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Self-Portraits Portfolio
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I started taking self-portraits in 2003 when I was going through a major time of transition and beginning my self exploration as an artist. I bought my first Canon digital camera and shot for hours in my Vancouver apartment which had black painted bathroom walls and strange lighting.
Tentative at first, I soon began to twist my arms behind my body or set up the tripod to create the strongest of the self-portraits. At the time my hair was entirely white and gave a halo lighting effect and the images really worked.
I have always seen the self-portrait as a mirror, a document capturing a brief second of feeling. With my background as a model, I was obviously used to other people taking photos of me which I had no control over.
Models quickly learn to detach from their own persona and become objective about their faces and bodies. It becomes the difference in the arch of the spine versus the angle of the face, and we often believe we look ugly with a fraction too much hip or a bad nose angle.
These are not self-portraits stemming from vanity. They are meant to portray characters and particular emotions: longing, illness, the feeling of being exploited, paranoid, or completely alone.
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