Vivienne McMaster is one of my favorite gals in the blogosphere. And that is because of her important mission. Vivienne wants us all to unearth, recognize, embrace and love our own unique beauty. I am truly honored to have this gorgeous, talented woman here with us at Self-LoveFest, sharing her gifts. In fact, Vivienne created ‘14 Days of Self-Love‘ on her own blog — the very inspiration for Self-LoveFest. Thank you Vivienne! XO. Here she is!…
I’m so honoured to be here as a part of Susan’s SelfLove-Fest and to share a bit about why I’m on a mission to help people discover that selfportraiture can be a tool for selflove!
I know it might not seem like it at first, as many of us feel really strongly about how we see ourselves in photos, and so many of us feel like we our not photogenic or feel like photos of us don’t reflect how we see ourselves. Here’s the thing though. They can. They can be a place for us to find compassion with ourselves, to take control and find our own voice of how we see ourselves & our relationship to beauty. They can be a place of selflove, rather than selfhate.
So I thought I’d share a few of my favourite tips for exploring selflove through selfportraiture with you.
Give Yourself The Chance to See Yourself with Love
One of the biggest tips I have for you in seeing yourself with love through selfportraiture, is to give yourself the chance. What I mean by that is we might pick up our camera or iPhone and give this a try, but then if our old stories that aren’t compassionate (yup, the selfhate arises)…don’t stop there.
Everyone is going to have photos that don’t reflect back at us what we want to see. The trick is to keep going, keep trying, keep taking photos, and once we do this and really give ourselves the chance to be defined by more than one photo, that is when the photo we will really feel reflected in will arise.
So don’t get stopped by the first photo that feels like it holds old stories, but rather take lots of photos, as that is a big part of opening the door to new stories of who we see reflected back at us.
Notice the Story Unfolding
One of the other tips that really helped me see myself with love through photos is to notice the story we are telling with the photo. It may be the story of our day or a story we feel drawn to tell with our photos. When we explore the value of a selfportrait as being more than just what we look like physically, it is so empowering.
This can be as simple as sharing the truth of how our day is going or some of the things we are finding along our path! Exploring the story that our photos tell is a powerful way to see ourselves & our lives with love.
Be Playful
One of the biggest challenges in cultivating selflove through selfportraits is, well, perfectionism! We want a photograph to represent our best self or a vision of ourselves that is one certain way. But we are not one sided, not perfect (and really….do we actually want to be?). We are complex, deep, divine human beings and why not let our photos share more than just a ‘perfect’ version of ourselves.
How do we do that? One of my favourite ways is to PLAY! It might be movement like twirling, jumping or dancing (especially as a way to feel present in our bodies) or just to shake it out.
Or play might be getting into costume or going out to seek a fun place to take the photo.
I find that the more playful we are in the photo, the more room there is for the unexpected, the unpredictable, and it often makes space for us to see ourselves in a new light, with love.
Let Love In
Here’s the truth. Selfportraits don’t magically become a loving place after taking a certain number of them, or taking a certain type, or wearing more makeup or dressing in something special.
Seeing ourselves with love in our selfportraits is a choice.
It honestly has nothing to do with our makeup or clothes, though sometimes those do help us see ourselves in a new light.
But somewhere along the way we will make the choice, be it to take photos until we find one we love or to look at them differently.
One of my favourite tips in my class Be Your Own Beloved, is to look into the lens with love. We can actively choose love in our photos. Sometimes what we might not be loving about the photo is that we see the tension or fear, or the old stories in our own eyes. Looking into the lens with love for ourselves or by thinking about someone we love, shifts the way we see ourselves in the photos. We see the choice in our own eyes, to choose selflove over hate….and that is a pretty powerful visual story to tell (I recommend trying it)!
I hope this will be helpful in taking a selfportrait today and perhaps seeing yourself in a new light!
About the lovely Vivienne:
Vivienne McMaster is a Vancouver based Photographer with a big heart and a spirit of playfulness. She leads workshops and online classes inviting people to cultivate selflove through selfportraiture. Having found her way back to herself after a rough patch through the magic of photography, she believes that selfportraiture and creative exploration can save our lives. She shares her colourful visual stories over at her website beyourownbeloved.com.