Me, myself and eye
Holly Alexander shoots a weekly self-portrait to keep up appearances
Ioriginally became involved in the photography industry back in 2008 when I embarked on a modelling career. It wasn’t long after that when my curiosity for the opposite side of the camera began to grow. However it wasn’t until around 2018 that I really started taking photography seriously.
I’m self-taught but believe that modelling helped me to pick up lots of the skills I learned while working behind the camera. Modelling and photography share complementary skills, as much can be taken from one side of the camera to the other. I am confident when directing people and suggesting poses, for example, having done it myself.
When the first national Covid-19 lockdown hit, lots of creative professionals struggled, unable to work on things like photoshoots and events. I found that I had a lot more time on my hands, so my self-portrait journey began. At first it was just to practise and keep my skills sharp while I was unable to work or collaborate with others, but it soon became an almost-daily ritual!
Something that I found both fun and challenging was a weekly self-portrait challenge organised by the YouTuber ‘Kutovakika’. She would post a weekly video with a theme for a self-portrait and behind the scenes images, plus the final results of her own interpretation of the theme. I found these extremely inspiring and never missed a week, and have carried on exploring new self-portrait ideas ever since. It’s something that can be easily done at home by anyone – all you need is a camera and remote trigger.