Amethyst Self-Portraits

I did a self-portrait every week in 2019. It was fun and challenging, but a little rough to complete. I also saw patterns of my self-portraits falling into comfort zones since I didn’t have a ton of time to try new things or plan bigger shoots.

In 2022 I wanted to try another self-portrait project that gave me time to play. So I’m doing a monthly self-portrait photo challenge.

The first photo session for January was a simple shoot to get back in the groove of photographing myself.

I love how self-portraits help me as a photographer. Through posing myself and feeling the pose, I learn how to direct my clients better.

It also gives me time to play with new poses and is a way to showcase options to my clients.

For February I wanted to do something special.

My birthday is February 16th and I usually do a self-portrait each year as a way to celebrate and document.

When coming up with theme ideas for my self-portrait project this year, I turned to Instagram stories.

Lots of great ideas came in like:

• Floral themed

• Golden Goddess

• Monochromatic color

• Zodiac sign

I added some of my favorites to a note in Google Keep as well as more ideas I had. The zodiac sign photoshoot was a cool concept, but admittedly I’m not very in tune with zodiac signs. I didn’t think I could pull it off in a way that it really deserved, so I crossed it off.

Later the idea of a birthstone shoot came to me after thinking about the zodiac theme again.

I loved the idea of embodying my birthstone in a photo shoot, so I immediately shopped for a backdrop and dresses.

I pulled together the makeup I had and purchased a couple more items.

Next stop was my nails. I told my gal the whole plan and we picked the perfect purple.

I ordered a few more props that came to mind late one night via Amazon and then one more last minute amethyst jewelry purchase from a local shop after seeing a post from them on Instagram.

Everything was coming together and arriving just in time for me to do the styled shoot for my birthday.

But the backdrop didn’t arrive.

It was the first thing I ordered and the last to arrive.

Eventually it showed up with just enough time to set everything up, shoot, edit, and share the results by the end of the month of February.

It’s been a long time since I’ve put this much time, effort, and money into a shoot for myself and not a client.

Also this birthstone theme? Hello! You all need to try this one. So much fun.

By the way, the crown? I hot glued the entire thing. I thought I ordered amethyst shards with holes drilled into them, but I received solid shards. So I had to think of a new plan since I’m not talented enough to figure out how to wire solid shards to a headband while making them stand up straight.

So I glued two headbands together to give me more surface area to balance the shards onto and then glued the shards. Then later I added more glue to fill the backs in and give it more to stick to, I guess? I don’t know, it worked well enough for the shoot and that’s all I was really going for.

This birthstone themed shoot took the entire month of February to put together and execute, but that’s exactly why I wanted to do the self-portrait project monthly this time around.

I seriously recommend you try a birthstone styled shoot either by yourself or with your favorite photographer. If you do, I 100% want to see so feel free to tag me on Instagram @hearttakethewheel

For the next month, I’m thinking something urban street wear themed. I want to balance out the super styled effort shoots with some slightly more chill ones. I recently got a pair of boots I love that have inspired me to do an entire urban parking garage type photoshoot for one of the months.