Sunday Spotlight On: Selfie Sunday

You don’t have to be a teenager, young adult, college student or celebrity to take a great selfie. Selfies has become a household name in almost every corner of the world. It has now become common to let people know what you are doing, what you are wearing and whom you are hanging out with in the world of social media. It has also become so popular that it named Oxford Dictionaries’ Word of the Year in 2013.

For photographers, we sometimes need to take a great photograph of ourselves for our business. After all we are suppose to be the subject matter experts in this field and it is expected that we can capture ourselves as we capture others. I will admit that I am the kind of photographer who would rather be behind the lens rather than in front of the lens. While taking Creative Concepts here at AIO, we were to create a series of images that represents who we are as photographers. We’d all like to identify ourselves with the things that we are strong in, but taking off the layers and exposing our weakness as well takes a lot of strength and willpower.

If I have ever taken a class with you, then some of you may know that my heart is with photojournalism and documentary photography. I love to document anything and everything that deals with women. For my series of images in Creative Concepts, I exposed the darkness in my life dealing with my PTSD, sexual assault and my fear of abandonment. This was a hard series to shoot technically and mentally but I had no choice but to push through and come up with something that represented who I am as a photographer and what I like to shoot. In the end I loved the challenge and gave it my all. 

Quiana P Jackson. Meditation, 2014.

Quiana P Jackson. Motion, 2014. 

My challenge to the students here at the AIO is to capture not only the things that make you strong photographers, but the things that weakens you as well. For some of us it is shyness, nervousness, insecurities, etc and can be seen in a single photograph or an entire series. In order to progress as a strong photographer we have to conquer those things that holds us back from being able to capture the world as we see it. I will state that not everyone will have a "emotional" selfie, some may be funny, serious or very professional head shots. No matter what the driving force behind it is, just make it a good one. 

I am your Sunday Funday Ambassador. 

Happy Shooting! 

Work Cited:

“Oxford Word Of The Year 2013.” Huffington Post. 19 November 2013. Web. 15 March 2014.