Q&A (Patreon)

         This year was crazy... I finally bought my first camera and started my journey with self-portrait photography for real. I would never thought that my Instagram account would grow to 20k followers in such a short period of time. I am really grateful for each and every one of you, who supported me and my art on this ongoing journey. That's why I've gathered up the most frequently asked questions in one place for everyone to read.

         I don't want to be another random person from the Internet for you. I want you to know me a little bit better because that's what you deserve.

         I would also like to explain a bit why I chose these two photos for this post. First photo is the one that truly showed me the direction of photography that I want to follow. The second one forced me to finally buy a camera because my phone  limited me sooo much. I couldn't take photos in bad lighting conditions. The third photo will be explained later.

NOW LET'S BEGIN!

1. Who am I?

My name is Ania and I'm 22. I live in the capitol of Poland - Warsaw where I study cybersecurity. I have a beautiful husky - Navy. I adopted her a few years ago and she's an angel <3

2. What are my hobbies?

Besides photography I fell in love with sewing. I needed a dresses for my self-portraits but everything online was so expensive so I started to making my own projects. I also love reading books and playing computer games. I like drawing too, although I don't do it as much now. I also love history (especially early medieval times) and myths. I really want to join a reenactment group but I don't have much free time left to do it. My other spectrum of interests is more on the military side. I love shooting on a gun range, training MMA (I stopped for a year now) and learning about anything connected to the army. It's probably because I was in a military high school for three years and it were the best years in my whole school-life. And of course I couldn't forget about my love for mountains and nature in general.

3. What camera equipment am I using?

I only use Canon 6D and 50 mm 1.8 STM lens for now.

4. Why self-portraits?

I always had a lot of photo ideas but I didn't have anyone who would help me with them so I decided that the best option for me is learning and doing everything on my own. I am also a very introverted person and I like spending time alone. I feel like working with someone else is really stressing me out. With self-portraits I can control everything and recreate my vision without any rush and limitations.

5. What inspires me?

I know that everyone says that but my main inspiration is nature. When I'm walking and looking for a spot I always look at the landscape and try to figure out how can I use it for my photo (for example a rock or a tree). My creative process also depends on my mood - if I feel a bit melancolic I will create more darker portraits. Next I am influenced by nordic and slavic myths and culture, and I try to incorporate that into my photography. Sometimes I will dream a certain image and I to try recreate that later. I am also really inspired by many creators on the Internet and those before the Internet era.

6. Is there someone behind the camera?

No, there's not! I do everything by myself from looking for a location, creating an outfit and makeup, posing, shooting to then editing a photo. I am now learning how to edit videos because I want to create them too, although photos will stay my main focus.

7. How did I find my style in photography?

To be honest I don't think I did. I am always experimenting with the editing because I am still learning some new techniques and you can see it on my feed. I started giving my instagram profile a bit more attention in 2020. Around that time I decided that the best color scheme for me would be warm, orange tones... and I kept it for a while. Unfortunately as usual I started to get bored with it. That's when I wanted to experiment with colder, bluish tones that I saw all over ig at that time. The third photo that I posted here inspired me for this change. The light that morning was really cool and unique that I felt like editing the picture my usual style would ruin it. And this was the turning point. I quickly noticed that this aesthetic didn't suit me and I was feeling a bit limited by only blue feed. I finally realised that my ig page should reflect the seasons of the year because every season is unique in it's own way and it changes so quickly that it would be really hard to get bored of the aesthetic.

8. How do I feel about my nude photos?

First of all - I always loved and admired fine art nude photography. I think that human body can be beautiful and it doesn't have to always be sexualised. I wanted to create my own nude art but it's easier said than done... I had to come a long way to the place I am in now. I wasn't a beautiful child and I hated my body, my height, my face, my everything. Growing up my body was sexualised by most of the people at school. It made me feel really anxious and because of my difficulty with my body image I cried often . I always compared myself to the more beautiful and "perfect" girls. At that time I couldn't even imagine that some day my naked photos will be seen by over 250k people from all around the world! When I started taking those photos I was really stressed that someone would see me but with time it started to get better. Also at the begining I wasn't supported by one of the most important person for me and I really wanted to quit it all and get back to my normal boring life. I am glad I didn't and that I finally am accepted. I started to feel a lot more comfortable with my body and I am not ashamed of how I look now. You guys really helped me with that!

9. What is my biggest dream?

My biggest dream was always to live in a small cottage in the mountains. It's not because of the cottagecore aesthetic that is really popular now. I always hated city and I wanted to move to the polish mountains since I was a very small child. I hope that dream will come true someday.

That's it for the first Q&A. I hope you liked it. If I get more interesting question I'll do a second part. Thank you once again for being a part of this beautiful community. Your support is really motivating.

Love you all, Erinthul <3