Self-Portraits in a Parking Garage

The theme for my March 2022 self-portrait was inspired by a pair of boots.

Once I got my feet in those boots, I was inspired for an urban styled shoot and decided the setting for it would be a parking garage downtown. 

Here’s the Pinterest board I put together for inspiration: https://pin.it/1yr8mpo

For a while I’ve been looking to get a solid pair of skinny black jeans that aren’t too skinny. I figured this shoot was a good excuse to pick up a pair from Madewell.

The boots and jeans quickly became a favorite of mine, too bad it’s about to get way too hot to wear either of them. 

The parking garage is actually quite popular for gatherings and photoshoots, so it was a challenge to navigate around everything while still trying to get some of the shots I was after. 

One of my favorite parts of working in this setting were all the lines. From the concrete beams to the staircase railing, I had lots of lines to play with.

Even though this is a self-portrait, it doesn’t have to be done alone. A little after starting, I invited a friend to keep me company. She showed up and we chatted in between shots. We actually work together on product photo shoots often and she’s used to calling the shots behind the scenes, so it was funny watching her do her best not to style me while I was doing the self-portrait session. 

The challenge with most self-portraits is the remote shutter. There are lots of ways to do it and each one has its pros & cons. 

For this shoot, I used two options. One was using the phone app as the remote and the second way was with an IR remote. One of the cameras I use has an IR sensor and the other uses bluetooth instead, so I had to use both cameras. 

After getting some of the shots I wanted, I took one more with my Subaru and called it a wrap. 

This self portrait session was put together quite quickly and almost last minute. I had the idea for it for a while, but didn’t set a date or anything. When a project is fairly easy or casual, it’s easy to put it off because you know it won’t be a big deal to complete. That was the case here. Not a good practice, but that’s often how personal projects go. 

I put a poll on my Instagram and the theme for April will be Audrey Hepburn.

I’ve already begun preparing! My April is busy, so I’ll have to plan it all out just right.