Around 10pm last night, I realized I hadn't taken a picture yet. For the second year, I'm working on a
Project 365, a surprisingly ambitious venture that requires at least one image each day. Many times, it forces creativity. Other times, I'm pretty sure I'm gaining nothing at all by picking up the camera and snapping what's for dinner. Maybe it's working on me in ways I don't understand.
In any case, George is out of town and that means it won't annoy him to take about 100 flash photos at 1opm. Enter the "sexy" self-portrait.
Sexy, right?
Well, my husband will tell me it's sexy just as soon as he gets home, I'm sure. In fact, I'll have you know that I took some
other photos that you will never see. I don't think the Internet can handle "full sexy" from me. Plus, I'm a married woman! How dare you suggest I expose myself online!
I do lots of
self-portraits. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I am always around and people are inherently interesting as subjects. I also think it has something to do with the fact that I purchased a remote release when I bought my SLR. If I was doing this on timer, I'd never do SPs.
For the two images above, I mainly just adjusted the contrast some and removed a pesky light switch above my head. For this one, I used some
MCP Actions to bump the drama, big time. A closer crop makes the image a bit more intimate, in my opinion.
More space might have improved this quite a bit. I've got a single SB-600 pointed at the wall to my right here. It's resting on the table, which is pushed against the corner (so the wall to my right is maybe 5 feet away). My tripod was in the car and I was too lazy to go downstairs and get it, so I rigged some table-ottoman-dish towel contraption to rest my camera on. It mostly worked, I have to say.
At the end of the day, though, I really prefer images that convey how I see myself. I can feign all the sexiness in the world but this is how I really am:
A little bit awkward, perhaps a bit unsure, certainly not full-on sexy. If you see me doing that, I'm faking it. (But it's okay to tell me I fake it really well.)
For a while during this "shoot", I busted out some killer black heels that I have never worn. But there's something about sexy with shoes off that speaks to being at home, being with a long-term lover, being unconcerned, vulnerable. There's something inherently sexy about vulnerability. So I tossed the heel shots.
My sexy is for my man... and, well, my blog.
