Looking back, self portrait photography is probably one of my most consistent forms of self expression. Even in middle school and high school I was taking selfies. And more than just the shot-in-the-mirror selfie, I remember setting up my camera on a tripod, composing shots, and directing my vision into a reality.

When I started taking self portraits the healing + therapeutic nature of it wasn’t my main intention. I’ve always used selfies as a way to express myself creatively, to play with concepts inside my mind, and to document my journey and vessel.

The healing that comes in front of the lens started revealing itself slowly over time, in the form of various lessons and emotions I needed to confront.

Self portraits, especially intimate + naked ones, really magnify your internal thoughts and force you to sift through them.

I feel like I wouldn’t have confronted half my inner squidgy feelings if I didn’t have my self portrait practice. It would be so much easier to hide from both my inner and external worlds.

But selfies really bring those two worlds together - they bring me fully into my body, even when that is a hard thing to do. It makes me see and feel all aspects of my inner and outer world, and work to consolidate any misalignment between the two.

I’ve learnt a lot about myself over these 15+ years through my self portrait practice. Here’s some of my biggest reasons to jump in front of the lens and start your own self portrait practice:

1. Your journey through life deserves to be documented

We live in a truly wonderful time that photography is so easily accessible to us. Long gone are the days of only the elite few having access to a camera or a photographer. Now, everyone has a camera in their pocket. This gives us the chance to document SO much more of our wonderful world – including our own personal journey’s through it. Your journey through life is a story worth documenting - even if it’s just for yourself. You deserve to have images of yourself in all stages of your life.

2. You can work on your emotional toolkit in front of the lens

Stepping in front of the camera can be super vulnerable - but also incredibly rewarding. Selfies, if we let them, can illuminate areas of our mindset that need gentle attention. By stepping into our self portrait session with mindfulness at the forefront, we can begin to restructure our negative self talk. Instead of letting our inner saboteur and self critic run the show, (ugh those voices can be such a buzz kill), we can tell those old limiting beliefs to hit the damn road, and start to replace them with healthier narratives that better serve us.

3. It is a space to create that is entirely within your control

Being photographed by someone else is wonderful and also a super rewarding process, but one of the greatest things about selfies is that you get to call ALL the shots. This is a creative container all about you, babe! And how fun is that? You can run wild with any ideas that come to mind, and really flex your creative muscles. This space can be the ultimate container for unapologetic self expression.

4. You get to see yourself fully (and work towards embracing all versions of yourself)

One of the scariest things about self portraits is also one of its greatest super powers.

There’s no one else culling your “out takes” or getting rid of your “unflattering” photos. You get to see yourself in all your unedited glory. If approached with curiosity and tenderness, this can be incredibly transformative over time. We all know the feeling of seeing a photo and thinking “…I look like that?” Sometimes our bodies do things we didn’t know that they did. Or they look a way we had no idea – just for a split second in time. Seeing our bodies represented in all their glory allows us to sit with these feelings, and make peace with them. To realize, sure, my body looks like that at this one time for this one second. But it also looks a million other ways in different moments of time. It’s just a moment, and it’s just a bod existing within that moment. Approaching our self portrait practices with a mindset of curiosity and exploration can vastly change the way we perceive and think about our wonderful bods.