Know thyself

If there if one thing I avoid photographing, it is self portraits. Whether it is because of the selfie flood around, the fact that I don't particularly like how I look or simply because it requires a different way of working with the camera, I usually don't turn the camera on myself .

And this worked fine.....until I realized that self portraits are exactly what is needed for a new personal project I started to work on. After ignoring this thought for a couple of weeks, this morning I ran out of excuses. No computer to work on, most of other tasks done, house is empty with the exception of Max the cat.

Camera on tripod, trying to be the most me I can be, in a robe and slippers I started the most unusual photo session I ever did. 

Looking at the images, (at the ones I did not throw away) it is me that I see. Not just recognizing my body, but the gestures, the composition and light of the image. A multidimensional image of me that shows how I look, what I feel, how I express myself. Getting to know myself through the camera

Feet up

The light through the window

When light meets time - experiments in photography

One of the things I like most about photography is that it sits right at the junction between science and art. A bridge between logic and emotion.

The image above is not a result of Photoshop. This is pure in-camera photography. Proof that the camera doesn't 'know' what it records, it just records light. It is up to us to control what is lighted and capture it in the frame. Nothing new here, right?

This week I started to experiment with controlled light (using the most basic flashlight, the 3$ type...) and long exposure. The results, can probably be much improved, but the potential is amazing. To literally show the invisible. Explore realms our eye can not see, but the lens can help us create.

And the best of all - a way to really have fun.

since leaving the hi-tech world, I am struggling to redefine the notion of success. I think the answer starts emerging. In flashes of light :)

If I had a sister - photography by Amy Kanka Valadarsky

Dancing

Just you and me

Dreaming

A self portrait assignment.

Spent a while in the garden running between the camera and the hammock. Edited the photos down to the few I liked ( or at least not disliked ...it's funny how critical we are of our own photos...). And then I stopped to think.

A self portrait. An image that says something about me at this point in life. 

Finally in a place where I can allow myself not to run. To understand the value of absorbing the quiet. To actually do nothing, although I am not sure that's what really happens when we stop doing.

To let the imagination run wild. To dream. To experiment. 

And here it is. A self portrait. dreaming.