Self-portrait

I knew that at some point during this one-year project, I would want us to do a self portrait. It's always a lot more fun to do this outside, and to do it when the weather is nice. It occurred to me suddenly that we're rapidly running of nice weather, so I decided this would be the week.

I think it's important when doing any portrait, whether it's yourself or another person, to do it in a setting that says something about that person. I always feel at peace when I'm alone in nature. One of my favorite places close to my house is Maple Woods Nature Preserve. It has a few miles of hiking trails, and for an afternoon I can pretend I'm far from civilization.

This was a challenging shoot. I wanted to use a long lens so that the foreground and background would blur out. That required that I place the camera about 50 feet away. I would set the timer, click the shutter release, and then dash through the woods to that log in 10 seconds or less. Then, with whatever time remained, I had to compose myself so that it looked like I was relaxing on that log the whole time. I did at least a couple dozen exposures, so let's just say I got my workout. -Cort

 

Here is a photo I took of me taking a photo of myself.  :) -Dina

Next Week's Theme: Memories