Sunrise Self Portraits at Fiesta Island in San Diego, California
No rain, no flowers.
A goal of mine this year was to take self portraits once a month. For March, I wanted to get out of my comfort zone by shooting in public. I had recently taken my dog to the Fiesta Island dog park and couldn’t help but notice the explosion of yellow flowers! San Diego experienced record-breaking levels of rain and I was going to reap the benefits. To challenge myself even further, I decided to shoot at sunrise because there would be less people around and I love blue hour light. Even if the images were crap, I was proud of myself for getting myself up, putting makeup on, and getting to the shoot location before the sun came up.
Driving into Fiesta Island, there were even more golden flowers than I had remembered and they grew so tall! You could easily get lost amongst the wildflowers which honestly sounds kind of nice, right? I wore a blue and white checkered blazer with a white corset top and jeans. I wanted to wear blue to compliment the yellow landscape (color theory woohoo!). It was still dark when I arrived so I sat in my car for a bit and waited for the sun to peer over the horizon. Once there was more light, I grabbed my tripod, camera, and stool and ventured into the wildflowers.
As we all know, nothing good has ever come easy. I experienced some technical difficulties on this shoot and that can be incredibly frustrating, especially when the lighting is PERFECT! To take my self portraits, I shoot with my Sony a7iii which has built-in wifi that allows me to control it with my phone. For some reason, it kept disconnecting when I would press the shutter and wouldn’t capture the image. Thankfully, it started cooperating a little bit more and I was able to walk away with some portraits that actually turned out pretty great! Thank goodness. I loved coming up with new poses using the stool and immersing myself in the flowers. There ended up being some early risers walking around and to my surprise, I wasn’t embarrassed! Social anxiety amirite? It was a milestone.
This self-portrait project has been a transformative experience, allowing me to witness my growth and progress month after month. Each session presents a fresh opportunity to refine my skills and explore new creative territories. As I edited these portraits, the results of my continuous efforts were evident. I could see an increase in self-confidence as well as an improvement in composition and posing. I hope you continue to join me on this journey of self-expression as I continue to improve, seek inspiration, and embrace self-expression, one self-portrait at a time.
Did you know I am now offering mentorship packages?! Want to learn how to take your own self-portraits like these? Let’s get the ball rolling.
