ABOUT The 40 Wonderful Self- Portrait Project

Last summer, I had the privilege of attending a lighting workshop hosted at Felix Kunze's Brooklyn Studio. It was a hands-on style class where I learned so much with his professional team. As one of only 5 students, we each had the opportunity to soak up so much and clarify things I had learned on his lighting courses taught through a video module style.


What I've learned

This helped spark my self-portrait project to celebrate my 41st year! Now, I had done self-portraits before. But, this one was the biggest as I had so many to do and a year to accomplish them. There had been several other photographers who inspired me over the years too. I have been so moved by their venerability and dedication. And looking back on my own, I'm excited to share what I have learned.


  1. Lighting is key - I used both Natural and Strobe lighting for this project. Yes, a strobe lighting class it was the spark that inspired me to do it, but as a photographer who was only natural light, I had to include some here. What's so interesting is to see how different lighting affected the look and feel of the portraits.
  2. The power of play or practice in any creative field is so empowering. There are countless classes and workshops for photographers. What I enjoyed the most about this project was how it provided a goal to focus on for my own play and practice.
  3. Social support. This may be the most surprising of all. Maybe because my following is small, or my followers are mostly clients, friends and family I know in real life, but they made me feel supported and good about sharing this project even if my portrait or technical skills were not perfect.
  4. Perfection is not the goal, progress is. And my excitement to keep making progress has too. I have several ideas and even one project that was paused during COVID that has gotten new motivation to keep me moving forward and making progress!

40-Wonderful Project Self-portraits - a few in review

Explore more

If you have any projects or ideas you wish to pursue, I encourage you to do it! If you'd like to read more about each of my 40-Wonderful Project self-portraits and the stories behind each one, please visit my project page: 40 Wonderful Project here.