What I do when I should be doing homework.

Believe it or not, I don’t take pictures of myself that often. I’ll admit, I used to do so a lot when I was first starting out, but my vision has expanded a lot in the last five years.

I was bored, though, and looking for something to do. That’s when I got the idea to shoot some self-portraits, experimenting with different components. My bed is lofted, and under it is my desk and dresser. I decided to use that space to set up a little studio.

I put my 35mm on my camera, because I wanted to shoot at f/1.8. I then set my camera on my tripod. I moved my desk chair in front of my dresser, and moved my desk lamp over, too. I didn’t want to use flash, as I hate using it, and I knew that my lamp had a nice, natural glow. Also, I was hoping to create shadows. I took my black photoshooting sheet and hung it from my bed. Finally, I took my roommates fan. I mean, when you’ve got hair, you have to work it, right? My set up looked something like this:

My lovely "studio."

I ended up taking 25 shoots using my remote. Each time, I would adjust the light or the fan or both. There was always something I didn’t like. Eventually, I landed on this one, with which I was moderately pleased.

Take one.

There was an earlier shot I liked, too. The one above looks rather posed. Obviously. While this one isn’t perfect, I like that it looks more raw—there’s more emotion in it. But hey, maybe that’s just me.

Take two.

Say what you will about self-portraits, but you can learn a lot about photography with them.