Transcripts
1. Introduction: As photographers, most times we are telling other
people's stories. We hardly have time to
tell our own story. Self portraiture
is one opportunity for you to look at yourself, to reflect, to explore yourself. And honestly, I can't
tell you how much of a healing process it can be and how much
therapeutic it can be. So in this class, I'm
going to guide you through the whole process for
you to be able to explore um, self portraiture as
a means of storytelling. My name is Casey Wakalo. I'm a documentary
photographer and producer based here in Manchester
in the United Kingdom. And my work focuses
on humanizing real socio economic health
and environmental issues that affect Africans
and African diaspora. My work has been published on notable publications
like the New York Times, Bloomberg, Financial Times,
and a host of others. This class, I want to guide you through the
art of self portraiture. Just recently, I released a photography project
called screen hysteria, which I use self
portrayure as a means of exploring the psychological
and the mental impact of excessive screen use. So I've been battling
phone addiction, screen addiction for
a long time, and I've just been trying to find ways to kind of
explore the kind of emotions that I was experiencing as a result of
my excessive screen use. These were things I couldn't articulate or put into words. But by placing the
camera right in front of me and taking
self portraiture, I was able to process
these emotions. And the feedback
has been amazing. A lot of people have reached
out to say that, you know, the work resonated with them and they felt seen in that project. And this is one of the reasons
that I'm inspired to teach other photographers how to produce a self
portraiture project. Um, using what I did with screen hysteria
as a case study. So you might be an
experienced photographer or a budding photographer
or just a hobbyist, someone that just
likes photography. Self portrature is really an opportunity to understand
yourself a bit better to improve your storytelling
skills and also to create a portfolio of work
that you would be proud of. So if you're excited as
I am, see you in class.
2. Project: The project for this
class is to create three to five image
self portrait series based on a personal theme. You would have to choose a
theme that is personal to you, something that you care about that you want
to talk about. You plan your shots and
decide on the mood, the composition,
and the lighting. Then you will shoot
your self portraits using the techniques that
you've learned in this class. The interesting part also
is to edit and sequence your images to create a
cohesive visual story. At the end of this
whole process, I would like you to upload
your final series to the project gallery and write a short caption
explaining your concept. Projects are very
important because it's an opportunity for you to
practice what you've learned. And you can sit here
for hours and hours and listen to myself or
other photographers. If you don't get out
in the real world, to take pictures, to improve your storytelling skills,
you won't get better. So that's why this project is important and I really
want to see your work. I'm going to share mine, and
I want to see your own work, and I want to give you feedback. Also, there has been lots of interesting projects
that have been coming in from my other classes, and I love it when I see
students work because it shows me that people are paying
attention and they are practicing the
things they've learned. So for the project, you
would need a camera. So this can be a smartphone, it can be a DSLR, a urrallessPoint, and shoot anything you have that can
take digital images is fine. I'm happy with that. You
would also need a tripod. This can be your phone
tripod or it can be a tripod depending
on what you're using. And if you don't have a tripod, then you can just
look for, like, a table or a stable location that you can mount your
camera and take pictures. Other thing you would need definitely is photography
is light source. So you're going to need either natural or simple
artificial light, and it could be a
lamp in the house. It could be a small soft box. It could be your window light, anything you have access to
that you can use to light up the scene and create the
kind of pictures you want, please have it on ground. You would also need
an editing software. So this could be light room, on your laptop, on your
phone or you can use Snapsd. It's free. You can download
it on your smartphone. Pretty much any
application that you can use to edit the pictures
that you've shot, you know, to arrange it in a way to present it in
a way that you like. Then you also need a notebook
to write things down, to draw your concept, to draw your storyboard, just to drop anythings
that you find interesting as you
attend the class.
3. Why Self Portraiture? : Self portraiture is really an interesting way
of telling stories. A lot of photographers
that haven't done this will not
understand the benefit, but I've done it. With screen hysteria, I
saw how I felt relieved, how I felt seen and understood just by
doing that project. And that's one thing that
self portraiture does. It gives you an opportunity
to express yourself. You know, to the world
through your creativity, but also to explore yourself. A lot of photographers, most times we're focused on telling other
people's stories. We don't have time
to slow things down and photograph ourselves
or tell our own story. But with self portraiture,
you explore yourself. You kind of understand
yourself a bit better. Self portraiture is an honest, vulnerable and intimate
form of storytelling. This is the photographer now pointing the camera
at themselves. It's very intimate. You have to be vulnerable. Sometimes you would put up an expression
that looks funny. Sometimes you would express emotions that you never
thought was in there. I think it helps storytellers to become better storytellers. Another reason is
because it's relatable. You know, you have
shared emotions, raw authentic experience
with that process, you know, like I experienced
with screen hysteria, because of how
vulnerable and how honest and raw and
authentic it was, people were able to
connect with my pictures. And that's the
interesting thing. You would think that
self portraiture, since it's yourself
in that picture that people wouldn't
relate to it. And obviously,
that's the opposite. The opposite is the case. People relate with
self portraiture because there is just something about it that connects people. There is just something about it that people can latch onto. Another interesting thing
about self portraiture is the full creative control and the freedom you have to
experiment, you know, with other type of storytelling, when you're photographing
other people, there is limitation around
what you can in terms of time, in terms of the subject being willing to do those
things with you. But with self portraiture, you have the freedom to do
anything you want to do. It's just you and your camera. So you pretty much have
the opportunity to experiment and explore your own storytelling the
way you want to. Also, self portraiture can
be some form of therapy. It can be an
opportunity for you to process emotions that you
didn't know where in there, to process traumas, to
analyze experiences, which helps you develop your self awareness
and introspection. So self portraiture
definitely, you know, provides an opportunity
for you to process emotions that are latent in you. Sometimes when you
set up the camera, that's when you start feeling
the things you're feeling, emotions that you've kind
of tried to push away or you've tried to cover up But
with that vulnerability, self portraiture
starts to feel a bit like self therapy starts
to feel therapeutic. And that's why I think every photographer
should experience it. You never know what you would access because you pointed
the camera at yourself. So that's really a powerful
experience to have. And then the last, the most important
reason is that with self portraiture, you
have accessibility. It's just you and your camera. With other type of storytelling, you have to reach out to
people to get permission, to be able to photograph
in their space. You have to interview them to be able to
understand their story, to understand who they are. Whereas with self portraiture,
you know yourself. You know the story
you're trying to tell. You can pretty much set
up the camera anyway. At your own time
in the midnight I took some of the pictures
midnight, right? If I was taking pictures
of another person, I probably wouldn't have
that level of access. So this is one of the reasons you should
explore self portraiture. The accessibility that it
provides, it's your story. It's just you and your camera, and you have access to it. And you being the storyteller, you know how you want
to capture something, but you're also
part of the story. So you understand, you know, the story when you've done
justice to the story. And these are the reasons I
think self portraiture is really a powerful tool for storytelling, especially
personal storytelling.
4. Themes: I began screening hysteria
because I was trying to process the emotions I was feeling as a result of
excessive screen use. These were feelings of
isolation, you know, feeling stuck, feeling empty, you know, sometimes I would
sleep wake up, tired. And this was as a result of my excessive use of
screens in general, you know, watching the TV,
all that kind of stuff. But I think mostly
on the smartphone, it was just hard for me to process the breath of
what I was experiencing. And I just thought about, What about I just point the camera at myself
and tell the story. So with screen hysteria, I wasn't trying to showcase, you know, the things
that took me away, the activities I did, but I was trying I was
focused more on the psychological and
the mental impact of excessive screen use. And, you know, just by putting the camera
in front of me and, you know, expressing myself and, you know, exhibiting the
feelings I was feeling, something that was inside that was inside of me that
I wanted to let out. And that was what I was
doing with screen hysteria. I've lived in denial
for a while, you know, not accepting that that was
what I was going through. But with the project, I was
able to give it a name. With the project,
I was able to see what I was experiencing
and, you know, having other people recognize that feeling or resonate with that feeling kind of made me
feel seen and understood. So to do the self portraiture, I used the camera, set up
the camera on a tripod. I got a cloth. So that's
the stuff I used. That's the only
proper I brought in a white cloth that I used as a background
in some of the shots, and then the small lights
that I had access to. Some of the key concepts within screen
hysteria project is, you know, the
exhibition of emotions. You know, motion,
movement, you know, hash lights, shadows, black and white
reflections and posture. So I used all these components to be able to bring
my story to life. And also, that's what
I would want you to do as you participate
in this class. What you use would
be dependent on the type of story that
you are trying to tell. But I'm going to share
as much as I can for you to know the various
options you can explore. Would want to know what
would you like to explore as part of this class in
terms of self portraiture. Always, it's going to be something that is
very personal to you. And there are so many themes that are centralized
in self portrature. So some themes like personal
identity and spirituality, you can explore your gender. You can explore your sexuality. You can explore your
spirituality, your religion. You can also explore
emotions and mental states. Is there something
you're going through? Is there a feeling
that you have? Is there what is going
on in your mind. You can try to document that. You can try to capture
that in self portrait. Another theme you can explore is relationships
and connections. How do you showcase your relationship and your
connections to yourself, to technology, to
your loved ones, whatever it is, you can also explore that in
self portrait, right? You can also explore
memories and dreams. What memories do
you have that you would want to do self
portrait series? Could be dreams. What are your aspirations? Like,
what do you want to be? It could be you setting yourself up to look like what
you want to be. It could be you dressing
up in a certain way to experiment what that thing
would look like for you. I've seen people do
self portraiture, dressed up like
doctors or dressed up pilots and take
self portraiture, kind of explore what
they look like. You can also explore
symbolisms and metaphors. You can explore technology
and modern life, just like I've done
with screen hysteria, without necessarily
showing the technology, but more about the
kind of emotions I was going so many things you can
explore in your project. This is a key time for you to start thinking
in that direction. What theme is your self
portraiture going to be about? What are the central themes
you want to include? So, for instance,
with screen hysteria, I would say it included
emotions and mental states. It also included technology and modern life and
symbolism and metaphors. So you have to start
thinking in that direction. The tax for this lesson
is for you to write down two to three key themes that
resonate most with you.
5. Concepts: Themes are more broad concepts, but now we are going to
go a bit deeper into the immediate concept elements that you can incorporate
in yourself portraiture. So when I say concept elements, I'm talking about, yes, you know you want to talk
about mental health, or you want to talk
about your emotion or you want to talk
about your spirituality. What are the
composition elements? What are the minute details that you can include in
yourself portraiture, to tell the story that
you're trying to tell. What are the kind of
expressions visually speaking? What are the kind of
things you can include? And I've produced a list of
some of the things that I think you can include in
yourself portraiture to have, like, a variety in terms of creativity to
have things to play with. So when you incorporate these things into
yourself portraiture, at least the pictures will
come out a bit different. It won't look like I
won't look monotonous. So I've listed some of
the things that I could think about that can help yourself portraiture
come to life. Some of them is movement. You can use a slow shutter
speed to show movement. You can also use fast shutter
speed to freeze movement. But you can incorporate
movement in yourself portraiture
to bring it to life. If movement is relevant to the theme that
you're working on. You can also explore your body, your skin, if you're telling
story, for instance, about your tribe,
maybe there are some tribal max that you can incorporate in
yourself portraiture. If you're doing stories
around your identity, maybe some parts of your body might be relevant for the story. You can also
incorporate fabrics. There are fabrics
that tell a story. It could be a specific fabric
from a specific region, and you're telling a story about yourself in connection
to that region. Another thing that you
can include is emotions. Emotions are very, very critical because that's one way
people connect with others. So the more emotions that you're able to
show in your portraits, self portraiture, the more
interesting it would be. You can also incorporate water. I did that as well with my
screen hysteria project. Water signifies a lot of things. I used in different contexts, it could mean different things. You can incorporate colors. You know, are there
specific colors that highlight the story
you were trying to tell. You could incorporate strength. Pain. In some of the
portraits I took, I photographed myself, you know, going through certain
types of pain. And as much as I didn't use
those pictures in the end, it's something you can
explore, you know, trying to don't kill
yourself, though. But, like, you know, putting yourself through
certain types of pain can be a component you can
incorporate in your storytelling. You can also
incorporate mystery, making portraits
that are mysterious. That can help yourself portraiture to be
more interesting. You can also incorporate tribe, shadows and reflection.
The concept of time. There are so many things you can incorporate in
yourself portraiture. But arming yourself with the knowledge of the various
elements that you can play with gives you a
variety of options on what you can introduce into your self portrait project. But at the end of the day, it should be pushing
your story forward, just like composition, just like having an understanding
of how compositions work. That doesn't mean
you would capture every single picture to have that specific composition just
because you've learned it. Story you're trying
to tell is always supposed to be the driver of
the decisions you're making. So if incorporating movement, body or skin, colors, emotions, if incorporating
all the things pushes your stories forward, then you should go for it. So the tax for this lesson
is for you to write down two to three concepts that you would like to explore
in self portraiture. So I know you've written down two to three themes in the past. Now is two to three
concepts that you would want to incorporate
in your project. So whatever it is, write it down because those are the things that would help you know how
to tell your story.
6. Planning Your Shoot: Planning your self
portrait series always starts with
inspiration and research, you know, so pretty much you start off with
researching your project, looking at other photographers that have done similar work or just photographers
that are good with self portraiture to see the kind of pictures
they are making, the way they are
structuring their pictures. And this is not for you to copy them but it's for
you to be inspired. You put all that together and
then bring your vision to life by incorporating
your personal vision, the story you're trying to tell, and the approach that
you want to take. And some of the key
places that we do research these days
is online search, you know, photography books, portfolio websites
of photographers that you know that are already working on those type of projects that know self
portray you a lot. You can also explore other
photo sharing platforms like Instagram, Visura. There are lots of platforms
out there that you can explore where photographers are actively sharing their work. And one of the things
I do, as well, thanks to AI is I kind of have that
initial chat with, like, Chat GPT to ask like, who are the
photographers that have worked on this type of project? Who are the photographers that are known for self portraiture? That could really be
a good start for you. Then when you've
done your research, you know, the project
that you want to work on, you've already outlined
the themes you want to capture and the concept
you want to incorporate. The next thing is actually
planning your shoot. And this is pretty much
finding locations, the props, the wardrobe. We screen hysteria, I didn't
spend so much time on that. And there wasn't any wardrobe. I just wore what I
felt comfortable in. The only prop that I bought, like I said, was the
white background, the cloth, the white fabric that I put at the back as backdrop. And I used it in some pictures
as well to cover myself or to create some
interesting compositions. But the location also is
important, you know, like, most of the project was shot at home and some were outdoors. So you have to start
thinking about what kind of locations do you want to capture
yourself portraits. And start making
plans accordingly. Another thing you
have to think about is the visual
language, you know, the light, the shadows, the body language,
the symbolism. And that would
also influence how you storyboard or how
you design the story. With screen hysteria, I didn't really have an
extensive storyboard. I pretty much wrote down
the ideas of the portraits, what I wanted to be
doing in the portrait, and, you know, the
opportunity to capture so I had a list of the type of pictures that I
wanted to capture. And once the opportunity
presented itself, I took it. It's always good. If you're a very
visual person and you can sketch your portraits, that would be very
helpful because it means when you go in, you know exactly what
you're trying to achieve. But also, I didn't spend
so much time on the story budding for screening hysteria because I wanted my
emotions to lead me. So I know all I
did was to set up the place to look like
what I want to capture, and I just let the emotion lead and sometimes it's all
about trial and error. You might take the first few
shots and it's not working, and you take the next
one and it gets better. So it's all about being
patient and being present and just taking
it one day at a time. I remember when I started
the screen hysteria project, the first few sessions I had, in fact, none of those
pictures made it. You know, I didn't take
pictures that I liked. It was my first time, like, exploring self
portraiture properly. Um, but also, I knew the
emotions I wanted to capture. I was familiar with it. So if I captured pictures that didn't really show
that, I could tell. So let your emotions lead, and it would help. So the tax for
this lesson is for you to sketch and
write a description of three to five different shots that convey your
theme and concept. Now that you have a theme in mind and you know the concepts
you want to incorporate, I want you to write three to
five different shots or you can sketch it that
convers your story, that convers the idea
you have in your mind.
7. Shooting Tips: Self portraiture is like taking any other
type of picture. Your camera, you have a tripod. You probably have a
remote for shooting, and this is really,
really important. If you have a modern camera, it can focus and shoot, right? But if you're
shooting by yourself, then you have to
use manual focus. So pretty much you
place something in the position where you
would position yourself, and then you focus on it. And then go and shoot and you put your focus ring in manual. Some of the tips pretty much is, you know, when you're
shooting alone, you know, just making sure that
your camera is in focus, you can use a wide aperture. Self portraiture may feel
uncomfortable at first. You know, it will
be awkward, which I think every photographer
should experience, because, you know,
it's easy when we point the camera
at people's faces. So people get shy and sometimes we don't
really understand it. And if we're so used to
being behind the camera, being in the viewfinder, you start forgetting how uncomfortable or unsettling it could be to be in
front of the camera. So at first, you know, you're going to feel
a bit self conscious. You're going to feel a bit
embarrassed, and that's fine. But one thing that
I remind myself is, you know, it's my camera.
I'm the only one here. If I take pictures
that I don't like, that I feel like
I should delete, I would delete it and
nothing will happen. So at the end of the day, having that in mind that you're in control of
the whole situation. You decide what pictures
gets published, what pictures you use kind of just helps you
to be comfortable. And another thing that
helps is just having a remote so that you
don't have to keep going back and forth at the
camera to take pictures. If you don't have a remote,
you can use a self timer. It's also a very useful
technique because at some point, it helps you to
forget that there is a camera in front of you because it's taking pictures
automatically every few seconds. But your camera
will have to have such functionality for
you to be able to do it. The main tip that
I give you know, to break through hesitation
and self doubt is just to understand that it's
okay to be embarrassed. It's okay not to get
it right at first. You become conscious. So, am I looking good? Because of that consciousness, you want to be represented
in a good way. But again, it helps
to know that you're the one in charge of
the entire process. So it should help you, you know, release
the tension a bit. So I'm a perfectionist myself, but let go of perfectionism. Self portrayure is not
a perfect process. It's about being vulnerable. It's about being expressive. The main thing is to
let your emotions lead. Don't let perfectionism lead. It's not a contest to have the most technically
sound image. It's an exploration of yourself, and you have to be kind to
yourself and you have to be handled that process in a very tender and respectful
for yourself. So let go of perfectionism, you know, and let your
emotions lead the process. I think it would have been
beneficial to actually film myself whilst I'm doing this self
portraiture project. But the truth is, I
cannot multitask. If I'm filming a class
and I'm, you know, recording my process,
it alters the process. It kind of feels like
someone else is observing, and that kills the whole
energy around what I'm doing. So that's why I had
to focus on doing the project and just looking
back at the pictures, and I hope you know, you get the message,
you get the style or the concept to be able to utilize in your own self
portraiture project. The task for this lesson
is for you to set up the camera and take
some self portraits. Let your emotions lead you, let go of perfectionism
and, you know, experiment and see what
works and what doesn't, you are the one
that has the key. You are in control
of everything. You delete pictures
you don't like, and you process
the ones you want. So don't be too
hard on yourself. B free and let your emotions lead and just be
there to capture it.
8. Showing Your Work: So after shooting your
lovely self portrait series, the next thing is
for you to show it. And, you know, the best place to show your work is
on your website. So if you don't
have one, honestly, you need to have a website. If you're a professional
photographer or you're trying to build a
portfolio, you're trying to take it seriously.
You need a website, and there are lots of platforms
that provide website. I personally use format. But Visura is also good. Adobe provides website as well. There are lots of them. So please go for it. And there are free ones as well. Bey hands. You can have your
portfolio up there as well. Other photographers
can look at your work. Another critical place
for you to show it is in the project gallery
of this class. Other students would like
to see what you've created. I would like to see
what you've created. I want you to share as
much as you want to share. But also, I understand that this is a very
personal journey, and, you know, it would be nice to see
what you've created. As always, the tax
remains for you to share three to five image
self portrait series based on your chosen theme. So pretty much as you've been participating
in this class, I'm guessing that you've made your own self portrait, I would like you to share that, and I look forward to
seeing your project.
9. Conclusion: So with that being said, it's been a good ride. I'm happy you got this far, and I hope you've been able to produce a self portrait
that you are really proud of that
resonates deeply with you that represents the
story that you want to tell. And also, I want you to continue exploring self
portraiture beyond this class. It could be your way of
responding to things. It could be your way
of experiencing or exploring certain emotions or traumas and stuff like that. So beyond this class, I want you to keep
taking pictures of yourself at every given
opportunity. That you have. I'm not talking about self is. I'm talking about actual
self portraiture. So please remember
to share your work with other photographers
in the project gallery. I'm going to provide feedback. I'm always looking
at the gallery, and I love it when students participate and
share their work. It also helps me learn more
about you and the type of students that
I'm engaging with. So if you enjoy the class, please drop a review. It helps other
people to be able to search and understand what's
happening in the class. So please remember
to drop a review, follow me on Skillshare. You just hit this follow button. And on my socials, I'm at KC WakaloO all social media platforms,
you can follow me there. I'm very active on Instagram when I am so
you can follow me there. But if you want a more
intimate interaction, I recommend you sign
up to my newsletter, which is just subscribe
dot kc oneclo.com. Every month, I share
tips, I share ideas, I share projects that I'm
working on with my subscribers, you know, just to move away from the social
media, the algorithm. I'm writing directly to people, and I'm sharing um, things I wouldn't
share publicly. So, for instance, the
screen Hysteria project, my subscribers knew about it months before I published it. I hope you've learned
something in this class, and I wish you the best. I look forward to seeing
you again in the future.
KC Nwakalor, Documentary Photographer & Producer
