sarahallegra
FollowA self portrait from my Enchanted Sleep series on living with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome-myalgic encephalomyelitis.
A self portrait from my Enchanted Sleep series on living with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome-myalgic encephalomyelitis.
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Awards
Contest Finalist in Get Inside Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Indoors Photo Contest
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christadickson
December 19, 2012
Gorgeous, this is fantastic! How did you actually make her appear to be floating above the bed?
Krishna_Kumar
May 14, 2013
great shot.. i was gonna ask you how you did it, but saw you already explained it below :) .. congrats!
snowdon
November 04, 2015
Congratulations on your Finalist Win in the Get Inside contest .. Great image
Infocuz
May 19, 2016
I adore this pose. I feel that this image could use a bit of sharpening. But I wouldn't be suprised if this was the look you were going for. Exceptional well done either way.
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this shot in the bedroom of a duplex I used to live in. A new mattress had just been delivered and I wanted to take advantage of having the "blank canvas" of a mostly unmade bed. My every-day sheets have a strong pattern to them which I felt would be distracting in this image.Time
I believe this was late afternoon, after the mattress movers left but before I had to star making dinner!Lighting
I used a couple of hot lights that belonged to my husband in addition to turning on the overhead light of the bedroom. The overhead light had little glass shades on all its bulbs which is what is casting those angular shadows and bits of light on the walls.Equipment
This was taken with my previous camera, a Nikon D40. Since this was a self portrait, I set the camera on a tripod and used a remote trigger release. I also used a large cardboard box to prop myself up on which I edited out in post :)Inspiration
I had been diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis, sometimes called Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or fibromyalgia, not too long before I took this image. One of the symptoms of M.E. that is worst for me is the constant exhaustion; it's similar to kind of tired you feel when you have the flu. A great deal of life was (and still is) spent in bed, and I wanted to capture the feeling of being trapped between - trapped between being fully awake or asleep, as well as being in and out of bed.Editing
I used standard levitation techniques for this. I shot an image of the blank background without me in it, then I took several frames of me balanced on a cardboard box. Blending the two images together gives the look of the subject floating effortlessly. I also played with the colors quite a bit in post, giving in the dreamy, slightly unreal tint it has. Numerous washes of colored layers helped add to the dreaminess, as well as adding a bit of a vignette.In my camera bag
These days I usually shoot with a Nikon D5100, and I still use my old 35-70mm kit lens when I need it. I more often use my 50mm 1.8 lens, but especially in cramped settings, like inside a house, I break out the 35-70mm lens. I always keep several inexpensive remote releases, since they get lost easily. A lightweight, collapsible tripod is also a must for self portraits!Feedback
I find that when I channel my personal difficulties and frustrations into photos, not only does it make the resulting image more powerful, it helps me work through whatever emotions I'm feeling. Art therapy is extremely effective! Next time you find yourself angry, sad or frustrated, see if you can find a way to portray what you're feeling visually and vent all your emotions into your photo! Your feeling doesn't have to be shown literally, or be immediately obvious to a viewer, but adding in that extra sprinkling of personal importance will strengthen your image!