A Series of Slow Shutter Self Portraits

This particular series of self-portraits were created using long expsoure/slow shutter technique. When I set aside time to create my self-portraits, I almost always experiment with long-exposure for at least a handful of frames. I use the term experiment, because using this technique seems to always surprise me at least a little–and sometimes outright astounds me–with the results. On a whole though, I find self-portraiture in general seems to hold more uncertainty and surprises for me than when I shoot other genres–to be both making the frame and in the frame simultaneously is a practice in patience and in trusting the flow of the process and the results that develop. I am drawn to long exposure for more than just the unpredictable results. I find it reveals a unique opportunity to study the relationship between subject and space. By slowing down the shutter, the subject has the ability to flow and float through their environment in a way that begs the question whether the person is appearing or disappearing. Conveying motion by blurring the subject can give an unsettling, stirring, even ghostly mood to the photograph. Oftentimes, the subject isn’t even recognizable–there is a loss of identity within the movement.