Ever since I decided to take up photography as a hobby, I had always wanted a photo of me like this … a reflection of me and my camera together! For some really bizarre reason, it felt like this kind of image was a right of passage … the kind of photograph that you only take when you have made it as a successful photographer! I have absolutely no idea why! I mean, it doesn’t require any special equipment or knowledge or experience. In fact, it is probably the most straight forward photograph I have taken since the beginning of my challenge. It was just me, my camera, a mirror and good natural light coming through the window at the end of the day.
So why I waited so long to take this photo? I don’t know … but I am grateful to my photo challenge for making me use my creativity and go back through old ideas that never materialised themselves before.
I do realise I am a few weeks late in posting this. If you follow me on Instagram, you would have seen my post a couple of days ago about having taken some time off. I didn’t go anywhere … and I carried on with day to day life and photoshoots, because, that’s what you’ve got to do sometimes! But I needed some time off to look at the bigger picture and re-focus.
So the title of this image – Reflection – is actually extremely well suited. Yes, it is a reflection of me and my camera in the mirror, but it is so much more. I took a few weeks off to reflect … Reflect on how far I have come? And the fact that somehow, for some unknown and clearly very arbitrary reason, I now felt ready to take this picture of myself, because I have finally felt like I have made it as a successful photographer. And yet, I still have so much to learn, so much to grow and so much to achieve.
I feel like I have done a lot of growing in these past few weeks, and I am now ready for the next stage of Ally Berry Photography. Don’t worry … there won’t be any huge changes, just lots of little ones which hopefully over time will grow into big ones!
One of these changes is my new Instagram page. I have always struggled with knowing what to post on my Facebook and Instagram feed … Do I keep my page completely professional? But then what happens to the fun side of me? Well, the fun side of me now has its own Instagram page, with a slightly less curated content, and mostly just a bit of fun – if you want to follow me and check it out, go to @allyberryhavingfun and hit Follow
And now that I am back to blogging, keep an eye on next week’s blog – a Faceless Portrait, as well as more collaborations coming up very soon.
Wishing you all a fabulous bank holiday weekend!