Peacock Beauty

Peacook Beauty
"Like a peacock, your beauty is multiplied when you spread your wings and show the world your stuff."

This week I share with you an idea born from a prop. Some weeks my photos will be inspired by a quote, piece of clothing, a holiday or special event, a feeling I want to covey, or like today a prop I want to use.

This idea started around Halloween when I found the mask at the Goodwill for $1. I am probably more inspired by props and clothing then anything else. Using the mask as a guide, I came up with an idea about becoming a peacock. I knew I had a blue dress and already had a photo of a full peacock spreading his feathers. So I came home and immediately drew a sketch of an idea.

To complete the portrait I needed to go somewhere where I could get a nice dirt foreground. Check out this video of me shooting this very portrait back on October 27, 2015. Note: This is the type of stuff I use Periscope for. Follow me as I will be using periscope more and more as I get into this year. Username @angelamarvel

And the best part of this video is how much I didn't end up using in the final image. Really shows you how much goes into the shooting part when I am not 100% certain what I want to do.
On Location Video:

Here is a bonus video about how I choose what images to use in this creation:

Another bonus with this photo is my Editing Slideshow. Shows the editing steps I took to create the image. (and this slideshow has been edited since I first published this blog), but as you can see, I edited it even further to end up with the final image. This was an image that never sat well with me and I continued to work on.

Leave me a comment if you like this photo! And follow me on facebook and flickr! Enjoy your week!

Eat Grapes, Be Merry

Eat Grapes, Be Merry
"Grapes are the most noble and challenging of fruits" -

Thought I would show a photo I took back in May while on a cruise to Alaska.  We had a suite that had access to a part of the ship where there was this big bed and everything was fancy. I ended with throwing this self portrait together with the help of our Butler one afternoon at Sea.

I always like to do a self portrait while on vacation. I find it fun to use the travel to either use a different location or think outside the box.

Here is my week 4 video that goes a little more in depth with this topic.

Resources:

The Haven Courtyard I described in the video.

Enjoy your week!

Good vs. Evil

Good vs. Evil
"We've all got both Light and Dark inside of us. What matters is the part we choose to act on, that's who we really are." - JK Rowing

This is actually a recreation on another self portrait I did back in 2013. I do have plans to rework some of my older work, but in some cases the reediting is more then just using a different color tone or adding one additional thing. Sometimes I will be reworking entire pieces to the point they become a new creation.

With this piece I took two elements I had already created and put them together in a different way. To me this creates an entirely new portrait.

Watch the below video for more info and to see the original 2013 photo.

I hope you enjoy!

Video:
And I promise the video quality will get better, I had to do these last two videos quickly to get this project going on time.

Enjoy your week!

Original Idea

Introduction to 2016

Hello all! Welcome to my new Self Portrait Blog!

I have never had a blog solely dedicated to my self portraits before, but here it is. This blog will showcase my self portraits that I take this year, as well as, some of my past creations. Many of my past creations have never appeared on any blog before. I thought it would be fun to showcase some of my favorites from the last five years as bonus blog material throughout this year or as fun throwback Thursday entries.

I am super excited about the new year and what I have planned. Below is a video that shares what my plans for 2016 are. (Which each week became a little hard with some new responsibilities I have, so I am now using this blog as a place to hold my self portraits as I create them. Have no fear I plan to keep posting regularly as there are lots of images I have not shared yet!)

Something I really want to share from the video and expand on is that this year is going to be a mixture of photography types/mediums. Some weeks the self portrait will be what you are use to seeing from me: silly, creative, and fun self portaits. Other photos will be more in line with fine art portraiture with deeper meaning or more emotion to them.

I want this year to push my creativity and that means branching out and doing more then the same stuff I have been doing for the last five years. Which also means I do not know where this year will take me. So what you see at the beginning of the year might not be anything like what you will see at the end of the year...or it will be. I'm excited to see where this year takes me!

Enjoy!

Reference Material:
52 week Self Portrait album from 2011:
https://www.facebook.com/amarvel/media_set?set=a.1658851305468.126752.1062696906&type=3

52 Week Family Self Portraits from 2012:
https://www.facebook.com/amarvel/media_set?set=a.2707593243361.168926.1062696906&type=3

Additional Self Portraits:
https://www.facebook.com/amarvel/media_set?set=a.4535489219618.205139.1062696906&type=3