Week 45: ME & Reflection (Member Photos)
Adriana Meixner - Taking a moment to take it all in...reflecting on all the people and experiences in life that have brought me to tears, have provided me with wisdom, and have touched my heart so deeply. Ain't life so hard and so grand all at the same time?!
Kortney Fox - As I reflect on this past year and what this project has done for me, I look into the future with a big smile on my face for all of the amazing images to come. I’ve been a part of this project since the beginning. I joined this project in hopes that it would help build my self confidence. I hoped that sharing with the women of this group would help bring me out of my shell. I also joined because I knew that my poor husband could not take a “not blurry” image to save his life, so it was up to me to make sure I was in the frame for my littles.
This project has given me more than I could have imagined. The images help give me an outside perspective of myself that others get to see, while allowing me to explore who I truly am on the inside. It has helped me come into my own and I am starting to figure out exactly who I am and who I want to be. It gave me the confidence to not only get myself in the frame, but to actually share my images with others. I was even able to finally announce a business that I have been telling myself I could not do for far too long.
The themes have taken me completely out of my comfort zone at times, but I now have images that I never would have thought to capture before, all of which have an amazing story behind them. I will be making a photobook with all of my images from this project and will include the text that I wrote with each, so I will forever remember how much this project has done for me.
My art has expanded. I have discovered my perfect balance for my color images and discovered that I am still not crazy about my black and whites lol. My subjects have also expanded. Not only am I photographing myself with my children (which is definitely the easiest), but I am remembering to include my husband, my dad, and even all of our animals in my images because my relationship with them is important, too. Thanks to this project I have over 100 self portraits that I never would have thought to take on my own before. Thank you Jen for creating this safe place to grow and learn to love ourselves and thank you to all of the women who have shared their souls and have taken the time to listen to mine.
Manjula Prabhu - Most everyone has insecurities about themselves and I am no different. I have done several 365 prompt challenges on Instagram but most often I shied away from posting on the day that was a self portrait (usually once a month). I do have some which I had to really push myself to get out of my comfort zone to do.
When I first came across this group, I was very hesitant, but decided to give it a go since it was a closed group. It was challenging initially to make my vision come to life and not feel awkward in front of a camera but it got just a wee bit easier each time. I am OK as long as I am not looking at the camera. I get worked up and get very conscious.
I have had a very colorful life so far - full of joy and happiness for the most part. There have been a lot of ups and downs but when possible I chose to push aside the negative and focus on the positive in life. I hope to bring along the vibrant colors of life that make me happy in the years to come and keep chugging on.
Jen, thank you for starting this group and Alexis Pickard for sharing the info about this group. What a great set of gals out here!! Love being a part of this family! www.urbanhuesphotography.com
Cai Vail - When I started in on this project with you all, I mostly wanted an excuse to get images of myself with my son, since no one else was taking any of us; I wanted to exist in pictures with him. But soon I discovered that self portraits was an amazing way to grow and evolve as a photographer. Because the group was closed, and I didn’t have to show anyone else, it gave me the freedom to get really creative and personal and to explore emotions in my images, which is something that I was used to doing in painting and drawing, but had not yet explored in photography at all. Since joining this group, my work as a whole, even my client work, has grown into a new direction of more emotive, personal and artistic imagery. Now I’m much more interested in seeing beauty in the “real”, which often means opening up to showing flaws, wrinkles, fear, sadness, etc. I took this week’s image on my 30th birthday, and I hope it represents the kind of honest, emotional and forthright style of imagery I will continue to seek in the years ahead.
It’s been touching and motivating to see this group of women from diverse backgrounds, ages, ethnicities, locations and income come together in creating and sharing something for the weekly prompt, and getting a little insight into the lives of a group of incredible and beautiful women. I know a lot of us feel comfortable sharing within the group images and even stories that we would not be able to share with our partners and family and friends.
I know I want to continue shooting self portraits in the future. It’s such a wonderful opportunity to push creative boundaries and apart from my kid, I’m the only willing and available model around to experiment with! It’s amazing looking back on portraits from not even a year ago and seeing the progression I’ve made over the months. This year I’ve really developed my style and the freedom to play within these semi-secret self portraits has been a big part of that. I can’t wait to see where we all go from here and it’s been a joy to see us all grow as artists and finding the strength to be vulnerable in a way that women are not encouraged to do. Thanks to you all for being a part of this.
Elena Pendell - In reflecting about The ME project, I realized that I had a really wonderful varied collection of images of myself. I started the project just to be in some pictures with my kids, but it has turned into so much more. I thought about what might be missing from the collection to tell my whole story.
Ever since I was a teenager, Sunday afternoons I hiked with my mom and her friends. I loved it. I even came home from college sometimes just to hike with them. The first 10 years of my marriage, we moved all over the country. The one constant was hiking. I would find new spots all the time. Even though my husband worried about me, hiking alone was my favorite. Yes I got myself lost several times but it was always worth it.
Since having children, hiking isn't a regular for me. They hate it. I force them to go on hikes with me but always end up regretting it as I carry two down the mountain while the other one complains. Now that I have 9 hours to myself a week (thank you teachers we love you so), I've been hiking more. I have to stay close to home and can't go for hours at a time, but it fuels my soul like nothing else can. I love the solitude, feeling my lungs working hard, the muscles in my legs straining and listening to the wind rustle the leaves in the trees. I appreciate my silent companion who loves to hike as much as I do. There are no worries on top of a mountain. No pressure to be better or look better. Just a feeling of accomplishment.
Jen Ostler - In my first post I mentioned my struggle with depression, which I feel I am beating. I also mentioned a desire to lose weight, and I'm also gaining a bit of progress there as well. Reflecting back on week one, I feel progress within myself over the last year.
But also, I've been in my homeland, the American West, for the last month, and it has been a different time of reflection. My big mountains, big trees, big ocean, big sagebrush and hay fields of my childhood cause me to yearn to stay here. But I return to Alaska on tuesday. I love Alaska, and I love Idaho and Oregon. I'm pretty torn between the three, and I really always have been. But I followed my dreams to Alaska, and that is where I'll be for now. I'm glad I've had time to come "home" and process for such a long period of time. It's been good for my spirit. Home is wherever I'm with me.
Jennifer L Bruce - I took a different approach to this theme by choosing an image from early on in the project. I just started LR in the first image, taken in March. I re-edited to reflect the change in my skill level, my developing style, and my mood.
I was terrified to take on this project. So I did the only thing I could think of, and I jumped right in. There I was, a tadpole in a sea full of mermaids. Clearly I was out of my league, but that was ok. "If you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room." Right? I knew this could be a great opportunity to learn and be inspired.
I thought I would get all kinds of tips and tricks, and everyone would show off what they could do, and maybe I'd get better. Well, not that's not quite how it worked out. I soon realized that I was surrounded by amazing women from all walks of life who were so different and yet so that same. We all had hangups and fears and doubts and we ALL had something to offer. Most of what we had to offer was far more important than camera settings. What we had to offer was support. Kind words, questions, getting to know each other as women... this amazingly simple yet powerful idea that we are all beautiful and that when we build each other up we lose nothing and gain everything.
Sure, there were a few times I wasn't sure I was going to get a shot in on a particular week, but then I heard the whispers. You can do it. Take a snapshot. Catch a moment. Put something up! Thanks to those whispers (that's you, ladies) I even got the feature spot on the blog with a photo I took on my iPhone! . I have grown in myriad ways this year, and I have so far to go. But I'm here... swimming along. I have plans to make two books out of my images and words; one copy for me, and another for my daughter. Because this project is about ever so much more than just pictures. And it's more than ME. I love you all.
