My Own Portrait/Selfie

My Self Portrait

This is my self portrait. The first thing I notice when I look at this image is my face. I have full eye contact with the camera a gentle smile showing that I feel happy and confident in my surroundings. The next thing I notice are the ballet shoes as they are central in the image. The ballet shoes represent my love for dance and performing, which was a big part of my childhood and still is today. My laptop is in the background because it is so important to me as it has all my work and photos on there! There are lots of photos of my friends and family in the background, showing how important they are to me and how I always want them around me for love and support. There is a calendar with hot rugby players on it because, lets face it, we all enjoy a bit of eye candy! The Nando's receipt represents my love for my boyfriend as it is where we went for out years anniversary. The red card is a letter my sister wrote to me for going away to uni. It is central and there is attention drawn to it because it is the same colour as my lipstick, this is because my sister means so much to me and I couldn't I've without her being so close to me. The Chinese, Subway and Bella Italia takeaway leaflets simply some my love for food! I put a map of Southampton up because I have only just moved here for uni and I still don't know my way around. The huge display of makeup shows my love and passion for makeup! You can see I am a university student from the desk and the pin board background and you can tell I'm not very tidy either!

The photo looks real to me because the background is very busy and everything it not perfectly in place, making it believable that it is a student's desk. It also looks very realistic because the photo has been taken with an iPhone. The camera angle is looking down at the model as it is more flattering. I think this portrait expresses that I am feeling comfortable and happy at university, but that there is a lot going on in my life that I need to work on organising! I think my facial expression shows my feelings clearly and the fact that there are loads of different things and different colours in the background shows that I am not very organised. This photograph makes me think about how just seeing a photograph of somebody at uni usually only shows their happiness that they want the viewers to see, but actually that there are a lot of things that aren't always as they seem. It also makes me think of all the things and people you take for granted when you are at home and that when they are all taken  away from you how much you really need them in your life.

The context of this portrait is that I have been at uni for about a month and I am just settling into the new chapter of my life. I am 18, in a happy and loving relationship, I have friends and family at home that I love and miss. I am studying Makeup and Hair Design at Solent university and I am really enjoying it so far! When I look at this photograph it makes me really think how important my friends and family are to me and who much I appreciate that they are in my life and I have learned how lucky I really am to have all that support and love from them all. When I was taking this photograph I was feeling very happy, content and reflective. In this image I was trying to convey that you can be happy and confident if you surround yourself with things that you love and things that make you happy. I think I have succeeded in portraying this message.