewer might see.

But the story the viewer sees is just as important. That craving to feel free, to create spaces where one can ‘dance like no one is watching’, but if I don’t tell you that there are deeper stories behind these images where I am cultivating whimsy and freedom, I fear you might believe that whimsy is something frivolous or some utopian place you can’t go.

But you can.

Whimsy is respite.

Twirling is freedom.

Jumping is release.

Dancing is self-love.

And we all deserve to stand in the light.

Behind the photo is a much different story than what you see but I want you to remember the whimsy, to seek out those moments for yourself, in whatever way that happens for you.

Because to me, whimsy isn’t wimpy. It isn’t childlike. It isn’t goofy. It is sacred and radical.

October 18, 2012

Awkwardness

I’m a Leo, so the summer is my time. I feel energized, connected, thriving and alive.

Then summer shifts to fall and my words get caught up in my mouth and spill out with stutters and foggy pauses. I feel the intense urge to go inward, which I know I need but I also know will swiftly shift to having too much time alone and my social awkwardness gains momentum.

I’m not sure how to shift it, or if this is just the way of the fall for a Leo, stumbling over my own feet once the light shifts away.

This year, I’ve decided to not berate myself over it. I’m embracing my awkwardness.

I’m letting my friends into seeing the me who can’t get her words out or who is even more awkward than usual. I’ve learned a lot this year about friendship and letting friends in more, to see the more messy me. It has felt really beautiful to do that and know that we can all be really ourselves with each other to a greater depth.

Being in an awkward phase these days has me thinking about self-portraiture too (which is generally always on my mind). In my classes I talk quite a bit about making space for the parts of ourselves that need to step into the photo and tell their story. That we might not know what parts of ourselves they are until we allow space for them and it can be profoundly healing to do this.

I’ve known for a while that one of those things is my awkwardness. Self-portraiture, for me, always has been and I always expect it always will be to create a space to feel free in my own skin.

In those moments where I’m on an abandoned railway or in the forest, with no one around, I find myself ‘dancing like no one is watching‘ and often that movement is completely and totally awkward but wildly free. I’m so grateful to year of taking Nia dance for allowing me to shift to this place of freedom in dance. Its an awkwardness I can embrace as it represents freedom to me.

I’m creating a space where my awkwardness is welcomed.

These photos also don’t often make it to flickr, or to my blog and often they don’t actually look all that good but I know that what is more important is that I have the space for all of me…the me that moves in a way that looks fabulous in a photo and makes me feel really good about myself (which are totally important) and the space for the awkward in me too.

Seriously…I really can’t believe I’m sharing one of my super awkward dancing photos with you but like I said, I want to tell you more truths and honour that this awkwardness needs space too.