It all started when I wanted to apply for college. All I had in my portfolio were images of my cats, chickens and the kids of the neighbors. I wanted to shake things up a bit, but I didn't want to bother anyone, so I decided to take some selfportraits.
I did not own a remote at that time, so all I had was the 10 second timer and off I went.

Asking someone to model for you felt like a way too great of a deal to me. Someone was investing their time and in return I of course wanted to give them some great images. The pressure of having to deliver content to someone else felt too big for me, so I continued to do selfportraits. 
After I got into college I got into contact with the online community of Flickr. A big pool of awesomely creative photographers that did things that I could only dream of. They definitely took selfportraiture to the next level. 
At that time the 365 projects were a big hit and I decided to join in on the commitment of photographing myself for a whole year. At least, that was the goal. I never made it past the one hundred mark. But the project did invite me to dive deeper into the conceptual part of photography. I didn't want to just create cool images, I really wanted to say something with them. Create a story. And so I experimented a lot in that stage. 
If you are interested to see how my art started, here's the link to my Flickr page (warning, it's very old and very ugly imagery ;) ) :
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lhaertjens/albums/72157622577256672

To me, selfportraiture is not about me being in the photo. It's just that I like to create by myself. I love to wander around and explore nature. I love to create without having the pressure of it having to turn out awesome (that's what I feel if someone's modelling for me). I love to experiment and try new things. And when doing selfportraits, you do not need anybody else. No excuses for you to not create!

Another reason why I adore selfportraiture is it clears my mind.
Creating for me, is a way of dealing with the struggles, emotions and tough things we encounter in life.
Creating is therapeutic.

If you want to give selfportraiture a go, a very handy tool is a remote control for your camera. That way you don't have to walk into the frame within however many seconds your camera grants you. Here are a few behind the scenes shots of where you can see me use that thang:

Scroll down for the behind the scenes video!!

Photography: Rob Woodcox
​Model: Lieke Anna
​Dress: Bruidshuis Ellen
​Furn-foraging & pinning: Robin Stremlow

It's 9.30 AM and I've packed up my styff again. About an hour and a half ago I said goodbye to Bonnie, after spending 4 evenings with her in Portland, Oregon. She is such a sweet person and I am so glad that I got to know her better this time!
Now it's time to leave her house and move on to my next adventure. I set my GPS, in my KIA Sportage, to a tea place downtown where I'm meeting someone I've never met before, but have been in contact with for a couple of months now.
After ordering my organic, coconut oolong tea and writing in my book for a little while I hear someone getting closer and carefully pronouncing my name and there he was, mister Rob Woodcox. The next person who I'm going on adventures with!
We started talking and hitted off immediately. Which is awesome considering that I fact that I was going to spent a few days with him, haha.
After a few hours of talking we went to this pretty taxidermy shop and it's too bad my bank account has no endless amount of money on it and I did not bring an extra suitcase, or I would've bought the whole store. We then headed to Rob's home where we had an amazing dinner.
Turns out he lives by a forest and we had discussed a few ideas earlier that day and thought of a nature concept (furns growing out of a dress and a furn crown) so the backyard forest came in super handy! So after dinner we headed into his backyard to forage stuff for our shoot the next day.
As we walked through the forest we gathered sticks, leafs and flowers to build the crown at home. During the walk, Rob was playing LOTR and Narnia music, which made it all the more enchanting.

The morning we took to gather everything we needed (or thought we needed). From dresses to camera equipment, yarn, smokebombs, lunchpackages and what more.
​Rob texted one of his friends if she wanted to come along on a creative adventure and she did! Robin and her golden retriever Jax came to get us a little later. We packed up the car and drove to the other side of the Columbia river, in Washington State. The way there was filled with breathtaking nature, more than enough inspiration to get the creative juices flowing!
​To get to the other side of the river we took a bridge called "The Bridge of the Gods", which is a very cute bridge with an awesome view!
​After crossing the river we drove through a small town with a cool antique shop. Filled with loads of overpriced crap, but also a few nice looking things. My eye caught a stack of prints and I was kind of determined to find one I'd liked there. And so I continued searching for a while until I saw the classic "American Gothic" and when it turned out that it was only a dollar, I just had to own it.
​When we left the antique shop, we crossed the street to have a look at a flower and gardenshop, when we saw five kids by the side of the road selling lemonade. Really like you would see in the movies. Of course we had to get ourselves some lemonade from these cute kids, before heading to our location.
​We parked our car, went to nature's bathroom and started our small hike. Going down to the look out spot over Panther Creek falls was easy peasy. The hard pard was yet to start. Because of course we weren't going to photograph from the touristy spot, overlooking the fall. We wanted to climb down to get up close and personal. To us humans it was hard, but do-able, but we also brought sweet Jax with us, the golden retriever. So Rob & Robin looked for an easier way down, where we had our prepacked lunch, my very first Peanutbutter&Jelly sandwiches. Very American.
​After finishing our lunch I put on my weddingdress and Robin was on foraging duty for the furns  that Rob would pin on the dress. We sat there for quite some time until the pattern was complete.

​

It was a pretty Sunny day, but the temperature down by the waterfall was way lower and with the constant damp of cold water, it was pretty chilly to say the least. And of course the shoot where I modeled for was right by the fall, so I was freezing my butt of and was shivering after a while. I knew I really wanted to also do a selfportrait down there, but I just had to warm up first.
​When I could feel my feet again and the shivering stopped, I picked out a big fallen log for my shoot, overlooking the fall, a really cool spot. As I was photographing I saw another log that caught my eye that just screamed 'naked selfportrait'. And as I didnt't want to regret not doing it, I decided to just go for it.
After my shoot, Rob was thinking about going naked as well and so I decided to do a nude shoot with him, laying by the waterfall.
Vulnerable to all nature's violence surrounding him.
​Time had gone by so fast, that we decided to pack up and head back to the car. It was a slippery hike back up and clumsy me of course slid down at one point, scattering my whole left leg in scratches and bruises.
​I couldn't really see how bad it was, because I was covered in mud, but it was pretty bad. "Oh the things we do for art" right!

If you've read all this way, respond in the comments with 'live an inspiring life'. ♥