Self-Portraiture as Healing Art

Guide: Kate Inglis

As portraitists, we lend grace and leniency and understanding to subjects, using camera, brush and canvas, or words. We coax them into the right light, granting them patience until they feel safe enough to let us abide. But it’s rare that we offer that foundational grace to ourselves. In this session, we’ll walk through the creative vision, technical how-to, and emotional significance of self-storytelling with both photography and writing. You’ll reframe long-held assumptions, learn how to apply craft as carefully to yourself as you would to others (even without a shutter remote), and forgo ‘pretty’ in favour of an enlightening truth.

What to Bring: Get the most out of this class with either an SLR or point-and-shoot camera that allows for manual or semi-manual shooting. Also, make every effort to rent or borrow a tripod, if you don’t own one already—this will make your experience during the workshop much more fruitful. If you have a remote, bring it—but don’t worry if you don’t have one.