My Self-Portrait Story

Seeing myself in this way is so surreal.

I still remember the first self-portrait I took. I had moved to Addis wanting to start my Modern Muse photography series and had all these ideas in my head, but I didn’t have anyone who agreed to be photographed yet. So I decided to take portraits of myself.

From that day on it has evolved to me doing self-portraits every time I need to express feelings I have no words for.The way to deal with overwhelming emotions is using it for a creative process. So I pick up my camera…

The vulnerability presented by taking self-portraits and sharing them has taught me what it feels for the women I photograph.Putting myself in their shoes allows me to understand what I’m asking from my sitters. It establishes a connection before I start taking photos.

What started as a substitute suddenly became a whole new meaning for me.And it evolved into a process.Part of that process was to ask Rebkca, one of the long-term sitters for my Modern Muse series to share her story. She did that every time before we started taking pictures.Here’s what she said the last time….

Scan the QR code to read Rebcka's words.